With Friends Like This...

Obviously, businesses need to collect the money due to them from debtors. Equally obviously, their ability to do so is vital to the economy – particularly as banks remain reluctant to lend money. Sadly, the Government does not seem to be able to grasp these simple facts and - despite everything we hear and read about Government plans to help business - seems intent on making things worse, not better.

• Court fees for debt collection are still set to rise so substantially that it will in many cases be uneconomic to use the Court system – and they are already so high that I have been advising clients to avoid going down that route for some time.
• The Insolvency Service has already increased the deposits payable on Company Winding-up Petitions and Creditors’ Bankruptcy Petitions as of April 6th. Those fees, too, were already prohibitive – so that route, too, seems set to be closed to many creditors.
• Helpful proposals to amend the laws governing Attachment of Earnings and Charging Orders will not now be implemented - probably due to public opinion as to the Government's handling of personal data.

And just to bring a little more sunshine into your life: creditors chasing individual debtors or consumers must now use new wording in their chasing letters – debtors must be advised that agencies such as Citizens Advice can help them, for example – and it is proposed that Letters Before Action contain a 14 day cut-off period rather than the 7 day period previously demanded. This is an extra administrative burden on creditors and can only result in further delays in payment.

With friends like this...