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How to Instruct Us
We simply require the following details:
Full name & address of the debtor
All available contact details of the debtor i.e. contact name(s) / Tel / Mobile / Email(s)
Amount owed (Invoice(s) or Statement will help)
Or ask us to call you – just leave us your details:
Portugal Debt Collection – No Win No Fee
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.
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:
The local International Debt collection Partners know:
The local cultures
The best methods of initiating debt recovery letters and processes
The languages
The laws
Are in the same time zones
Herewith details of our debt collection service Portugal:
Location of debt recovery office in Portugal?
Lisbon (the capital city of Portugal). All debt collection letters are sent by the local head office.
Number of debt collection staff?
6 (Lawyers and 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.
How long have you been operating a debt recovery service in Portugal?
We have been operating a European debt collection service on a no win no fee basis in Portugal since 1959. Portugal is included on our debt collection agency list.
What type of debt collection services do you provide? Do you do commercial debt recovery (B2B) and consumer debt recovery (B2C)?
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.
Statue of Limitation in Portugal?
The general limitation period (B2B) for bringing an action in the Portuguese court is 20 years but reduced periods operate in certain circumstances. Perhaps the most significant are consumer contracts (i.e. between a commercial concern and a consumer), where the period is 2 years and claims for interests where the period is 5 years.
Breach of statute of limitation can be of a judicial nature (court notification) or extra judicial (acceptance of the right/claim by document in writing, payment proposals, part payments but also unequivocal tacit acceptance).
Portugal civil litigation statute of limitations is a law that time limits a plaintiff’s right to bring a claim against a defendant. The statute of limitations in Portugal is 3-15 years. However, if an action has been taken within this time then the statute of limitations time will be extended to account for this. Once the specified time period elapses then no action can be taken through the legal processes unless the plaintiff is able to prove exceptional circumstances. Other Statute of Limitations include:
Portugal Open Account Years – 3-15 years
Portugal Promissory Notes – 5-20 years
Portugal Written Contracts – 5-20 years
Portugal Oral Agreements – 5-20 years (depends if the claim is considered valid)
How EU (European Union) laws effect debt collection in Portugal?
In Portugal there are several commercial registry offices, scattered throughout the territory, as the main external services of the Institute of Registries and Notaries, I.P. (IRN), a public institute under the tutelage of the Ministry of Justice
Portugal has been a European Union (EU) member country since 1986, Euro area member since 1999 and Schengen area member since 1995.
How many companies registries in Portugal for businesses (i.e. UK has just 1 central registry)?
There is 1 company registry in Portugal which is called Portal da Empresa / Institute of Registrars and Notaries (Instituto dos Registos e Notariado – IRN (Ministry of Justice) located in Av. Fontes Pereira de Melo 7, 1050-115 Lisboa, Portugal.
We have access to Portugal Company Registry searches to find out who further background information on all Portugal companies.
What is the debt collection process in Portugal?
In Portugal, according to the law — the law which defines the acts of the lawyers
— it is up to lawyers to carry on all the acts of negotiation with debtors with the aim of collecting a debt for third parties (creditors).
Lawyers are bound by professional and ethical rules supervised by the Bar Association and “don’t pay visits to debtors”).
As a Law Office, lawyers handle the debt collection cases.
We act from the vision that behinds every debt there’s a story and that every debtor as its own reason why the claim has remained unpaid.
We study the cases and make the necessary searches within our reach.
We write to the debtors asking for payment, we call, we send emails and letters. We make payment agreements (when the client accepts them), put them in writing and control every payment.
When amicable collection is not possible, we start legal action, if instructed by the client to do it. We also work with a Credit Report Company from whom, at the request of the creditor, we order (and pay) information about the debtors in order to know about their financial situation
Average length of time to collect a debt?
The average time taken to recover a Portugal B2B debt collection case varies from case to case.
(i) Amicably: the time it takes as long as amicable recovery succeeds
Our core value is to make an appropriate payment arrangement that is tailored to the unique circumstances of the debtor
(ii) Judicial: depends on the proceeding and the Court
Can late payment fees / interest to be added to claims?
We can add interests but in what concerns collection costs/fees they don’t have to be paid by the debtors unless there is a previous and written agreement between creditor and debtor establishing it. If this agreement does not exist we can only ask for an indemnity of EUR 40.00 through a judicial proceeding
Details on legal service / process in Portugal?
(i) Simple collection proceedings (injunggo);
(ii) Enforcement proceedings (acqgo executiva);
(iii) Declaratory proceedings (acggo declarativa condenatoria);
(iv) Protective measures (procedimentos cautelares);
(v) Insolvency proceedings (acqgo de insolvéncia).
II) If payment is not voluntarily made by the debtor, we can file a simple collection procedure which is a simplified and swifter claim, in which the payment is requested to the debtor without submitting any documentation, who is granted a 15 days deadline to challenge it. If the debtor does not challenge the claim, we obtain a title that is enforceable expectably within 2 months. If the debtor challenges the credit, this procedure will evolve into a judicial claim, which will take around one year to reach the trial hearing phase.
a) Filing the simple collection procedure: Lawyer fees + Court fees of EUR 102,00.
b) If the debtor challenges it, evolving into a judicial claim, which will result in a trial hearing, we would apply an hourly rate which would be quoted at the time. An additional EUR 102,00 is due for court fees.
