I'm in a difficult situation with a client who won't pay their invoices. I have no prior experience with this and would really appreciate some advice.
Here's my situation: I do freelance marketing work and I have a client who I stopped working for 12 months ago. After much hassling and chasing they still owe me £3k in unpaid invoices (about half of the total they agreed to pay me) and their last payment was 14 months ago.
A few months back they stopped answering my emails and calls completely. I've just mailed them a final notice giving them 14 days before legal action via the small claims court. They've got in contact again and offered a repayment plan of £100 per month starting in 6 weeks time.
Some more details:
There's a few things I'm unsure about...
1. Should I accept the repayment plan and hold off on court proceedings if they keep up the payments?
2. Is £100/month a reasonable repayment plan? I don't know what a typical figure would be.
3. Would it make more sense to start the proceedings now? I gather it takes at least 3 months to do, so it might be good to get started now and I'd have more leverage with a judgement in my favour
4. If I enforced my claim and try to recover my money via bailiffs, freezing bank accounts or charging property - given what I've said above do you think I'm realistically going to recover anything?
5. Should I be worried about the new company they've formed at the new address? Are they trying to wind up the previous business to avoid paying their debts?
Any advice would be much appreciated. Thank you!
Here's my situation: I do freelance marketing work and I have a client who I stopped working for 12 months ago. After much hassling and chasing they still owe me £3k in unpaid invoices (about half of the total they agreed to pay me) and their last payment was 14 months ago.
A few months back they stopped answering my emails and calls completely. I've just mailed them a final notice giving them 14 days before legal action via the small claims court. They've got in contact again and offered a repayment plan of £100 per month starting in 6 weeks time.
Some more details:
- There's been no dispute about the quality of the work and their position has always been "we are going to pay you, but we're don't have the money yet"
- I asked them for a copy of their financial accounts which showed that they're only just breaking even each month (assuming they sent me their real numbers)
- A credit check showed low credit score and 2 recent CCJ for £1.5k
- The owner told me that they couldn't keep up their rent payments and they lost their business premises plus all their assets. Their website confirms that they have recently changed business address.
- Companies House shows that the Director has registered a new company at the new address (but they're still trading under the same name)
There's a few things I'm unsure about...
1. Should I accept the repayment plan and hold off on court proceedings if they keep up the payments?
2. Is £100/month a reasonable repayment plan? I don't know what a typical figure would be.
3. Would it make more sense to start the proceedings now? I gather it takes at least 3 months to do, so it might be good to get started now and I'd have more leverage with a judgement in my favour
4. If I enforced my claim and try to recover my money via bailiffs, freezing bank accounts or charging property - given what I've said above do you think I'm realistically going to recover anything?
5. Should I be worried about the new company they've formed at the new address? Are they trying to wind up the previous business to avoid paying their debts?
Any advice would be much appreciated. Thank you!
Repayment plan for client debt. What would you do?
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