Italian Debt Collection

Question: Can you assist us with an Italian debt collection? How much would it cost?

Answer: We have a large nationwide debt collection practice assisting creditors from all countries collecting Italian debts, as follows:

A) Pre-Assessment

1) We exchange communications with the creditor to collect and review the legal merit of the case (e.g., creditor and debtor/s details for conflict of interest check, nature and entity of the credit, possible documents supporting the claimed outstanding debt including emails, letters, invoices, shipping documents, order forms, accountancy, etc.);
2) We review case circumstances and provide the creditor with an initial pre-assessment evaluation. The result might be that we suggest possible options and costs to pursue an action with our assistance. Or we might conclude that the case does not qualify for our debt collection practice, for example, when the cost and effort to pursue the debt collection would exceed the amount that can reasonably be expected to be recovered.

B) Legal Fee Structure – Initial Activities:

Depending on the case circumstances, we might offer some activities to be carried out under a flat fee, or under the conventional per hour fee structure. In the latter case, capped amounts can be pre-established. Commission basis legal fees are not allowed in Italy.

Our initial paid activities might include as follows:

3) We carry out a company record search about business standing and business assets (real estate, vehicles, bank accounts);
4) We provide creditor with preliminary advice regarding case assessment, company check outcome and options to pursue the debt collection action, if advisable;

C.1.) Positive Result

If the business check result is positive we would typically carry out the following activities:

5) Contact the debtor by phone, serve a letter before action and pursue amicable settlement out of Court;
6) Should the debtor not comply, we might recommend filing an application for a Court payment order.

C.2) Negative Result

If the business check result is negative, the creditor might be interested in a Not-Collectable Credit Statement, for instance to deduct the credit for tax purposes or to file a claim compensation with a third party etc.

Applicable legal fees are always quoted in advance and need to be agreed on before our billable activities starts.

Related information

• Debt Collection – Practice Area
• Not-Collectable Credit Statement