III) In case we need to enforce either the title obtained with the simple collection procedure or the judgment ulteriorly obtained in the judicial claim, we would provide quotation for the enforcement.
European Payment Order in Portugal
Where the claim is uncontested, the creditor can obtain an enforceable order (título executivo) without having to bring a court action. The payment order procedure is established by Decree-Law 269/98 and regulated by Chapter II of the annex to that law. Article 10 refers to the model payment order application approved by Ministerial Implementing Order No 21 of 28 January 2020.
There is a maximum amount of EUR 15 000 for contract claims but no upper limit for commercial transaction claims.
In Portugal the competent body is the National Payment Orders Office (Balcão Nacional de Injunções), a single registry located in Porto.
The creditor may choose to lodge the payment order application with either the National Payment Order Office, the registry of court of the place of performance of the obligation, or the registry of the court of the debtor’s domicile, which will subsequently send it to the National Payment Order Office (Article 8(1) of the annex to Decree-Law 269/98).
Creditors not represented by a solicitor can submit the application for the order in writing.
What language should the application be made in Portugal?
The language used in judicial proceedings is Portuguese, in accordance with Article 133 CPC. Foreign nationals who need to be heard in a Portuguese court may use a different language if they do not speak Portuguese.
Documents may be formulated verbally or in writing. The method selected should be the one that best corresponds to the intended purpose (Article 131 CPC).
What Courts are used in Portugal?
There are four main court systems used in Portugal being:
Constitutional Court (Tribunal Constitucional), which is specifically competent to administer justice on legal-constitutional issues, the following categories of court exist in Portugal:
The Supreme Court of Justice (Supremo Tribunal de Justiça) and the judicial courts of first and second instance;
The Supreme Administrative Court (Supremo Tribunal Administrativo)
The Court of Auditors (Tribunal de Contas).
Mediation (Alternative Dispute Resolution - ADR) in Portugal
Portugal has a centralised government body responsible for the regulation of mediation activities – the Directorate-General for Justice Policy (Direção-Geral da Política de Justiça).
Portugal has adopted measures to promote the use of mediation in specific areas of law, namely family, employment, criminal, civil and commercial matters. There are no non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working in the area of mediation in Portugal. However, there are private associations that provide mediation services and training programmes for mediators.
For Civil and commercial cases EUR 25 is to be paid by each party (this type of mediation can take place in Julgados de Paz and, in this case, this fee is paid if a settlement is reached).
Presently the public mediation systems, which includes civil and commercial mediation that takes place before Julgados de Paz, only aims to resolve disputes in Portugal, using the procedures and applications provided by Portuguese legislation.
Can Statutory Interest Rate be added in Portugal?
Portuguese legislation does provide for statutory interest rates to be added to a claim.
Civil statutory interest is set by a joint ministerial implementing order (Portaria) of the Ministers of Justice and Finance, in accordance with Article 559(1) of the Portuguese Civil Code (Código Civil). At the time of writing, civil interest rates are set by Ministerial Implementing Order No 291/03 of 8 April 2003, which is still in force.
Commercial statutory interest is set by a joint ministerial implementing order of the Ministers of Justice and Finance in accordance with Article 102(3) to (5) of the Portuguese Commercial Code (Código Comercial) as amended by Decree-Law No 62/2013 of 10 May 2013. At time of writing, the setting of commercial interest was regulated by Ministerial Implementing Order No 277/13 of 26 August 2013, under which commercial interest rates are set on a biannual basis.
A compulsory interest surcharge of 5% is added to the statutory interest owed if payment of a monetary amount is ordered by means of a court judgment. In this case, interest at the rate of 5% per annum will automatically be owed - without the need for any other judicial decision to that effect - counting from the effective date of the judgment. This compulsory financial penalty is added to the penalty interest, where applicable, or to the compensation owed, in accordance with Article 829-A(4) of the Portuguese Civil Code.
Portugal Business Credit Reports
Creditreform provides over 88 million international business credit reports throughout Europe and 200 million international business credit reports worldwide. Total businesses registered in Portugal is over 2 million. Through our online databases you can download Portugal business credit reports instantly. This 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.
Portugal Skip Tracing Agents
Creditreform’s debt collection company service also uses expert local Portugal 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..
Specialist Debt Recovery Experts
There are many unique requirements to recovering international debts in all countries including Portugal debt collection services which differ from the UK debt collection agency services and therefore it is very important that cases are handled directly by our expert international debt collection agencies and not from debt collectors UK. 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.
Portugal Debt Collection Partners in the following Portugal Cities
Who are the main trading partners for Portugal?
Which countries border Portugal?
What is the Supreme Court in Portugal?
The Supreme Courts for Portugal are called
The Constitutional Court (Tribunal Constitucional) was established in Lisbon in 1982.
The Supreme Court of Justice (Portuguese: Supremo Tribunal de Justiça).