debtcollect

What does it cost?

We suggest you read "How does it work?" before reading this page.

debtcollect is not a commercial agency so we don't charge any commission on what we collect for you.

You should make your own initial demands for payment from your debtor. If the debt remains unpaid, you can request that we take immediate legal action or you can ask that we first send out Solicitor's Notice of Final Demand.

Notice of Final Demand: ........... $44.00
We post a special letter to the debtor under our letterhead demanding payment by a specified date (within 11 days from date of posting). It warns that legal action will be taken if the payment is not made. It also seeks information from the debtor about why payment has not been forthcoming and invites the debtor to contact YOU about payment or dispute.

If you have already made sufficient demands and warned your debtor that you intend to take legal action, you can skip our solicitor's Notice of Final Demand and instruct us to commence immediate legal action.

 

To commence immediate legal action..............
If you wish to commence legal action to collect a debt from an intransigent debtor, you have the benefit of our Limited Legal Fee Scheme. This means that, while our solicitors will incur normal legal costs, those costs are only payable upon after first collecting them from the debtor. You are only required to pay the following flat rate fees:-

Uncontested Legal Action: .......... $110.00 + disbursements
To prepare, file and serve a "summons", obtain default judgment, take enforcement action and send you the proceeds of the action. (Includes $10 GST.)

.............. and that is all we will charge you!

The debtor is required to pay back to you most disbursements and to pay our solicitors their statutory legal costs. If you have an ABN you can claim back your GST component of our fee on your BAS. The total net cost to you is therefore just $90.00.

 

If the action is contested by the debtor and takes the matters to a court hearing ..........

Initial preparations for contested action:.............. $330.00
To deal with defences, request for further particulars, notices to admit, offers of compromise, attend pre-trial review (for claims under $10,000) or call-over (for claims over $10,000), etc.

then
Final hearing of Small Claims Division action: .... $550.00 + disbursements
To prepare witness statements, conduct final hearing of claims of $10,000 and under;

or
Prepare more complex General Division action: ... $990.00 + disbursements
To prepare witness statements, brief of evidence, instruct barrister, attend 1st day of hearing, etc. for claims over $10,000. If a General Division matter takes more than one day of hearing time, each extra day will be charged at the rate of $275.00 per hour.

The above charges are payable upon the steps involved being taken and those marked in black can usually be recovered, in part or in full, from the debtor when you win.

You will be briefed and advised at each step of the process.

We aim for a result which is commercially sensible for you. There is nothing worse than a case where "only the lawyers win".

You are required to pay any fees and disbursements as they fall due so that we don't have to fund your action. This lowers our overheads, keeps our fees low and simplifies the whole process. It also means you don't get a nasty surprise bill at the end.

We collect much of our legal professional costs from the debtor. We wont be paid those amounts until we collect the money for you. This motivates us to work harder to collect the money as soon as possible and stops us from pursuing hopeless cases.

 

Disbursements
Disbursements are the external expenses, other than solicitor's costs, involved in taking legal action.

The most common disbursements are court filing fees and fees for serving documents on people. These are controlled by the various State and Territory governments and vary according to the amount of the claim and the State or Territory in which the action is taken. Disbursements must be paid at the time they are incurred but most can be added to the debt and are therefore paid back to you when the debt is finally paid.

To give you some idea of court disbursements you may wish to click on the following link to view scales of Court Filing Fees in the N.S.W. Local Court. The Local Court deals with claims up to $60,000.

Sometimes it is necessary to incur disbursements for services such as searching for debtors who have "skipped town", ascertaining the proper legal status of a business name or to check if a debtor has gone into bankruptcy. We will advise you of any such requirements and seek approval to incur such costs on your behalf as set out below:-

Fee for conducting company/business name searches ......................... $33.00
(usually claimable from debtor)

Fee for registering an interstate judgment for NSW enforcement .......$66.00 plus disbursements
(not claimable from debtor but various disbursements usually are)

Fee for barrister to conduct complex, contested hearing ...................... variable
(usually between $1200 - $2500 but depends on time, distance & complexity. Only relates to some complex matters over $10,000 and most general matters over $20,000).

The system is quite complex. For more detail please read our Solicitor's Costs Agreement.

All prices include GST.
We supply you with a taxed invoice/receipt so that you can re-claim GST inputs.

debtcollect .We don't mess about.

copyright: debtcollect. - 1st July, 2000