What’s in a name? Preliminary steps you can take towards a successful debt recovery.

In 1597, Shakespeare’s Juliet asked: – “What’s in a name?” The implication being that the name of a thing isn’t as important as the thing itself.

This logic may have worked for Juliet, but as far as we know she was not in the position of trying to extract payment from a debtor. Today, knowing who you are entering into a contract with is essential to a successful debt recovery.

Any legal document, particularly Court documents, require the accurate and complete legal names of a debtor to succeed. Commencing debt recovery action without correct details can result in the claim failing and you incurring legal costs that you are unable to recover (and worse, having to pay the other side’s costs).

Some examples of common mistakes we see are set out below:

Remember that being able to prove that you are owed a debt largely relies on you, the creditor, being able to produce documents that correctly identify the debtor as the person or entity with whom you contracted.  If the source documentation is ambiguous or incorrect then this can pollute the whole transaction and lead to significant difficulty should you have to rely on those documents to issue proceedings to attempt to recover a debt.

Below are some helpful tips to consider:

Before you enter into an agreement or provide goods or services on credit

– Is the entity I am contracting with an individual or a company?

– Do I have the full name and address of that company or individual?

– If I am contracting with a company, is that company registered and do I have its Australian Company Number (ACN)? The Australian Securities and Investments Commission website (asic.gov.au) enables you to check business names, company names, ACN’s and ABN’s for free;

– Is the person you are communicating with an authorised representative of the entity? What is their role in the business?

After entering into an agreement:

– Is the full and correct name of the company or individual consistently included on all important documents including the quotation, invoices, payment claim?

Lewis Holdway Lawyers can assist you to review your Terms and Conditions and Credit Application to ensure that you obtain the necessary information at the start of a transaction and assist you should a subsequent debt be unpaid.  Having a strong foundation to build a claim on will give you confidence should you have to take legal action to recover a debt.

Please contact Charlotte Cooper on 0492 216 990 to discuss how we may assist you.