How a Pre-Sue Report Can Help Recover a Debt

Introduction

By getting a pre-sue report, you will be able to identify if a business or an individual who owes you money, is in a position to repay the debt that they owe you. With an extensive pre-litigation or pre-sue report, it will help you to be able to clarify what the debtor’s financial situation is overall, and it will help you to determine if taking them to court to recover a debt is going to be viable once you start to enforce any awarded judgment. The pre-sue report is the best due diligence one can perform to recover a debt.

When you have a pre-sue or a pre-litigation report, you will be able to have access to some specific financial background information, all about the creditworthiness and financial standing of the debtor. Knowing this kind of background information can be very valuable in debt recovery proceedings as if it is found that they as an individual or a business have very little money and have a very bad credit rating, that they are unlikely to be able to pay the debt without you taking extended enforcement recovery action.

With a comprehensive and unbiased financial background assessment, you will have a range of pre-litigation information, which will really help to inform you with accurate information that is needed to help you to make some informed choices about your next steps. 

In the realm of debt recovery in the United Kingdom, solicitors often find themselves navigating a labyrinthine process. Debtors may be unwilling to pay, assets may be hidden, and litigation can be costly and time-consuming. It is in this complex landscape that the pre-litigation or pre-sue report emerges as a powerful tool, offering indispensable insights and strategic advantages to solicitors. This authoritative article aims to shed light on the significance of pre-litigation reports in debt collection, explaining how they can facilitate successful debt recovery while minimizing the need for litigation and enforcement proceedings.

The Essence of Pre-Litigation Reports

Pre-litigation reports, often prepared by experienced investigative agencies, serve as a comprehensive dossier on the debtor’s financial situation, assets, and liabilities. These reports provide solicitors with a detailed overview of the debtor’s financial position, thus enabling informed decisions about debt recovery strategies. Key components of these reports may include:

1. Financial Status Assessment: A thorough analysis of the debtor’s financial status, including income, expenses, outstanding debts, and creditworthiness.
2. Asset Investigation: A meticulous search for assets owned by the debtor, which may include real estate, vehicles, bank accounts, and investments.
3. Liabilities and Debts: An examination of any existing debts, judgments, or encumbrances against the debtor.
4. Credit History: A review of the debtor’s credit history and any previous litigation or enforcement actions.

Why Pre-Litigation Reports Matter

1. Informed Decision-Making: A pre-litigation report equips solicitors with the essential information needed to make informed decisions regarding the most appropriate debt recovery strategy. Armed with a comprehensive understanding of the debtor’s financial circumstances, solicitors can tailor their approach to increase the likelihood of success.
2. Minimising Litigation Costs: Litigation is often costly and time-consuming. By leveraging pre-litigation reports, solicitors can assess whether litigation is the most viable option. If a debtor’s financial situation is dire, pursuing legal action may be futile, and resources can be better allocated to alternative recovery methods.
3. Negotiating from a Position of Strength: Armed with concrete evidence of the debtor’s financial situation, solicitors can negotiate repayment plans or settlements from a position of strength. Debtors are more likely to cooperate when they realize that their financial circumstances are thoroughly documented.
4. Asset Tracing and Recovery: Pre-litigation reports often include valuable information about the debtor’s assets. This can be instrumental in identifying and recovering assets to satisfy the debt, should litigation become necessary.
5. Compliance and Due Diligence: Utilizing pre-litigation reports demonstrates due diligence on the part of solicitors, reducing the risk of legal or ethical issues arising during debt collection efforts. This ensures that all collection actions adhere to applicable laws and regulations.

The Role of Pre-Litigation Reports in UK Debt Recovery

In the United Kingdom, the pre-litigation phase plays a critical role in the debt recovery process. Solicitors often prefer to explore alternative methods of recovery before resorting to litigation. Pre-litigation reports serve as the cornerstone of this approach, offering a cost-effective and strategic means of resolving debts without entering the courtroom.

Furthermore, the UK legal system encourages early dispute resolution through mechanisms such as the Pre-Action Protocol for Debt Claims. This protocol encourages creditors to provide debtors with sufficient information and time to respond to claims before initiating legal proceedings. Pre-litigation reports align perfectly with this protocol, enabling solicitors to engage in meaningful negotiations and settlement discussions.

When to use a pre-sue report

When you think about collecting debt, then there is a range of different methods that are available to help you to retrieve and recover the debts that are owed. You may have already tried some, but they could have been unsuccessful. Knowing if your debtor has the ability to pay the debts that are owed is something that you aren’t likely to know, without doing a little digging or looking into financial background information which generally is not available to the general public.

The option to check on your debtor, to help you to determine the financial status of your debtor, is when pre-sue information can be most helpful. 

Obtaining a pre-sue report is a vital step before you start to take legal action to recover money owed to you against a company or an individual that owes you a sum of money. By understanding, if any court action is going to be worth it and be effective in the end, will help you to make sure that you aren’t wasting more of your time and money by going through the process of litigation and it being unsuccessful when it comes to enforcement to recover any outstanding sums.

What information is in a pre-sue report

With a pre-sue report, you will be able to identify how a person or a company can pay back what is owed. The report itself will help to provide a good summary of the individual’s financial position or financial means, or that of a business, which will help to make it clear and possible for you to decide if taking them to court is something that is going to be needed, and if so, whether it is something that is likely to be successful. 

