Here's What That you can do Legally As Recourse If A Company Owes You cash In Singapore

In tough financial times like the one we find inside us, the last thing we need is to be owed money by companies whom we build relationships for services or goods. This is correct whether we’re consumers or run our own business.

In such situations, short of naming and shaming them on social media, here are the channels available to you to (legally) recover what you’re owed.

#1 Contact The Company And Seek An Amicable Solution

From an expense, some time and stress perspective, it's most ideal to stay payments owed in an amicable manner, without having to turn to hiring debt collectors, private detectives or lawyers.

Companies encounter cashflow challenges constantly, and they are likely to deal with you in good faith if you showed understanding and the willingness to work things out with them.

Remember, should you push too hard and also the person or company is forced to declare bankruptcy, you might be worse off and only receive cents on the dollars you’re owed.

#2 Understand Your Debtor And Negotiate A Payment Plan

If an amicable solution isn’t possible, or if the company outrightly cut off contact, then your next step would be to gain as much information about them as possible, including ascertaining the organization ownership, directors, along with other filings with ACRA, the state government business registry.

However, if you have ascertained that you may have been cheated, such as once the debtor claims he has difficulty repaying the debt but appears to be financially stable, your next course of action is to file claims with either the little Claims Tribunals of the Courts, with respect to the balance due.

If you already decided to employ a lawyer or collector to recuperate your debt, they'd likewise be able to help you in conducting such checks.

#3 File For Claims And acquire A Court Judgement If Negotiation Fails

If the debt is owed as much as S$20,000, you are able to file a claim with the Small Claims Tribunals. Lodging your claim is fast and inexpensive, and also you don't need to hire a lawyer to file a claim.

However, do note that the limit on the claim amount is maximum $20,000, unless consent is from both sides to raise the limit to $30,000. Also, the Tribunal only hears specific kinds of cases, and loans are excluded from hearings.

If the amount you are owed exceeds $20,000 or if your case falls outside the jurisdiction from the Small Claims Tribunals, you will need to file a civil claim using the State Courts, which follows the normal civil litigation process. You can either choose to represent yourself, in order to engage an attorney to help you when filing claims using the Courts.

If you choose to engage an attorney, the lawyer will usually first send instructions of demand before filing the case. The subsequent cost of fighting the case is dependent on the complexness from the case, along with the defence another party is enduring.

If the debtor is definitely an individual, and also the debts are a lot more than $15,000, you are able to seek bankruptcy relief proceedings from the person. This brings personal restrictions on the individual's financial matters, and may encourage the debtor to pay for up if they can.

#4 Enforcement Of Debt Repayment

The debt recovery does not end with obtaining a court judgement or Order from the Tribunal. You still have to enforce the court judgement or order in order for it to take effect.

For instance, in acquiring the Order of Tribunal, any orders to effect payments through the respondent are coupled with a deadline for payment. If the respondent doesn't pay or appears to be defiant in complying with the order and appearance to possess sufficient assets of value, a separate enforcement proceeding can be taken against the debtor.

In most cases, a writ of seizure and sale may be enforced, in which the debtor's properties is going to be seized and may be sold later via public auction.

Taking Steps To prevent Bad Debts Within the First Place

By now, you would have a good understanding that recovering a debts are not really a straightforward process. For this reason you should mitigate such situations yourself from such situations by taking measures for example imposing upfront deposit, credit limits or even bank guarantees to mitigate bad debts.