Fees: Partial collection

There are situations in which the claim submitted for recovery is not paid in full, meaning that the collection costs cannot be fully be recovered from the debtor. For example:

1. The claim is disputed and you do not wish to litigate, but resolve the matter amicably. In that case, we can at most try to recover the costs over the recognised part of your claim;
2. Your debtor has been declared bankrupt and the claim has only been partly collected. In that case, we will not be able to recover the costs from the debtor either;
3. You do not give us the opportunity to recover all additional costs from the debtor. For example, because you do not wish to damage the commercial relationship with your debtor;
4. You do not have the right conditions in your general terms and conditions so that not all costs can be recovered.

Bierens strives for justice for businesses. Justice for the creditor is our motto. That's why we go beyond No Cure No Pay.

When No Cure No Pay is applicable, customers do not pay an additional fee if nothing is collected. If we are successful in collecting the payment, then it is common to charge customers a fee of 15% within the debt collection world.

At Bierens we strive to avoid charging a fee to customers in all cases, also in the event that we do recover the payment. We believe that the debtor should pay all costs. After all, it is the debtor who failed to comply with the contractual agreements. Bierens will try to recover all costs from the debtor. However, the conditions of non-payment should be correctly stated in the general terms and conditions.

If the case must be closed and instead of a full payment a partial payment has been made, then all payments made by the debtor are deemed to have been made in proportion to the claimed principal amount and the claimed interest and extrajudicial collection costs. If we cannot recover interest and costs from the debtor, these will not constitute our fees.

If your general terms and conditions are incomplete, incorrect or do not apply to the concerned case, then the interest is set at 1% per month and the collection costs at 15% with a minimum of €185,-

In the case of a long-term commercial relationship with the debtor, we can negotiate a reasonable amount of additional costs. There is no reason why the debtor should pay too late. The debtor can also be made aware of why it is unreasonable for our client having to pay for the collection costs if the claim was rightfully transferred for collection. If the debtor does not have to pay any interest and costs at all, it is to be expected that he will resort to debt collection before paying. As a result, you will be left with the costs again. Sometimes it can't do any harm to educate the debtor!

Which conditions should be included in the general terms and conditions?
General terms and conditions sometimes do not contain the right conditions on interest and collection costs, with the result that a client has to cover part of the costs. That is very unfortunate and unnecessary. With a simple change, you can ensure that the costs can be recovered in full.

In the Netherlands, we have had a good legal basis for this for a number of years, that you could make use of too.

If you include the following clause in your general terms and conditions, you will get the maximum result:

"A term of payment of 30 days after the invoice date applies.

1.2         If an invoice is not paid within the agreed payment term, the debtor is in default without a summons or notice of default being required. From that moment onwards, all outstanding and/or not yet due invoices shall become immediately due and payable.

1.3          In the event of default, the debtor will owe a default interest rate of 1.5% per month.

1.4          In the event of default, all costs, including judicial and extrajudicial costs, will be borne by the debtor. The extrajudicial collection costs will become due from the moment the claim has been outsourced for collection and will amount to at least 15% of the unpaid amount, with a minimum of €250,-"

Please note that these conditions only apply to business contracts. You cannot invoke these with consumers.

Conditions for disputes in general terms and conditions
When doing international trade, it would also be convenient if you can litigate in your own country against a foreign debtor.

Therefore, we advise you to include a clause in your general terms and conditions under the section "disputes" stating that both your country’s court and the court in the buyer's country are competent. The buyer will be pleased since cases can be taken to court in both countries. However, from the moment a debtor fails to fulfil their obligations, you can, on the basis of these conditions, go to court in your own country. If you then start proceedings in your own country, you can have a much higher chance of successfully recovering your payment or reaching a settlement.

We recommend including the following conditions:

"Both the court in the country of the client and the court in your country are competent to take cognisance of disputes".