When you are looking into a pre-sue report for an individual, then there is certain information that you will get back. This will include their full name and their date of birth, along with where they are currently living, with the address details at a bare minimum.

You will also have access to any previous addresses, which may prove helpful if they are hard to locate or can show how much money they have tied up in properties when the report checks for ownership of these historic properties. Knowing if they are currently employed is something that is useful as it will help you to decide if they have the means to pay you back and enable the use of an attachment of earnings order as you will know the current employer details, which is why employment status will be in the report, where possible to find such information.

When you look to get a pre-litigation report, we will always adhere to the Data Protection Act, GDPR, and Human Rights Act.

As has been mentioned, the current address and the previous address will be reported, as well as other owned property details in the UK, using the land registry and other data sets available to us. The report will also detail any CCJs that are currently against them or have been awarded over the last 6 years, which again, gives you a clear picture of their situation and the potential for getting any money back from them. The CCJs listed, if any, will state the date, the court, and the case number, which can be researched if required.

For an individual pre-sue report, their credit & financial history will also be assessed. This will come with a breakdown of details of insolvency or bankruptcy along with multiple searches for pre-bankruptcy applications. This is a vital part of the report, particularly if you are trying to recover a debt that was made before the individual declared bankruptcy. 

If you are looking to potentially sue a business, then the reporting will be slightly different on a pre-sue report. All businesses need to declare their address details, information around partnerships, business interests, and information about the location of properties and sales.

As a company, the debtor could also use other names or an alias, which is what can also be found as part of the report. Contact telephone numbers and registered addresses can also be found from a pre-sue report looking at businesses. It is important to note that all reports will differ slightly, and in most cases, will be tailored to suit the needs of the client’s requests.

How does a pre-sue report help you to recover a debt

With all of the financial means information that can come from a pre-sue report, you will be in a much better position to help to recover any debts that are owed to you. If you know if they have the ability to repay the debt that is owed via liquid or fixed assets, then it can be worth pursuing it through civil action.

If you are a small business that is owed money by a client that has blocked calls from you, as an example, but you see from a pre-sue report that they are still working and have the means to pay you, then through civil action, you will be in a good position to recover your debts.

When they are contacted by someone other than you, then it will be very beneficial to recovering your debt, as being summoned to court can’t be ignored. 

On a side note, a pre-sue report can be also beneficial to confirm that you are not likely to get the money back. As a result, and although disappointing, it will stop you from spending further money on legal fees in the short term to pursue something that won’t be fruitful in the end over the short term or until circumstances may have changed. 

Advantages of using a pre-sue report

There are a number of advantages of using a pre-sue report. To start off with, getting an in-depth pre-litigation report, means that you can build a clear profile of the business or the individual that you are dealing with. You also get all of this, but it is done on your behalf. It no longer needs to take up any more of your time, as the results of the report will be back within seven days, and then you can make a decision about what to do after that. 

One big advantage that comes from a pre-sue report is that investigators will have access to a range of industry access-only databases, which will help you to get information that you as an individual or a business would not normally have access to.

With a team of people looking into this and gathering information for you, as well as a team that is highly experienced in this type of research and investigating, you will get a reliable and stellar report that will be thorough and professional. 

Is it worth using a pre-sue report?

Getting a pre-sue report can be beneficial, as it outlines a number of things for you, and helps to answer the question of knowing if pursuing civil action to recover a debt is going to be worth it. If you want to recover your debt sooner rather than later, then a pre-sue or a pre-litigation report is definitely going to be worth it. 

Knowing the last-known address for an individual can be vital, especially if they have stopped any correspondence with you, and letters have been returned to the sender. That is why getting a pre-sue report can be so worth it, as this kind of information will be uncovered and made available to you.

If you need to take civil legal action, for instance, then knowing their current physical residential address can be a great starting point as this is required for any legal proceedings to commence.

A pre-sue report does come with a cost but compared to the amount that could be spent and wasted on taking legal action and it being fruitless for enforcement as there are no assets or income to enforce against, it can definitely be worth it. Moreover, the pre-sue report can uncover hidden assets and liquid assets that you may of been unaware of or that the debtor was taking action to evade being detected or declared.

How to request a pre-sue report

If you are interested in finding out more about how you can recover a debt with a pre-sue report, then get in contact with us today.

With our team of experts in research and pre-litigation, we can tailor the search to suit your requirements, from just looking into a current address, to one of our standard pre-sue reports or an in-depth pre-litigation report, depending on the depth of financial background information that you need.

Conclusion

In the multifaceted world of debt collection in the United Kingdom, pre-litigation reports emerge as a vital tool for solicitors seeking efficient and effective debt recovery solutions. These reports empower Solicitors and Creditors with actionable insights into debtors’ financial situations, paving the way for informed decisions and strategic approaches that minimise the need for costly litigation and enforcement actions.

Incorporating pre-litigation reports into debt collection strategies demonstrates a commitment to due diligence and responsible debt recovery practices. In a legal landscape that values early resolution and compliance, solicitors would be wise to harness the power of pre-litigation reports to navigate the complexities of debt recovery in the UK effectively.

*Article updated 9th October 2023