Debt Collection Form There is no doubt that over the last few years, cashflow has become more and more
important and can make the difference between staying in business and going under.
Unfortunately in the present economic climate not all customers will pay up quickly and
some customers can end up not paying at all unless you take steps to ensure that this is
done. If you have an efficient debt collection system, you may find that the initial expense
of paying for such a system will be far outweighed by the benefits of having a larger
percentage of your accounts paid and paid quickly.
Remember, if a customer is slow in paying his debts, he may end up not paying you at
all. A slow paying customer will try to put off paying you as long as possible and it is
up to you to ensure that the slow paying customer realises that he cannot do this. The
longer you allow a customer’s account to remain outstanding, the less the likelihood of
D4 REPUBLIC OF IRELAND
your recovering the debt. The more quickly you act, the more likely you are to be paid.
Nobody takes pleasure in demanding money for work long since completed. Fortunately,
organisations exist with skills in extracting payment from slow paying customers. Now
the Guild of Master Craftsmen is able to recommend such an organisation specifically to
help Guild Members in Republic of Ireland.
Cormac O’Ceallaigh carry out considerable amount of debt collection work for a
number of corporate clients, small businesses and individuals and have experience of
debt recovery work throughout Republic of Ireland. In conjunction with the Guild of
Master Craftsmen, they are pleased to offer a debt collection scheme for all outstanding
accounts. The debt recovery scheme operated comes in various stages. Please read the
notes on the reverse of this form before completing the details below.
member information
Member’s Name
(If a Limited Company, please give the full name of the Company. If not a Limited Company, please give the name or names of the proprietor or partners).
Address
(For a Limited Company
this must be the registered office)
Postcode
Tel no.
Fax no.
Email/Website
Sole Trader Partnership Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) PLC Limited company Other
DEBTOR information
Business Name
(If a Company, the exact name of the company should be provided – this should be found in any letter which you might have from the customer or order form sent by
them. If not a Company, give the name or names of the proprietor or partners).
Address
(For a Limited Company this must
be the legal registered office)
Postcode
Tel no.
Fax no.
Sole Trader Partnership Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) PLC Limited company Other
NOTE: The customer will only be a limited company if ‘Limited’, ‘Ltd’ or ‘PLC’ appears after their name
Details of unpaid invoices
Invoice number
Date issued
Amount
Total Debt
£
Brief description and
approximate dates of work
involved or items supplied
(for example, goods supplied, work
done, services rendered etc).
Date sent
Fee (inc VAT)
+
Court Costs (VAT exempt)
=
Total Cheque
Formal Solicitors letters requesting payment
£21.10
None
£12.10
District Court Proceedings
£48.40
£10.00
£58.40
Circuit Court Proceedings
£96.80
£25.00
£121.00
Enter Judgement – District Court
£18.15
£5.00
£23.15
Enter Judgement and obtain Execution order – Circuit
£30.25
£55.00
£85.25
Application for seizure of goods
£18.15
£0.35
£18.50
Signed
Date
We comply with the solicitors’ introduction and referral code published by the Law Society and any solicitor to whom we refer is an independent professional from whom you will receive impartial and confidential advice. You are free
to choose another solicitor. Please note that instructions can only be accepted on the terms printed on the back of this form. Sending this form to Cormac O’Ceallaigh & Co. will be deemed to be acceptance of those terms and will be
taken as confirmation that the advice contained herein has been read and understood.
When completed send with cheque to: Cormac O’Ceallaigh & Co., Solicitors, 393 North Circular Road, Phibsboro, Dublin 7 Tel: 00 3531 830 0565
D4 (9/13)
Legal Action Required (Tick)
the debt collection service
Procedure
The procedure for following The Guild’s debt collection has been kept as simple as possible and in order to minimise costs Cormac
O’Ceallaigh & Co will keep correspondence and telephone calls to a minimum. Therefore it will be up to you to contact Cormac
O’Ceallaigh & Co in order to ascertain what progress has been made, although they would be happy to give this information over the
telephone at any stage.
Please remember to photocopy this form before despatch. You will require a copy for your records and so that you may follow the next
stage in the debt collection service, if required. Then forward the completed form with your cheque for £12.10 to Cormac O’Ceallaigh &
Co in order to ascertain, 393 North Circular Road, Dublin 7.
If you wish to proceed through the next three stages, please send a photocopy of your original, indicating with a tick the next action
required and enclosing the appropriate fee.
Only if it is necessary to proceed to full trial will consultation be required. If payment is received after proceedings have been instituted
you may expect to obtain costs covering some if not all of your costs. You should note that you will be liable for any unrecovered costs.
These notes are for guidance only and the procedure may vary from case to case. If alternative action is required, you will be advised.
Stage one
The first stage is a request from you to Cormac O’Ceallaigh & Co on the form overleaf for a formal solicitors letter demanding payment
within 14 days from your customer for the overdue account, indicating that court proceedings will commence if payment is not made.
In the majority of cases, we have found this letter alone is sufficient to obtain settlement. The letter clearly states that payment should
be made direct to you. Any correspondence received by Cormac O’Ceallaigh & Co will be copied to you upon receipt. However it is your
responsibility to contact Cormac O’Ceallaigh & Co to ensure that they have received your form and to ascertain whether a reply has
been received.
If no reply is received within a specified time, you must then decide whether you would like to proceed to the next stage or to continue
no further.
Stage two
If you decide to proceed, the next stage is the first formal step in the legal process. This step is important because if, for any reason, you
decide to call a halt to the proceedings after they have been initiated, you could be responsible for the costs of the other party. Stage
Two involves issuing legal proceedings against the debtor. Cormac O’Ceallaigh & Co will serve the proceedings following your request.
You should also consider at this stage whether the debtor is ‘good for the money’, i.e. if you are successful in obtaining a court
judgement against him, will you be able to succeed in enforcing it.
Upon being served with the proceedings, your customer will be faced with four alternatives; he can make payment to you; he can enter
a defence; he can offer to pay by installments; or he can ignore the proceedings. If he should decide to defend the action, you will then
have to decide either to proceed no further (which may involve payment of the debtor’s costs) or to pursue your claim in court.
If your customer does ignore the proceedings, you must then decide whether you want to abandon your claim or seek to obtain
judgement him or her by default.
Stage three
Should you obtain judgement against your customer, this represents a ruling by the court that your claim has been successful and
Cormac O’Ceallaigh & Co will notify him or her to that effect and will demand payment.
STAGE four
If payment is not forthcoming you will have to make the decision whether or not to proceed with enforcement by ‘taking out’ a
decree (as well as an execution order if the judgement has been obtained in the circuit court) and sending same to the local sheriff for
execution against the customer – claims for £5,000.00 and less are brought in the district court; claims for sums exceeding £5,000.00 and
not exceeding £30,000.00 are brought in the circuit court. If your customer has sufficient goods which are not subject to a hire purchase
agreement the sheriff will seize and sell them and pay your debt plus costs. Otherwise he will make a return of ‘in goods’ and all you can
do then is to issue ‘instalment proceedings’ which in practice can be costly, protracted and non-productive.
stage five
This stage, the most serious and the most expensive stage in The Guild’s debt collection service, is a preliminary hearing and trial. If your
customer has entered a defence following receipt of the proceedings, this is the only way you can proceed through the courts in order
to obtain payment. There can be no set fee as each case will vary considerably in terms of the time involved.