The Debt Collection Process

Written by Jane Yelland

Director/ Attorney, JFY Attorneys Inc

This article is going to look at and discuss the debt collection process specifically focusing on when a debtor does not respond, and what sort of steps can be taken and what courses of action can be followed in these instances.

When someone becomes a debtor i.e., they owe you money, the first thing you need to do is give them a courtesy call and advise that they still owe you money, and request that they settle the outstanding account with you at their earliest convenience to avoid further legal action being taken against them.

Should the debtor continue to fail to respond appropriately and/or settle their account with you, you proceed with a Section 129 Letter of Demand. In this letter, you advise that the debtor has an outstanding account with you which has not been settled. You further advise that the debtor can refer this debt to a Debt Counsellor, Alternative Dispute Resolution Agent, Consumer Court, or Ombud with jurisdiction with the intent to resolve any dispute or to bring the arrear amount up to date. You lastly advise in this letter that should the debtor fail to respond appropriately and/or settle their account with you, within a period of ten (10) business days, you will proceed with the debt collection process against them.

Should the debtor not respond to the Section 129 Letter of Demand within ten (10) business days, you send the debtor a final demand, demanding that the debtor settle their outstanding account with you within the next seven (7) business days, failing which you will institute Summons and the Court aspect of the debt collection process will then commence.

Should you continue to receive no response from the debtor in the seven (7) day period, as discussed above, you are then entitled to institute Summons against the debtor, which Summons must be served on the debtor by the appropriate and relevant Sheriff who has jurisdiction over the area in which the Summons must be served. The Summons can be served on the debtor either at their place of residence or their place of work. The debtor then, from the date of service, has ten (10) business days in which to respond to the Summons.

If the debtor does not respond to the Summons, you will be entitled to apply for Default Judgment against the debtor, where, once Default Judgment has been granted, the debtor will have a judgment against their name for the next 30 years.

Once you have obtained Default Judgment against the debtor, you are then entitled to instruct the Sheriff to attend at the debtor’s premises to attach assets to the value of their outstanding debt, which the Sheriff can then sell at an auction, the proceeds of such auction will be for your account.

The above is just a guideline however, and there are a lot of things to look at and take into consideration and therefore it is imperative that you approach the correct team of legal advisors and legal representatives to assist you with your debt collection, and who will be there by your side every step of the way. At JFY Attorneys, we don’t ask “if,” we figure out “how” and we are there every day, for every client.