Debt Collection of Unpaid Bills in Germany

Bills due and not getting paid? To get your money from German customers, choose debt collection by a lawyer in Germany.

Customers not paying their bills is a pain in the neck – especially if they are hiding in a foreign country, where you can’t easily get hold of them. We are a German law firm and we can help you to collect money from your German customers, that are unwilling to pay. Don’t let these customers do damage to your company. You have got a good chance to get your money, if you collect it via a German lawyer.

If you have got customers, that simply won’t pay, we can collect that money from them. Our team knows – based on their own experience with small family companies – how hard it can be to loose out on that expected income. For many of our regular clients who originally came to us with other legal cases, we now also handle collection of their due bills. If you have a steady amount of unpaid bills with German customers, we can offer you a convenient lump sum fee per case.

There are many different ways to collect your money. A written reminder by a German lawyer or a court order (Geman „Mahnbescheid“) are the most frequently used methods.

If customers do not respond to your reminders, there is still a significant chance that they will react to a more pressurising written reminder by a German law firm. Even the severe and determined tone of a written reminder by a german lawyer increases the effect on the customer. The seriousnes and implied consequenses of a letter from a law firm can be all it needs to tip non-paying customers over. Some customers simply need a more demanding note to get their attention to your due invoice.

We understand that you as a company do not want to displease your customers. That’s why you write to them in a friendly tone, even when you are not getting payed, in order to grow a good customer relationship. A written reminder by a lawyer can be done in a more demanding tone, because your customers do not associate this experience with your company but with the law firm. Therefore a written reminder by a German lawyer does not effect the customer relationship in such a negative way as if it came from your company directly. As a german law firm, we are not only helping you collect your bills, we are also a moral shield for your company.

If your customers do not pay, even after several written reminders, you should consider getting a court order for your unpaid bill. The German „Mahnverfahren“ is a simplified and sped up court process which can be settled within a month. The court sends on application a payment demand court order (German „Mahnbescheid“) to the customer. The customer then has 3 options: He either pays, which is the best option, he does nothing, or he opposes. If he does nothing we can than get a executory title (German „Vollstreckungsbescheid“) which is valid for 30 years. With this title we can send out a bailiff court officer (German „Gerichtsvollzieher“) to execute collection of your money, forcefully if it needs to be.

If a customer defaults because he does not pay an overdue invoice, he has to refund all legal costs you had for the collection. In order to be in default, the customer has to be warned with a written reminder.

In our reminder, we also demand from the customer to pay for our costs. In case of a court order we also ensure that all costs are included and that no possible refunds are overlooked.

It is not recommended to collect your money via collection agencies. These are admittedly good at pushing at the customer, but they are often not well enough informed to do a proper consistent legal case procedure. If your case comes to litigation you will need a lawyer anyways and thus would have to pay twice. Collecting agencies also have a very negative image and do not leave a good impression of your company from the point of view of the customers. We would only recommend choosing a collection agency if you have very many open bills that you want to collect in bulk without actually intending to bring all these small cases to court, which might leave not as bad a negative impression of your company on the customers.