Debt Recovery Charges

Debt Recovery Costs Information

Pricing information (on a no collection no fee basis)
	10 - 15% +VAT at 20% 10% of recovered debts over £10,000, or 15% of recovered debts of £10,000 or less
	30 - 60 days Claims settled before court proceedings, from instruction to receiving payment, or progressing matter to next stage. See below for timescales when court proceedings are issued.
	Meet the team

We think it is very important for clients to be able to choose how much support they require from us and the associated costs involved in receiving that support.

Choice and flexibility guide our pricing approach. We provide a competitive and best-value proposition in support of a focused commercial approach, with a large proportion of our fees being charged as a percentage of the debts that we recover.

Bronze Service

The Bronze service consists of sending your debtor up to three templated warning letters on our letter headed paper. A percentage recovery will be payable if a recovery is made under this service. This is a 'no-win / no-fee' service if:

- recovery is possible before a Letter Before Action (LBA) is required

- the matter is undefended, and

- we are not contacted by you for an update or otherwise about your matter after we are instructed. We will update you when necessary. If you do contact us about this matter at this stage, you may be charged an additional fee in accordance with the schedule of ad hoc charges.
Silver Service

The Silver service is generally for matters where further action is required in undisputed debts based upon an unpaid invoice after completion of the Bronze service.

Debts Below £10,000

If the matter is undisputed, for a fixed fee of £450 plus VAT, we will either:

- send a Letter of Claim and if the debt remains undisputed after that letter, we may issue a claim at Court (the court fee will be invoiced in addition to the fixed fee for our charges), or

- draft and attempt service of a statutory demand (the process server's fee will be invoiced in addition to the fixed fee).

Debts of £10,000 or More

If the matter is undisputed, we will send a Letter of Claim for a fixed fee. The fixed fee is determined by the value of the debt, as set out below:

- A debt value of £10,000 - £30,000 will be a fixed fee of £450 +VAT

- A debt value of £30,000.01 - £50,000 will be a fixed fee of £600 +VAT

- A debt value of £50,000.01 - £75,000 will be a fixed fee of £750 +VAT

- A debt value of £75,000.01 - £100,000 will be a fixed fee of £900 +VAT

- A debt value of £100,000.01 or more will be a fixed fee of £1,050 +VAT
Gold Service

If at any time a matter becomes disputed, judgment is obtained, or we consider that it is outside the scope of either the Bronze or Silver service, you will be notified. Our charges will accrue on a time-incurred basis. The hourly rates that apply depend upon the value of the debt.

For debts below £10,000, not subject to a counterclaim and with no specialist input required - a blended rate of £150 +VAT per hour applies. Otherwise, VWV's benchmark hourly rates from time to time shall apply.
Administration Fees

Once we are instructed, we shall be remunerated for any recovery which is made prior to court proceedings whether the debtor makes payment directly to you or to us.

- £150 administration fee for an instructed debt of less than £500

- £150 administration fee for re-opening a closed file / withdrawn debt

- £150 administration fee if a file is withdrawn during the Bronze Service: before completion of it, or if you require further advice as to how to proceed on a matter after the Bronze Service has completed.
Ad Hoc Costs

The 'no-collection, no-fee' and fixed-fee scopes in the Bronze and Silver services set out above are limited to matters that fit within our templated process.

Where a matter or a task falls outside of that templated process, we may either:

- charge a fixed fee for dealing with that issue

- determine that the matter should be transferred to the applicable Gold service

The ad hoc costs are as follows that we may apply if appropriate on the tempalted Bronze and Silver services:

- £15 +VAT for correspondence outside the templated process

- £15 +VAT for telephone calls received or made by us
Disbursements (Not Included in Fee Estimates)

In addition to our fees, other costs will arise during the matter that are payable to third parties. These costs are called 'disbursements' and are likely to include court fees (which are typically charged as 5% of the debt claimed), Land Registry search fees from £3 per search, asset traces for £155 +VAT, process serving from £75 +VAT, or counsel fees.

We will keep you updated on these expenses throughout the matter and let you know in advance before they are incurred. We will also inform you if additional exceptional expenses are required.
Timescales

At the outset of a matter, it can be difficult to predict timescales, as much depends on whether the other party decides to contest the debt and whether or not it is necessary to issue a claim.

A claim that is settled before proceedings are issues usually takes around 30 - 60 days from receiving initial instructions.

If we commence proceedings and they remain undefended, the claim may take six to nine weeks from receiving initial instructions to receiving judgment.

These timescales cover the services listed below only. We will provide you with a more accurate timescale once we have more information and update you as the matter progresses.

What Does Our Pricing Include?

The fees set out above for the work prior to issuing court proceedings includes the following services:

taking your instructions and reviewing documentation
undertaking appropriate searches
sending a letter before action
receiving payment and sending on to you.

If payment is not received, a claim will need to be issued. This will include the following services:

drafting and issuing the claim form
if the matter remains undefenced, we may request that the court enter judgment in default
if payment is not received within seven days of judgment in default being entered, providing you with advice on next steps and likely costs.

The range of costs shown above does not include the following additional services, and we will provide a separate fee estimate for these services, should you require them:

reviewing and responding to the debtor's response to any pre-action letter
reviewing and responding to the defendant's defence
commencing enforcement action for payment of the debt.

Why Choose Us?

Our Debt Recovery team collectively has many years of experience. We regularly deal with a wide range of matters, from straightforward contractual debts through to high value and complex debts, some of which are, for example, specific to a specialist sector or involve an international element.

VWV provides an outstanding debt recovery offering, with the perfect blend of credible excellence, expertise in depth and a personable approach.