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Challenging Demands

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

Section 459G(1) of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) (“the Act”) allows a debtor company served with a statutory demand to apply to the Court to have it set aside. Under s 459G(2) any such application must be filed within the 21 day statutory limitation period. This is a strict 21 days and generally cannot be extended.

The operation of s 459G and the strict 21 days limit has led to some controversy in situations where a debtor company has been served with a statutory demand, but does not become aware of the service until after the expiry of the 21 day period. How could it file an application to set aside a demand it did not know about? [...]  READ MORE →

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HOW MUCH DID THAT COST?

By Anica Cunanan, Solicitor at Matthews Folbigg in the Insolvency, Restructuring and Debt Recovery Group

With any debt collection service, such as a debt collection agency or a debt collection lawyer, the costs of debt collection can be significant. So the question we are always asked is ‘Can the debtor be held liable for my debt collection costs?’

As we tell our valued debt collection clients, there are at least a couple of different answers to this question. But critically, debt collection clients can take steps to get a better outcome in relation to their debt collection costs! [...]  READ MORE →

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CAN’T WE STILL BE FRIENDS? CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS AND DEBT COLLECTION

By Anica Cunanan, Solicitor at Matthews Folbigg in the Insolvency, Restructuring and Debt Recovery Group

An effective debt collection system is critical to businesses who provide goods or services “on credit”. But how to go about debt collection whilst still trying to maintain good customer relationships?

In our experience, nothing poisons a business relationship like bad debt collection. At the risk of sounding heretical, sometimes the customer is not right, when they simply refuse to pay for no reason. The value of such customer relationship might be doubted, and the method debt collection may not matter. But in other cases, the customer just needs a gentle (or possibly less gentle!) debt collection technique. In all cases, the question is this: How does a business continue to manage a customer relationship whilst ensuring that their account is paid on time? [...]  READ MORE →

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Judgment Debts – The Consequences for a Judgment Debtor

By Jamieson Naylor, Law Clerk at Matthews Folbigg in the Insolvency, Restructuring and Debt Recovery Group.

Becoming a judgment debtor, that is, having a judgment entered against you, can be quite an unsettling notion. However, judgment debtors should resist the urge to ignore a judgment creditor. There are a number of options open to a judgment debtor and it is important that judgment debtors should take steps to deal with a judgment debt as soon as possible. If a court or tribunal has entered judgment in favour of a judgment creditor, then the judgment creditor can enforce that judgment against a person known as a “judgment debtor”. The person with the benefit of the judgment is known as a “judgment creditor”. [...]  READ MORE →

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A PERMANENT INCREASE OF THE BANKRUPTCY THRESHOLD

By Anica Cunanan, Solicitor at Matthews Folbigg in the Insolvency, Restructuring and Debt Recovery Group

Is having a judgment against a personal debtor enough to serve a bankruptcy notice and bankrupt the debtor? Can you make a debtor bankrupt by serving a bankruptcy notice? What else do you need to know to bankrupt a personal debtor?

A creditor serving a bankruptcy notice is the first step to potentially making a debtor bankrupt. The bankruptcy notice must be based on a judgment against a personal debtor in an Australia court and be less than 6 years old. [...]  READ MORE →

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COLLECTING MONEY!

By Anica Cunanan, Solicitor at Matthews Folbigg in the Insolvency, Restructuring and Debt Recovery Group

Finding trouble collecting money? Matthews Folbigg Lawyers understand how challenging and delicate collecting money can be – especially, when you are collecting money from someone you know or alternatively, collecting money from someone to whom you are still providing goods and/or services.

At Matthews Folbigg Lawyers, we have demonstrated experience with collecting money from debtors who have had a business relationship breakdown with a creditor or alternatively, collecting money from debtors who continue to have business relationships with their creditors. Collecting money, no matter the dynamic between the creditor and debtor, can be a very delicate situation. [...]  READ MORE →

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Overdue payment – lawyer or Debt Collector?

By Jodie Rodrigues, solicitor at Matthews Folbigg in the Insolvency, Restructuring and Debt Recovery Group

So you’ve found an outstanding invoice. Sure, all invoices are valuable to a business but now you’re considering whether there is any commercial benefit to asking a lawyer to chase the debt. There are real advantages in using a lawyer rather than a debt collector to assist with collection of your debts. There are three main questions you should ask when considering which invoices to chase through legal proceedings: [...]  READ MORE →

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Creditor’s Statutory Demand Threshold: What It Is and How to Use It

By Kim Nguyen, Solicitor of Matthews Folbigg Lawyers, in our Insolvency, Restructuring and Debt Recovery Group.

On 15 February 2021, the Treasury released a consultation paper “Increasing the Statutory Demand Threshold” seeking submissions on the appropriateness and impacts of permanently increasing the statutory demand threshold. The consultation period expired on 5 March 2021, however, further information can be found here.

What were the temporary changes?

In response to COVID-19, Federal Parliament introduced insolvency reforms to support small businesses in financial distress.  In March 2020, the Government passed the Coronavirus Economic Response Package Omnibus Act 2020 (Cth) (Coronavirus Act) which temporarily: [...]  READ MORE →

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Responding to Debt Collectors

By Bonnie McMahon an Associate of Matthews Folbigg, in our Insolvency, Restructuring and Debt Recovery Group

If you receive a letter of demand from a debt collector, you might be wondering what you should do and whether you should respond to the debt collector. We have set out four helpful tips below which might assist you to respond to debt collector correspondence.

  1. Do not ignore the debt collector!

Whilst it might be daunting or scary receiving a letter of demand from a debt collector, you must ensure that you read the letter of demand and consider the claim being made against you. If you do not respond to the demand, it is likely that the debt collector may proceed with commencing proceedings against you. Debt collector proceedings and judgments can have unintended consequences, including being recorded on your credit profile, or leading to bankruptcy, so it is important that you take steps to deal with the debt collector’s claim as soon as possible. [...]  READ MORE →

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The “arid technicality” of Bankruptcy Notices?

By Andrew Hack, Solicitor, and Stephen Mullette, Principal, of Matthews Folbigg Lawyers, in our Insolvency, Restructuring and Debt Recovery Group.

At a high level the process for applying to make someone bankrupt may appear simple and straightforward. But, as the old adage goes, the devil is in the detail. At a granular level, the rules in bankruptcy proceedings are rather technical and procedures must be strictly adhered to. Often enough, a party will make a mistake where the consequence is they must start all over again, adding to lost time and increased costs. [...]  READ MORE →