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DEBT COLLECTOR OR DEBT COLLECTION LAWYER? WHICH IS BEST FOR DEBT COLLECTION?

Debt collection is difficult at the best of times. To make debt collection easier, it is natural to turn to debt collectors or debt collection lawyers to assist. But who is best placed to deal with your specific situation? To answer this, it is worth thinking about the nature of the relationship you have with the debtor.

The debt collection relationship between debtor and creditor:

Debt collection can arise in all manner of situations. It can happen when a trusted and valuable commercial associate falls on hard times, when an opportunistic borrower thinks they can get away with not paying their bills, or for countless other reasons. The nature of the debtor/creditor relationship can be integral to the approach. [...]  READ MORE →

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Creditors Statutory Demands

Creditors Statutory Demands – Short Cut to Cash or Catastrophe?

Creditors Statutory Demands are a relatively cheap but powerful tool which can produce significant results quickly and efficiently, saving months on a long drawn out debt recovery process. However, with great power comes significant risk, and creditors need to understand when and how best to make use of this short cut, without getting lost in a labyrinth of litigation.

What is a Statutory Demand?

A statutory demand is a formal prescribed notice issued to a debtor company by a creditor pursuant to section 459E of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) (“the Act”). The demand is for the debtor to pay the outstanding debts within the statutory period of 21 days, or be presumed to be insolvent and face the risk of a winding up application being filed against the debtor company. Issuing a statutory demand however is subject to certain criteria stipulated in the Act. Section 459E states that a statutory demand can be issued to a person in respect of one or more debts, totalling the statutory minimum of $2,000 and must: [...]  READ MORE →

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Collecting Money: which court should I pick?

By Ewurama Appiah a Law Clerk at Matthews Folbigg in the Insolvency, Restructuring and Debt Recovery Group

Do you have a debt to collect and are you unsure in which court to file your claim? Read on to find out more information on the steps you should take to ensure you maximise your ability to recover that debt!

Debt recovery through the courts is largely regulated by state and territory law and the procedural rules of the courts. Recovery of debts may include the repossession of assets or other legal enforcement of security interests. [...]  READ MORE →

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Why do It Alone? Engage a Debt Collection Lawyer

By Keely Wunsch, Law Clerk at Matthews Folbigg in the Insolvency, Restructuring and Debt Recovery Group

You’re not alone if you have performed a service, provided a product/good, loaned money or entered an agreement and have not been paid what you are owed. Debt collection is a pervasive issue affecting individuals, businesses, and organisations. Handling debt collection alone can be arduous, time consuming and tricky. Instead, creditors would be well advised to consider engaging a specialist debt collection lawyer. This can ensure a streamlined process, technical expertise and commercial know-how, allowing creditors to avoid the stress and uncertainty associated with going it alone. [...]  READ MORE →

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Effective options to recover debts in NSW

Effective options to recover debts in NSW – What can I do to maximise success

By Ewurama Appiah a Law Clerk at Matthews Folbigg in the Insolvency, Restructuring and Debt Recovery Group

With changing economic landscapes in New South Wales, the need to recover debts can often pose challenges for creditors. However, there are a range of actions that you can take to maximise your process to recover debts. Here are some steps that you can take to ensure your debt recovery process has the best chance of success: [...]  READ MORE →

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Debt Recovery for Small to Medium Businesses

Debt recovery – All small/medium business owners have been here before – you have taken the time and care to provide your quality goods or services to a customer, and when it comes time for them to pay, you get radio silence or a refusal to pay. Your phone calls, texts and emails with payment reminders and attempts to follow up have been unsuccessful, and now, weeks or months later, you are exhausted and still have a large unpaid invoice, plus all the time and money you have spent on debt collection services. [...]  READ MORE →

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Attention Company Directors – DIN or discipline?

By Ewurama Appiah a Law Clerk of Matthews Folbigg, in our Insolvency, Restructuring and Debt Recovery Group

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has sent company directors a clear message: if you don’t have a DIN, you will suffer discipline at the hands of the regulator.

ASIC has commenced its first prosecution against a company director for failing to have a director identification number (DIN). Section 1272C(1) of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) stipulates that

‘’an eligible officer must have a director identification number’’. [...]  READ MORE →

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Out of the Shadows…

By Jacob Reardon a solicitor of Matthews Folbigg, in our Insolvency, Restructuring and Debt Recovery Group.

Over the years, decisions such as In the matter of Condor Blanco Mines Ltd [2016] NSWSC 1196 and ASIC v Planet Platinum and Anor [2016] VSC 120 have served as sober reminders for voluntary administrators of the need to be satisfied of the validity of their appointment.

Under section 436A of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) (“the Act”), a company may appoint an administrator if the board resolves to the effect that: [...]  READ MORE →

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Debt Recovery by Garnishee Notice

When a Court makes a judgment in your favour for the recovery of a debt, there is a mechanism available to recover the judgment debt through a third party. This mechanism is a garnishee order.

What is a Garnishee Order?

A garnishee order is an order of the court which enforces a third party who either owes money to a debtor, or is holding money for a debtor, to make payment to the creditor of any funds held by that third party for the benefit of the debtor.

This order essentially permits a judgment creditor to ‘seize’ monies from the judgment debtor via a third party. [...]  READ MORE →

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AICM releases an industry first report into consumer overdue credit trends and practices

The Australian Institute of Credit Management (“AICM”) released an industry first Overdue Credit Index Report 2023 (“the Report”) which analyses levels of overdue credit across a range of financial products in the Australian market.

The Report presents a measure of overdue credit, called the ‘Overdue Credit Index’, based on aggregate data of reported repayment history for credit accounts across mortgages, credit cards and unsecured personal loans using data provided by Equifax and Illion for the period from 1 July 2019 to 1 August 2022. This index provides transparency around patterns of overdue credit and hardship requests in the Australian market and allows credit managers to express their performance and resourcing relative to a benchmark. [...]  READ MORE →

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Reform to Unfair Contract Terms – What’s New?

Reform to Unfair Contract Terms – What’s New?

Commencing on 9 November 2023, significant reforms were made to the Australian Consumer Law (“ACL”) concerning unfair contract terms (“UCT”) within standard form contracts. These changes will attract substantial penalties under the Competition and Consumer Act 2010, as well as the ASIC Act 2001 for both businesses and individuals. It is therefore vital that you are made aware of the reforms to the ACL and how they may affect you.

In 2010, a term in a standard form contract was deemed to be unfair if it: [...]  READ MORE →

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Security for Costs Order

Security for Costs: How to not get dragged down by the impecunious Plaintiff

A successful defendant can often be left with a significant legal bill despite a court ordering the plaintiff to pay their costs of the proceeding – winning the battle but losing the war.

Imagine you find yourself as a defendant in proceedings that you never saw coming and  which should ultimately never have happened. The plaintiff’s claims may lack merit and have very low prospects of success, but they commenced proceedings against you anyway in a desperate attempt to recover money that they lost as a consequence of their own actions. After all of the hours of stress, sleepless nights, phone calls, meetings, and thousands of dollars of legal fees, you and your legal team emerge from litigation victorious, with the plaintiff to pay your costs of the proceeding – only to find out, the plaintiff has no money, no assets and is unable to pay your legal fees. [...]  READ MORE →