Own collection

Self-collection is a legal term for debt collection by a creditor (a company or an individual) against one or more of its debtors.

What is self-collection?

Self-collection is a legal term for debt collection by a creditor (a company or an individual) against one or more of its debtors. Self-collection can be carried out by anyone in the company or by private individuals, and no approval, authorization or similar is required for company staff to carry out the debt collection process.

In the case of self-collection, the creditor is responsible for the entire debt collection process, from the debt collection notice to any enforcement court hearing, and thus also for keeping up to date on legislative deadlines, rules and the like regarding debt collection.

The opposite of self-collection is third-party debt collection, which is where the creditor hires a licensed collection agency or collection lawyer to help them recover money from customers (also known as debtors).

Self-collection should generally be carried out by the company itself, but may also be assisted by the company's external bookkeeper or accountant, as long as it is on behalf of the company.

Self-collection is often a cheaper solution and generally only requires the time of the company's staff. However, if the company has many unpaid invoices with great complexity, it can often be more profitable to outsource its debt collection. We always recommend that you discuss your options regarding your debt collection situation with a lawyer or debt collection company to assess whether self-collection is the right solution for you in terms of price, yield and effect.

What is the difference between self-collection and third-party collection?

Basically, the big difference is that you as a creditor are solely responsible for your own debt collection. If you leave your debt collection cases to an external partner, it is often your lawyer or debt collection company that is fully responsible for complying with applicable rules, requirements, formalities and deadlines.

Legally, there is nothing a debt collection company can do that you are not allowed to do yourself. In practice, however, many people find that third-party debt collection can have a number of advantages, such as efficiency and a certain different structure in the processing of their cases.

Many people also say that a debtor shows a different level of respect towards a debt collection company or debt collection lawyer compared to letters sent by a company. However, there are no statistics to back up this claim.

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