Debt Collection Germany
Creditreform operates a global specialist International debt collections service. We have local offices and fully approved expert international debt collection agency partners in every country worldwide. All our International debt collection agency partners and offices operate on a No Win No Fee basis charging an agreed commission against monies recovered only.
Main reasons why a local country debt recovery agency is so important rather than trying to recover from a debt collection agency UK are as follows:
The local International Debt collection Partners know:
- The local cultures
- The languages
- The laws
- Are in the same time zones
Herewith details of our debt collection service Germany
Pre-trial debt collection is definitely our forte. The bulk of our cases are settled without a lawyer is perhaps due to our expertise,there’s no such thing as the “standard German Debt Collection”.
Each case is treated individually and according to its merits. Primarily, that means accessing more information about your customer’s financial circumstances… information we happen to have at our fingertips in our business database which, with 4.9 million company entries, is the world’s largest for German Companies.
In this database, we’ll quickly find the necessary information on your debtor’s ability to meet his financial obligations, and avoid you throwing good money after bad. Our research also considers all entries in district courts’ debtor registers, published insolvencies and ongoing Germany debt recollection processes.
With all this information and our expertly trained staff, we achieve an extremely high success rate without the need for legal proceedings.
Before judicial Germany debt collection is instigated, we’ll naturally review the debtor’s economic circumstances beforehand to assess the benefits of such an action for our client.
If legal actions have a realistic chance of success, and the German debts are undisputed, we’ll initiate judicial enforcement and compulsory execution upon the debtor’s assets, and advise you throughout all proceedings in a German debt collection process. Many debtors capitulate and pay up when they find the compulsory execution order in the mail.
If this step is unsuccessful, judicial German debt collection proceeds to execution (i.e. seizure) by a bailiff. If this is also unsuccessful, an affidavit will be procured.
We’ll naturally send you regular updates on all the initiated measures and results of the judicial German debt recovery process. In keeping with your instructions, we can also continue monitoring your judicially recognized claim with Creditreform’s Monitoring services. In that case, our Judgment Monitoring service will keep an eye on your debtor for up to 30 years.
Number of debt recovery offices in Germany?
129
Number of debt collection staff?
3,500
Statue of Limitation in Germany?
3 years (regular period)
Following please find the relevant sections of German Civil Code
Section 195 – Standard limitation period
The standard limitation period is three years.
Speciality:
Section 199 – Commencement of the standard limitation period and maximum limitation periods(1) Unless another commencement of limitation of is determined, the standard limitation period commences at the end of the year in which:
1. the claim arose and
2. the obligee obtains knowledge of the circumstances giving rise to the claim and of the identity of the obligor, or would have obtained such knowledge if he had not shown gross negligence.
How many companies registries in Germany for businesses (i.e. UK has just 1 central registry)?
Approximately 120, decentralised structure, business registries are kept by the local courts
Average length of time to collect a debt?
Prejudicial 60 to 90 days
Can late payment fees / interest to be added to claims?
Yes, according to the following sections of German Civil Code: 280, 286, 288
There are many unique requirements to recovering international debts in all countries including Germany debt collection services which differ from the UK and therefore it is very important that cases are handled directly by our expert international debt collection agencies and not from the Debt collectors UK. This method of international debt collection sets Creditreform aside from the competition who in many cases try and recover debts from a UK debt collector only. Using the local offices and partners enables us to achieve a far greater success rate and our No Win No Fee service together with competitive commission rates against monies recovered only ensures you get the best service.
