Collection fees

Collection fees are the fees that may be charged to a debtor in connection with debt collection.

Collection fees are often also referred to as collection costs and are the costs paid to the creditor or the creditor's lawyer/collection agency for the (extra) work involved in collecting your claim - costs that would not have been incurred if the claim had been paid on time.

Collection costs/collection fees are regulated by law and can always be found in the Executive Order on extrajudicial collection costs for late payment.

How much can you charge in collection fees?

Collection fees are statutory and the creditor or creditor's lawyer or debt collection company must therefore follow the statutory tariffs in the area.

In general, a distinction is made between whether the collection fees are collected by a debt collection agency/collection lawyer - called third-party collection - or whether the collection fees are collected by the creditor themselves - called self-collection.

The collection fees for third-party debt collection are higher than for self-collection.

Collection fees are tariff-based and follow a tiered model - the higher the debt, the higher the collection fee. The lowest collection fee is DKK 300 for self-collection and DKK 400 for third-party collection - and a maximum of DKK 4,250 (+0.67% over DKK 500,000) for self-collection and DKK 6,400 (+1% over DKK 500,000) for third-party collection.

You can see the collection fees for self-collection below:

Receivables from and to	Amount to be collected (ex VAT)
0 - 1.000 kr.	500 kr.
1.001 - 2.500 kr.	850 kr.
2.501 - 5.000 kr.	1,200 kr.
5.001 - 10.000 kr.	1,550 kr.
10.001 - 25.000 kr.	2,050 kr.
25.001 - 50.000 kr.	2,700 kr.
50.001 - 100.000 kr.	3,450 kr.
100.001 - 250.000 kr.	4,650 kr.
250.001 - 500.000 kr.	7,700 kr.
500.001 kr. –	DKK 7,700 + 1% of the part of the claim that exceeds DKK 500,000.

You can see the collection fees for third-party debt collection below:

Receivables from to	Amount to be collected (incl. VAT)
0 - 1.000 kr.	350 kr.
1.001 - 2.500 kr.	600 kr.
2.501 - 5.000 kr.	800 kr.
5.001 - 10.000 kr.	1.000 kr.
10.001 - 25.000 kr.	1.400 kr.
25.001 - 50.000 kr.	1.700 kr.
50.001 - 100.000 kr.	2.250 kr.
100.001 - 250.000 kr.	3,050 kr.
250.001 - 500.000 kr.	5,100 kr.
500.001 kr. –	DKK 5,100 + 0.67% of the part of the receivable that exceeds DKK 500,000.

When can collection fees be charged?

Collection fees may only be charged to a debtor if the collection process has been initiated. The debt collection process is initiated by sending a debt collection notice to the debtor. The debt collection notice must have the statutory 10-day payment deadline and otherwise comply with all formalities, cf. section 10 of the Danish Debt Collection Act.

Should collection fees be charged?

As a creditor, debt collection agency or debt collection lawyer, you have a wide range of options for imposing fees on the debtor in connection with debt collection. The fees should primarily be seen as a fee to cover all or part of the costs incurred by the creditor, debt collection agency or lawyer to recover the unpaid amount(s).

Costs imposed on the debtor that the debtor would not have incurred if the amount had been paid on time.

Like reminder fees and compensation fees, collection fees are voluntary to impose on the debtor. In other words, it is not a requirement that no reminder fee, compensation fee or collection costs are imposed - but in Denmark it is a legal requirement that you have the option to do so.

As a debt collection company, we know all about the frustration and extra time associated with debt collection - and we recommend following the options the law gives you as a creditor.