Operational
Late is not the same as lost.
Most overdue trade invoices are recoverable, and most are handled badly: too gentle for two months, then abruptly legal. A staged approach recovers more and costs less, and it keeps the relationship intact where the relationship is worth keeping.
Delivered with specialist collections partners across jurisdictions.
The problem
The expensive part is the delay before anyone acts.
An invoice goes past due. For the first few weeks nobody is worried. Then the person who owns the relationship sends a polite note, because nobody wants to be the one who upset a customer over a payment that is probably coming. Somewhere around day sixty it becomes a problem, and by then the debtor has had two months to prioritise everyone who chased them properly.
Cross-border makes each step harder. Different jurisdictions, different limitation periods, a debtor who can simply stop replying to email, and an amount that often does not justify litigation on its own but is significant against the margin on the trade.
Recovery rates correlate much more strongly with how early and how consistently the debt was pursued than with how aggressively it was pursued at the end. Structure beats escalation.
- Acts from the first day past due, not the sixtieth
- Staged, so escalation is a decision rather than a last resort
- Handles the relationship question explicitly rather than avoiding it
How it works
Four stages, and you decide where to stop.
Each stage has a cost, a likely recovery and a relationship consequence, and you approve moving between them.
- 01
Structured reminder
From day one past due, on a defined cadence, with the invoice and delivery evidence attached. A large share of overdue trade invoices resolve here, usually because of an internal problem at the debtor rather than unwillingness to pay.
- 02
Dispute resolution
Where the debtor raises a discrepancy, the documents are pulled and reconciled. Many disputes are a mismatch on paper rather than a real objection, and resolving it is faster than escalating around it.
- 03
Formal demand
A formal letter in the right jurisdiction, in the right language, citing the right basis. This is where the relationship question has to be decided rather than deferred, and you decide it.
- 04
Agency and legal
Escalation to specialist collections or legal action in the debtor's jurisdiction, with an honest estimate of cost against likely recovery beforehand. Sometimes that estimate is the reason not to proceed.
How it is structured
- Day 1 past due
- When structured chasing starts
- 4 stages
- Reminder, dispute, formal demand, escalation
- Your call
- You approve each escalation, including stopping
- Per jurisdiction
- Local partners where local action is required
Recovery depends on the debtor, the jurisdiction, the age of the debt and the quality of the underlying documents. We do not quote expected recovery rates before looking at a specific ledger.
What we handle
The work, and where it stops being ours.
Take the whole ledger or only the cases past a threshold you set.
- 01 Ageing and triage
- Which debts are worth pursuing in what order, by age, amount, jurisdiction and document quality. Pursuing everything equally is how the recoverable ones get neglected.
- 02 Structured chasing
- A defined cadence with evidence attached, recorded against the invoice, so the history is visible rather than scattered across inboxes.
- 03 Document reconciliation
- When a debtor disputes, the underlying pack is checked. A discrepancy we can explain is resolved; one we cannot is reported to you honestly.
- 04 Jurisdiction routing
- Formal action taken where it has to be taken, through partners who operate there, in the correct language and form.
- 05 A recorded trail
- Every contact, response and decision against the debt, which matters if it does end up in front of a court or an insurer.
- 06 The stop recommendation
- When further pursuit costs more than it is likely to recover, we say so. Continuing to bill you for chasing a bad debt is not a service.
Questions
What comes up first.
Will this damage our customer relationships?
That is the right question and it is why the process is staged. The early stages are administrative and most debtors do not experience them as conflict. Anything that changes the relationship, particularly formal demand, needs your approval first. You will never find out we escalated after the fact.
What do you charge?
The early stages are a service fee. Escalation to agency or legal is typically commission-based on recovery, which aligns the incentive but also makes it more expensive when it works. We will set out both before you place anything.
Which jurisdictions can you act in?
Structured chasing is jurisdiction-agnostic. Formal and legal action depends on local partners, so the honest answer is corridor by corridor. Tell us where your debtors are and we will tell you where we can and cannot act.
How old is too old?
It depends on the limitation period in the debtor's jurisdiction, which varies widely. Some of what sits in a ledger for two years is already unrecoverable as a matter of law, and we will tell you that rather than bill you to chase it.
Do you buy the debt?
No. This is a recovery service, not debt purchase. You keep the receivable and we work it on your behalf.
Can you work alongside our own credit control team?
Yes, and that is common. Your team keeps the relationships and the current ledger, we take the aged cases past a threshold you set.
Next
Send us your aged debtor report.
Amounts, ages and jurisdictions. We will tell you what looks recoverable, what is probably out of time, and where we can act.
- A read on your real ledger before any engagement
- An honest view on what is not worth pursuing
- Nothing escalated without your approval