Background
Equivo Limited (“Equivo”) provides debt recovery litigation services to a wide range of businesses mainly where the underlying debt is a result of a lending transaction. We act for businesses seeking to recover debts from other businesses and from consumers, including where the debt is unsecured and where the debt in question is secured against an asset in some form.
Equivo does not, in general, act for individuals in providing debt recovery services and, in general, we act for businesses who will, through the nature of their business, wish to instruct us on a portfolio of matters with regular instructions. We rarely act for a business seeking to recover an individual debt (other than in our enforcement division) but may consider this from time to time.
Flexibility
We recognise that many businesses will wish to put their portfolio of instructions out to competitive tender and we understand that the information provided below may not, therefore, meet the expectations in approach for that tender. We confirm that we will be pleased to consider the terms of any tender to respond as appropriate.
For businesses which wish to instruct us on a portfolio of matters, the prices agreed will depend significantly on the precise requirements of the business concerning the approach to be taken, including the extent of any pre-litigation work, the extent of management information required, and the governance required including around, for example, review meetings etc. We will be happy to discuss your precise requirements.
Depending on a business’s requirements and the size of any portfolio of matters on which you wish us to act, we will consider whether hourly rates (discounted or otherwise), fixed fees, conditional fee arrangements or a damages based agreement would be appropriate. These will, however, be individually negotiated on the basis of your precise requirements.
Who will carry out my work
We have specialist teams deployed to deal with different debt types, including teams specialising in unsecured and secured lending to both consumers and businesses and asset-based lending to both consumers and businesses.
These teams include solicitors (of varying post qualification experience), legal executives, paralegals and support staff. If and when you instruct us, we will provide further information on which teams and who will act on your instructions.
A typical claim
We have set out below details on what the potential costs for recovery of an undisputed unsecured lending debt to a consumer might be. The fee structure is based on fees which might be agreed in the event of a business instructing us on a portfolio of unsecured debt.
Stage 1: Pre-Action (before court proceedings are required)
This stage would include:
- receiving instructions from you in an agreed format;
- Issue an initial letter;
- Issuing a letter of claim compliant with the Debt Pre-Action Protocol;
- Engaging in any negotiations at those stages.
Activity |
Fee |
|
Initial Letter |
£25.00 for each letter sent, plus between 10% and 25% of any sums recovered, plus VAT |
|
Letter compliant with the Debt Pre-Action Protocol |
£50.00 for each letter sent, plus between 10% and 25% of any sums recovered, plus VAT |
By way of example, if we were able to recover £1,000.00 at this stage and we sent 1 initial letter, our fee would be between £125.00 and £275.00 plus VAT. The percentage charged on recoveries will depend on the precise nature of the debts (including, for example, the debt’s age) on which we are instructed and we will be happy to discuss this with you.
Please note that these fees are exclusive of any disbursements. Disbursements are payments to third parties which we make on your behalf and for which you will be liable. At this stage, the most likely disbursement would be a trace agent fee which would be required if the debtor needed to be traced. Such fees range from £35 to £200 plus VAT.
The total cost of recovering a debt at this stage is made up of our fees plus any disbursements and VAT. These costs will not recoverable from the debtor.
If a debt is repaid after the initial letter then you are likely to know this within around 14 to 28 days. If a letter compliant with the Debt Pre-Action Protocol is required, then you are likely to know the position within around 30 days after the date of that letter. However, subject to your instructions, a debtor may be given longer to repay the debt (possibly by instalments) and this will, of course, impact on when you will receive full repayment.
Stage 2: County Court Proceedings
This stage would include:-
- Issuing court proceedings;
- Entering Judgment in default;
- Taking enforcement action.
Activity |
Our Fee |
Disbursement |
|
Issuing Proceedings |
In accordance with the fixed costs in part 45 of the Civil Procedure Rules |
In accordance with the current Civil and Family Court Fees published by HMCTS |
|
Entering judgment in default |
In accordance with the fixed costs in part 45 of the Civil Procedure Rules |
None |
|
Making an application for a charging order |
£200.00 |
In accordance with the current Civil and Family Court Fees published by HMCTS plus fees required by HM Land Registry for obtaining Office Copy Entries of the Register and for registering any Charging Order obtained. |
Fixed Costs for issuing proceedings and for entering judgment vary depending on the level of the debt. Fixed costs for issuing proceedings range between £50.00 and £100.00 and for entering judgment between £22.00 and £70.00.
Current fixed costs can be found here: PART 45 - FIXED COSTS (justice.gov.uk)
Court fees vary depending on the level of the debt and whether the claim can be issued in the County Court Business Centre or has to be issued manually. The court fee for issuing proceedings varies between £25.00 and £10,000.00.
The fee for making an application for a charging order is £110.00 and the HM Land Registry fees for obtaining Office Copy Entries of the Register and for registering any charging order are £3.00 and £20.00 respectively.
Current Court fees can be found here: EX50 Civil and Family Court Fees (publishing.service.gov.uk)
Using the above example and a debt of £3,001.00 the costs of issuing proceedings in the County Court Business Centre, obtaining default judgment and a charging order would be:-
Activity |
Our Fee |
Disbursement |
|
Issuing Proceedings |
£80.00 |
£205.00 |
|
Entering judgment in default |
£22.00 |
None |
|
Making an application for a charging order |
£200.00 |
£110.00 (court fee) £3.00 (HM Land Registry OCEs) £20.00 (HM Land registry registration fee |
From issuing proceedings to obtaining a charging order would, therefore, cost a total of £302.00 in fees and £333.00 in disbursements, plus VAT where applicable.
From issuing proceedings to obtaining a charging order would take a minimum of 3 Months or so.
Other methods of enforcing a judgment are possible, including a warrant of control or an attachment of earnings order or transfer, in certain circumstances, to the High Court for enforcement by a writ of control.
Stage 3 – Defended Claims
Of course, a defendant may dispute any claim and file a defence. In such circumstances, we would charge on a time spent basis at hourly rates to be agreed based on the seniority of the legal adviser.
Indicative hourly rates are:-
Legal Adviser Grade |
Hourly Rate |
|
Legal Director |
£375.00 |
|
Principal Associate |
£325.00 |
|
Senior Associate |
£275.00 |
|
Associate |
£225.00 |
|
Legal Executive |
£225.00 |
|
Paralegal |
£175.00 |
These rates may be discounted depending on the volume of instructions that a business proposed to instruct us on.
If a defence was filed, we would review the merits of the defence, agree a strategy with you and agree a budget for taking each further step needed to conclude the action based on the circumstances.
It is not possible to provide a time frame of estimated cost for such activity unless and until the details of a particular claim and any defence to that claim are known.