What steps do you take to recover my debt?
National Mercantile will work with you to develop a strategy that suits your needs. For a general overview of the process you can watch a short animation we developed here:
What if I don’t know where my debtor/customer is?
Our team will begin ‘skip tracing’ them once we receive the file and begin recovery action as soon as we locate them – this is all part of the debt recovery process.
What do you charge?
We charge a commission on successful recoveries – this varies depending on various factors including the type, size, number and age of debts you have. If you have an agreement or Terms & Conditions with your customer that states they are responsible for recovery fees we may be able to recover the commission directly from them.
If you take legal action you will be charged for these costs upfront but generally they can be recovered from the defendant. Penalty interest may also be added to the debt.
How successful are you?
No two debts are the same and the success rate differs greatly between industries but across the board we have an industry high collection rate of 86%.
What’s the best way to protect our business from bad debts?
It’s almost impossible to be 100% protected from bad debts, even if you only take payments upfront you can still fall victim to fraud, ‘bounced’ payments or disputed transactions, but there are steps you can take to reduce your debts by ensuring that:
- you regularly review debtors who are outside terms
- your customers are aware of their credit limit and payment terms
- you have developed and follow an escalation process for overdue accounts (e.g. stop credit, phone call, call from superior, final demand letter, file sent to debt collector)
- you have an experienced debt collection agency on your side who can guide you through the process
