Persistent debt collection
in Europe
Working all over Europe.
Persistent, pressureful, tricky. In all Europe.
For claim amounts from 50’000.- EUR / CHF.
(Switzerland, Southern Germany, Vorarlberg from 25’000.– EUR / CHF)
success rate 23 *
77.8 %
Attention! Are you on the right website?
If you are a debtor yourself, we cannot do anything for you.
For cost reasons, we cannot process claims under CHF/EUR/USD 25,000.— **
Debt collection in Europe
More efficient debtor persecution through cross-border debt collection in Europe
Has your debtor moved to another country? Presumably with the intention of hiding and escaping the reach of creditors and the rule of law? Or perhaps simply for personal or professional reasons (marriage, migration, international business). Or to obtain bankruptcy with discharge of residual debt in Alsace, Great Britain or Germany?
Open borders facilitate not only crime but also debtor tourism
While the Schengen Agreement cushions the freedom of travel for criminals through various measures, it opens up major loopholes in the area of civil law. Logistically and legally, foreign debt collection involves a lot of effort and additional costs.
In the European Union (EU), in many areas between member states of the European Union for example (although in many cases not for Denmark and, since Brexit, for Great Britain, also for non-member states), it applies that judgments of one member state can be declared enforceable in the other member state under a simplified procedure according to Articles 38 to 52 of Regulation (EC) No. 44/2001. In practice, the most important advantage of this accelerated procedure is that declaration of enforceability is made immediately without checking the judgment’s eligibility for recognition. Initially, the debtor does not have the opportunity to comment on the proceedings. Only after the declaration of enforceability can he file an appeal, if necessary, but special rules also exist. However, besides this standardization, there are numerous exceptions even in the member countries themselves, depending on the country and the area of law (e.g. family law). We and our consulting lawyers in almost all European countries know the appropriate procedure.
We find debtors all over Europe!
But legal debt collection is only one part. In direct debt collection, the first step is to find the debtors, visit them on site and explain them that being abroad does not mean being “free of debt”. The fact that we show up in person at their place of residence or work abroad is a shock for most of them, which often enough has a huge impact.
We have freelancers, cooperating local debt collection companies and lawyers in almost all European countries. Together with this network, we develop a plan of action on a case-by-case basis.
A frequent special case are the debtors who do not move far away, but use border and double cities for their rotten trick, e.g. from Badisch Rheinfelden to Swiss Rheinfelden, from Ticino to Como, Varese or Milan, from Switzerland to nearby Alsace, and so on.
Operating across borders
Our collection experience in Europe
It does not matter where you are located as a creditor, although the vast majority of clients are from Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Clients from non-German speaking Europe appreciate giving mandates to a company with local experience and resources.
The same applies reciprocally. We have almost exactly the same capability, thanks to our already existing and continuously developing network, or we can build it up quickly in new countries. If we do not have this capability or cannot build it up rapidly, we will not accept an order.
Out most imporant principle: Employees of Inkasso-Team AG travel personally to the debtor countries in almost all cases and are supported by local staff.
Example of pan-European debt collection
A Swiss client got involved in so-called “trading transactions” of a provider from the Internet. He paid about USD 90’000.- and would have had about USD 150’000.- capital according to reports of the company (including the accumulated profits). When he wanted to withdraw part of it, he was confronted with payment requests for taxes, payout verification, etc. The customer was now insecure and consulted us.
Internet fraud, not real trading
Internet fraud cases are difficult to solve, because company names, personal names etc. are mostly faked. Legal registration of companies are usually missing, as well as an imprint on the websites. The fraudsters establich contact via Internet telephony. They usually use fake local numbers, which you cannot call back. We only take on cases if there is evidence of geographically localizable people or registered companies, e.g. via third-party bank accounts used for money laundering.
Procedure Inkasso-Team AG
In the present case, we actually had a registered company with a registered office at a renowned office service provider in London. In addition, there were connections to people in Germany with real telephone numbers; from these, the customer had been “processed”.
- We traveled to London to visit the company. We did not encounter anyone. According to the office service provider the company had cancelled the contract. We were able to obtain understanding and were given the personal data of a person who had closed the office contract.
- We traveled to this small town, about 70 km north of London. We observed the house for about a day until a couple came home. We questioned the two and were able to identify the man as the tenant of the office space. When confronted with the claim, he defended himself by saying that he only was the director of the company and had nothing to do with the business. We put him under pressure, whereupon he revealed us the real businessman, with an address in Germany.
- The next trip lead us to the residence of the alleged perpetrator in Germany. He was completely perplexed when we stood in front of his door and presented the client’s claim. We gave him the choice: pay back or we publish your “business model” and file a criminal complaint.
- We immediately received USD 20’000.-in cash. One week later, USD 90’000.- were received in our account. We advised the client to be satisfied with this amount. Real trades had never taken place anyway. He got his deposit back plus return. The repatriated money probably came from other crimes.
Processing time: 6 months, closing April 2019