The debt collecting procedure

JKW Incasso makes a distinction between the extra-judicial procedure and the judicial procedure. In the extra-judicial procedure we will exhort your debtor to pay their outstanding debt by writing and phoning. This procedure consists of three phases and does not take longer than eighteen working days. If nonetheless payment does not take place, a judicial procedure will be commenced. JKW Incasso will then register your case at the judicial constituency of your debtor and still enforce payment by means of a judicial verdict.

An essential part of our product is that right from the moment you become one of our customers, you will have a clear and complete overview on the whole procedure which we will roll out for you. JKW Incasso makes clear appointments with you as to how we are going to approach your case so as to be of the least possible disturbance to you while we are collecting your money. Furthermore, as one of the very few debt collecting firms in The Netherlands we offer you the possibility to check the status of your case online at our customer environment, JKW Online, at any time. Every customer receives a tailor-made page, complete with login details, so that you can review all your relevant information in a very short time. 

The starting phase

The debt collecting process begins with a last reminder that is to be sent by you, in which the debtor is summoned to pay under the threat of a formal debt collecting procedure (to be carried out by JKW Incasso), for which the debtor will be completely financially liable. This exhortation (or a draft version if you prefer) can be offered to you by JKW Incasso free of charge. Based on the data you provide us we can also offer additional advice as to how to formulate your exhortation.

First phase

After the passing of the term of your last reminder the debt collection phase officially commences. JKW Incasso then sends a first exhortation in which the debtor is offered an initial term of ten working days. The debtor will also receive a complete timeline of our extra-judicial procedure, which clarifies that the costs he / she will have to pay will rise so long as payment does not take place. In the first exhortation, only 50% of our total extra-judicial fee is imposed upon the debtor.

Halfway the first phase the debtor will be contacted by telephone. By talking in person we will get to know the reason of the debtor’s not paying, i.e. whether the bill is not paid merely because of a lack of liquidity or because there are complaints or counter-arguments.

Second phase

If our first term ends without having received payment, a second letter will be sent by recorded delivery. This letter offers your debtor an additional five working days to complete payment. However, our collection fee will now have risen to 75% of our total extra-judicial fee. Also halfway this period contact with the debtor will be sought by telephone. This will yield more clarity as to whether the debtor is (still) intending to pay, and when. In this phase we could – of course in conjunction with you as our customer and final recipient of the money – offer our debtor a payment scheme consisting of multiple instalments. This scheme would then be a ‘reasonable’ solution to the issue, which leads to initially partial, but at least fast payment.

Third phase

If nothing helps or when the debtor does not live up to any payment scheme agreed upon, the third phase will start. Again, the debtor will receive an exhortation by recorded delivery in which he / she will be offered a final payment term of three working days. During this phase, the debtor will be contacted daily by phone in order to urge him / her to pay before it is too late. JKW Incasso will make clear to your debtor that a court case against him / her is already being prepared and that ending up in a court case will have severe adverse financial consequences. This preparation consists of completing a clear and precise dossier to be presented to the judge. Also the administrative procedure will be put to work. In the third phase, our maximum extra-judicial fee will be demanded.

The complete extra-judicial phase will therefore take 18 working days. JKW Incasso has opted for this length because from experience it has become clear it offers the best balance between collection speed and clarity on the one hand and providing a reasonable opportunity to your debtor to make the payment on the other.

Judicial procedure

After the extra-judicial procedure, a judicial procedure against your debtor will be started. In this phase, JKW Incasso will impose upon your debtor the maximum legally allowed debt collection fee. During the court case, the judge will be presented a neatly elaborated dossier, containing all of your data, our letters and summaries of the conversations we had with your debtor and possible agreements that have been made. It is rather common that the debtor does not show up at the trial so that the judge can immediately issue a verdict (which is then almost always in your favour).

After obtaining a favourable judicial verdict we can put to work one of our bailiffs, whose fees will also be imposed upon the debtor. The bailiff will physically go to your debtor and settle the debt.

It is unfortunately very hard to give an exact estimation of the duration of judicial procedures as the speed of the procedure then mainly depends upon the efficiency of the specific judicial constituency. However, in most cases the procedure does not take more than two months. If you desire you can claim interest on your credit also over the period of the judicial procedure.

Collection fees

As for our collection fees, the maximum amounts we maintain are listed in the table below.

If you have any questions of a procedural nature, please feel free to contact us or to fill out our contact form.