[kinder clean]

I have an outstanding debt for some CC done in Oct 09, custy paid with a cheque from a closed bank account, have been to police as its classed as fraud but after waiting yonks have given up.

Im going to make a claim via small claims court, the origional bill was for £180 3 months ago, am i entitled to claim interest and how much.

Cheers

Paul

[markpowell]

0.022% of the outstanding debt each day
Mark

[james roffey]

Having written the cheque he has admitted liability, threaten court action if he does not settle withing 14 days then exlplain about court costs and interest he will be liable for if payment not received, make sure you have an address for him if it does go to court and you have to rely on the court baillifs then they are a bit of a joke you really have to bluff it out and hope he will see sense just because you may win in court he could still avoid paying for too many reasons to go into here, good luck

[Steve. Taylor]

Pity you cant go back creosote makes a great pre spray on all carpets  : :

[jasonl]

I also add a £20 collection fee to each reminder.

[Matt Lindus]

Not unless you stated that in your quote and invoice. You will get your £180, £35 court cost and other escalated costs relating to the claim, not a penny more.

Matt

[Matt Lindus]

I also add a £20 collection fee to each reminder.

That is classed as extortion and the whole claim would be thrown out if they perceive you as being unreasonable and or profiteering from the situation.

Matt

[Nick Head]

I think Matt is right - you can only claim interest arising from work carried out for Commercial Organisations under the Late Payment Act (The Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998), unless you have stated that you will charge interest for late payment either on your invoice or quotation.

You have to follow a rigid process when filing a claim, I would suggest you check out the following link which is helpful;

http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/courtfinder/forms/ex350_web_0409.pdf

Nick

[jasonl]

I also add a £20 collection fee to each reminder.

That is classed as extortion and the whole claim would be thrown out if they perceive you as being unreasonable and or profiteering from the situation.

Matt

Not if it is in my terms of business ,, mobile phone , credit card , utility companies all do the same , if the fee is reasonable  then it is legal and enforceable.

[Nick Head]

Jason

I agree if it is on your T&Cs either on a quotation or invoice and the fee is reasonable that it is prefectly reasonable to charge.

Nick

[Shaun_Ashmore]

Paul I have just gone through this with a landlord, if you go to the small claims court online you'll find that it os easy and it'll cost you £30 also you can charge interest.

I got payment within 2 weeks, first letter went out and no reply when the second letter went out with threatening a court date then he paid up very quickly.

Shaun

[kinder clean]

Thanks fro the replies everyone. Will try the small claims court.

Just a note on the response from the police -

I called in at my local police station (back in Oct) the guy on the desk was very helpful and explained if the bank account was closed before

the date on the cheque he has commited fraud, and this was an arrestable offence. He advised me to give the custy a letter first, give him

an opportunity to pay.




3 letters and several phone conversations later, I give up and go back to the police station.

I speak to the same bobby, again very helpful - ' Will you be in after 6PM the next 2 evenings for an officer to come and take some

details ? ' - Yes..... they never turned up..... rang the helpline with my crime number and was told they had been to busy but will call in the

next couple of days - they never came and still haven't.



Last week I get a phone call from some seargent who tells me he's spoken to mr _ _ _ _ on the telephone and advised him if he doesn't

pay the outstanding ammount you'll be taking him to the small claims court !!!!!  - WHAT A WASTE OF TIME    Never mentioned he was

 commiting fraud and would be arrested, exactly what this guy needed to scare him into paying - UNBELIEVABLE !!!!

[Matt Lindus]

I also add a £20 collection fee to each reminder.

That is classed as extortion and the whole claim would be thrown out if they perceive you as being unreasonable and or profiteering from the situation.

Matt

Not if it is in my terms of business ,, mobile phone , credit card , utility companies all do the same , if the fee is reasonable  then it is legal and enforceable.

Correct Jason. You will find many utility companies operate outside the law, then corporate and refund before court action takes place, most people just pay them for silly charges and don’t feel they have a chance in court. They understand this and take full advantage.
Commercial lawyers are like modern doctors, they get the book out for the simplest of matters.  

Matt

[The Great One]

Hi

Just had this with an La, waiting for 7 months!

Phone calls on a weekly basis, re submitted invoice, loads of promises to pay etc, etc

Finally had enough and told them if they now don't pay it will be 7 months interest and fines + court. They have still delayed but spoke to them yesterday (kept everything friendly) and the cheque is now being dispatched (£350.00)

As always with an LA we are reluctant to pursue this course of action as we always hope for more work, but they haven't given any to me since, so I won't be losing much.

Regards

Martin

[clinton]

Paul dont think i would bother going down the route with the plolice with this..

If they have spoken to the guy already and he has nt paid you will have to go down another avenue to get your money..

Had the same problem last year and thankfully she admited her mistake and gave me another cheque.

Must say i had a chat with roger dr carpet and he showed me some things to look out for when getting paid by cheque..

[Colin Day]

When a cheque bounces, is the recipient of the cheque also charged a bank fee of some description?

[carpetworx]

Tell him you are going to go round and do him some damage.

Works for me.

[murky]

As before.

Use Thomas Higgins in Liverpool. Absolutley brilliant. They send a 'Letter before Action' on your local courts Court headed paper. Saying the customer  are to appear before the court on a certain day unless they pay.

ALLWAYS worked for me, only costs £2.60 per letter.

Oh yes you have to state on your T & C that you will charge interest on unpaid debts, you cant apply that retrospectivly.

Collegue of mine is an undertaker and believe it or not has a bad debt list of £35 to £40k, put him onto Thomas Higgins and they sent out a load of those letters and the money rolled in. They looked at his T&C and it was them who advised him about the interest rate thingy.

He now charges interest on unpaid debts.

Good luck with it.

Murky

[Karl Wildey]

If my first reminder is not settled I send another and state this.

'If paymeny is not made within 14 days from the date of this letter, I will be force to place this matter in the hands of the county court. All court costs and fees and interest will then be added to your outstanding invoice.
The courts will issue you a CCJ (county Court Judgement), this will be on your credit file and affect your credit rating in the future'.

No one cares about the extra charges, its almost a challenge to them, but the CCJ is something they have no control over and when its in black and white in front of them its enough to make them stop trying to get a free clean and cough up.
If they don't pay after you have taking it to court, you do get the pleasure of knowing you have f''k up their credit rating.

an eye of an eye

[Dennis]

Mine is nearly the same as Karl's.

After monthly reminders, the latest sent registered post,  the above invoice remains unpaid after 60+ days. If this is still the case as of (date) the enclosed Claim Form will be served at the Lowestoft County Court.

If you allow this to happen you will incur court costs and you may forfeit your credit status because your name will be recorded by the major credit reference agencies. This may deter others from supplying you.

You are also being charged compensation pursuant to the late payment legislation.

To stop this from happening please arrange payment in full now.

I also enclose a copy of the fully filled out County Court claim form including The claimant claims compensation arising from late payment under section 5A of the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998. Under the table of compensation set out in this provision, £40 is owed.
on the back.

Thankfully I've only needed to do it 3 times in 20 years and it's worked on all three.