Debt Collection NEW ZEALAND 

Creditreform operates a global specialist International debt collections service. We have local offices and fully approved expert international debt collection agency partners in every country worldwide. All our International debt collection agency partners and offices operate on a No Win No Fee basis charging an agreed commission against monies recovered only. All our international offices and partners initiate the collection processes by sending the debtors a debt collection letter to introduce their involvement. 

 

Main reasons why a local country debt recovery agency is so important rather than trying to recover from a debt collection agency UK are as follows: 

 

 

 

Christchurch. All debt collection letters are sent by the local head office. 

4 staff. Each staff member is allocated a client and all their debt collection letters are personalised in order to effect the best response result s from debtors. 

Since 2011 

We handle both Business to Business debt recovery cases and Business to Consumer debt collections cases. There is different content for business to business debt collection letter templates and business to consumer debt collection letters templates. 

6 years from the date of last payment (not invoice). District / High Court Judgments 12 years. 

 

1 registry in New Zealand 

B2C (Consumer) debts we need to ensure the subject can be 100% identified before pursuing 

B2B (Business) debts there are NO privacy issues unless a personal guarantee(s) is enforceable on a NZ Director(s) / Shareholder(s) 

B2B pre legal we have a 48% success rate average paying days 57, B2C 100 + days 

Can only legally be claimed and pursued for if the debtor completed i.e. Credit Account Application and duly noted and signed the appendix T’S & C’s. 

Whilst the creditor is legally entitle for reimbursement the debtor does not have to pay, unless these have been claimed and awarded in District / High Court sealed judgment. 

For B2B debts if there is no guarantors then a Statutory Demand (under section 289 of The Companies Act can be issued providing the original debt (no added costs) is greater than $1,000. Generally you would not issue unless you are prepared to go the whole way and have them placed in liquidation, , most costs awarded on a successful action, but the creditor will remain unsecured unless holding security or charge on assets. Enforcement of judgments = Creditors Petition “Bankruptcy”, Order of Examination (conducted by a Deputy Registrar of the District Court) debtor gives FULL disclosure of their financial position [An order maybe made to pay the debt in full (lump sum) or time payment, the courts may also grant a attachment order if the judgment debtor is in paid employment or a government assistance benefit, generally not when the debtor is self-employed. District Warrant, order to seize assets, generally these are vehicles, Boats Jet Ski, personal effects and tools of trade will not be seized. If the judgment debtor owns property a charge can be registered, at extremes a charging order placed on the property a order for a forced sale, however, best that Bankruptcy Proceedings are commenced as not all sitting Judges grant charging orders. At times we also recognise and enforce overseas judgments. A great piece of legislation for the countries that fall under the Sovereignty the likes of UK, India [The Reciprocal Enforcements of Judgments Act 1934]. Yes we have had ex pats left huge debts behind in the UK come to NZ buy property etc and use that asset as a lien, the debtor(s) generally want to pay the debt without this action. We do many property searches this also includes any undeveloped land, we can search by name only and the entire country, in Australia you have to do State by State and rather expensive, here a basic property ownership will set clients back a small fee. If there are mortgages, charges etc, it would pay to obtain a copy of the Mortgage Instruments, these are expensive but will tell you how much they owe and then a financial decision can be made to go after the property or not in lieu of payment of the debt. 

 

In recent months New Zealand privacy laws have got tougher to find transient debtors, some can be found on various databases but we are seeing more to utilise external skip tracers most work on a No Find No Fee basis. 

Creditreform provides over 88 million international business credit reports throughout Europe and 200 million international business credit reports worldwide. We provide freshly investigated New Zealand Credit Reports which can be done prior to trading to make sure the company you will be dealing with can meet the commitment or once the debt becomes overdue to ensure the debtor can meet the amount owed. 

Creditreform’s debt collection company service also uses expert local New Zealand tracing agent services to locate any absconded debtor. This debtor tracing service is provided on a No Find No Fee basis only charging for a successful trace. 

There are many unique requirements to recovering international debts in all countries including New Zealand debt collection services which differ from the UK and therefore it is very important that cases are handled directly by our expert international debt collection agency in that country and not from debt collectors UK only. This method of international debt collection sets Creditreform aside from the competition who in many cases try and recover debts from a UK debt collector only. Using the local offices and partners enables us to achieve a far greater success rate and our No Win No Fee service together with competitive commission rates against monies recovered only ensures you get the best service.