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If a customer owes you money for unpaid invoices, there are a number of ways of pursuing them to recover your money. Ultimately, you can take them to court or initiate an insolvency process against them. Either way, their assets will be assessed, and you can hope to receive at least a proportion of what you’re owed. But what if some of their assets are too well hidden to be found? It’s easier to do now than ever befo

Takeovers are a fact of business. They’re sometimes good for the customers of the companies involved, sometimes less so, but business never stands still. Debt collection is no exception, although it tends not to get the media attention given to media, engineering or major retail companies, and two significant takeovers have recently been announced in the sector. Two Recent Takeovers Cabot Credit Management, con

Are you a supplier of services or goods, or perhaps a landlord? If so, the chances are you’re being used as an unofficial bank. Maybe you think that’s not you. Well, maybe it’s not, if everyone pays you on time as soon as the payments are due, but then you’re in a very small minority. Late Payments Statistics show that most SMEs are being paid as and when it suits their debtors, and that their aged debts have increas

Court proceedings to recover money you’re owed are not only slow but also expensive. The fee — from £455 to ££10,000, depending on the size of the debt — has to be paid upfront, which can be difficult if the debt has left you short. And this doesn’t mean the process goes any quicker. First you have to obtain a court judgement that you’re entitled to the money. Then, if the debtor still doesn’t pay up, you have to pur

In order to obtain an order from the court that a director is personally liable for wrongful trading under section 214 of the Insolvency Act 1986 (the ‘Act’) the Liquidator or Administrator have to not only prove the elements of wrongful trading, but they must demonstrate how the wrongful trading caused an increase in the company’s net deficiency. That is its losses. That is the company should objectively have been p

It’s an unfortunate reality, especially in difficult times that any SME could find itself insolvent. This isn’t necessarily the end of the world. Properly managed, a business can survive insolvency or, at worst, the owner can walk away sadder and wiser. Improperly managed, though, you could find yourself in serious trouble. Insolvency A company is insolvent when either it can’t afford to pay its bills by their due da

Earlier this year, Justice Secretary Michael Gove announced that planned cuts to the legal aid system were to be shelved. This was some relief to both the legal profession and to people facing substantial bills for court cases, but it didn’t reverse the swingeing cuts brought in three years ago. What Is Legal Aid? It’s a basic principle of our legal system that justice should be available to everyone, but it usen’t t

Following a report by accountant Teresa Graham, the rules for pre-packaged sales of insolvent businesses have been updated, and the oversight of the practices has been altered. Changes in the Statement of Insolvency Practice (SIP) were introduced on 1st October and 1st November 2015, while the pre-pack pool was introduced on 2nd November. Pre-Pack Insolvency Pre-pack insolvency is an approach to Administrations where

A bailiff (‘enforcement agent’) may visit your home if you don’t pay your debts, eg a Council Tax bill, parking fine, court fine, county court or family court judgment. This will happen if you ignore letters saying that bailiffs will be used. You might be arrested if you don’t pay criminal debts, eg fines or penalty notices. A bailiff may also visit your home for other reasons, eg to serve court documents or give not

  Business minister Jenny Willott held the threat of legislation in reserve this week when she announced plans to clean up pre-pack insolvency deals intended to ‘make sure that businesses and customers get a better deal from failing companies’. She said the government would implement in full the recommendations of regulation expert Teresa Graham’s review of such deals. This was ordered by her boss, business secr