Collection of Bad Trade Receivables

Our company for several years has successfully handled cases closely related to enforcement law and in particular the collection of unpaid and bad debt between traders/businesses. We do not undertake the collection of bank claims and we do not handle bulk and small claims cases. The abundance of information and knowledge that the legal representative must possess in the specific range of cases made specialization in this subject necessary. The purpose of the company’s partners is the complete, scientifically and practically sound, protection of the interests of the principals in the labyrinthine and quite formal area of ​​execution.

The enforcement department of the company undertakes the handling of the entire debt collection process through enforcement actions. By way of example, we mention the following acts of forced execution through which the demands of our lenders-principals are satisfied: forced seizure of real estate and movable property (cars, electronic equipment, etc.), seizure of shares of Joint Stock Companies and shares of Limited Liability Companies, seizure of claims in the hands of third parties ( overdue and future), seizure of money in bank accounts and in general banking/investment products etc. (seizure of the debtor’s claims in the hands of credit institutions).

Enforcement is a difficult branch of procedural law. Several times it happens that the lender acquires the enforceable title, i.e. e.g. to be finally awarded the sum of money claimed in his action or to issue an order for payment, but to be unable to collect his claim due to the distress of the debtor. Then he will have to carry out forced execution against the assets of the debtor so that his claim is paid.
Each act of enforcement has its own particularities; it carries its own conditions and its own legal effects. It is important that the lawyer who will undertake the execution has on the one hand the necessary theoretical background and knowledge of recent as well as old jurisprudence of our courts, on the other hand an understanding of the practice of recent years. Without the former they will foster defects in the execution process which may invalidate the whole effort; without the latter the intended result will become less likely.

At the same time, we believe that the collection of doubtful commercial receivables is achieved more successfully when the case is taken over by a lawyer who, on the one hand, knows the judicial collection process well, and on the other hand is a skilled negotiator. This is especially so when the efforts of the internal delinquency management department of the lending company have not yielded results and therefore more aggressive means should be used. Moreover, it is now commonplace that:
– the delay in collecting the debt has an inverse effect on the probability of its collection,
– continuous and repeated phone calls have no effect on the merchant debtor who intends to default,
– telephone operators of “collection companies” or the internal departments of lending companies cannot have the same persuasion as a professional lawyer who knows the meaning of every word he uses and fully understands the rights of the creditor;
– in the commercial space, traders are much more familiar with litigation and legal schemes for the purpose of non-payment.

For all of the above reasons, the only way is ultimately the use of aggressive and direct measures. An advantage, in the whole process of entrusting the collection of commercial receivables to a specialized law firm, is the fact that its fee is usually proportionally linked to the success of the collection.

Our many years of experience in the field of collecting unpaid bad commercial debts have shown that the so-called “collection companies” (“debtor information companies for overdue claims” of law 3758/2009) can produce results in the field of banking and consumer debts in general but they cannot act decisively in the field of commercial claims. There, immediate, decisive and responsible aggressive actions are required from lawyers who have been dealing with the relevant subject for years and who make use of all the weapons given to them by the recently renewed Code of Civil Procedure.