Prices
New Zealand Collections acts as agent for the creditor.
The liable party for these fees is determined by two things:
1. A provision/clause
If a clause is present and agreed to by the debtor then the creditor can chose to make the debtor liable for costs. If this clause is not in the contract then the creditor is automatically liable for these costs.
2. Instructions
The creditor or acting creditor is responsible for instructing the collection agency as to the amount to collect. If a debt collection clause was present it is still the creditors decision as to what they instruct the agency to collect.
If the debtor signed a tenancy/finance/other contract that contained a debt collection clause, they can contact the creditor or acting creditor and negotiate the liability of these costs.
If the creditor agrees to pay these costs then they will need to contact the debt collection agency with further instructions as to the liability of these costs.
The liability of this commission or other fees is at the sole discretion of the creditor and depends on whether the debtor agreed to pay the costs of collection when they entered into the contract with the creditor.
The creditor must be able to show that the debtor agreed to pay collection costs at the time they entered into the contract with the creditor.
Negotiation of Liability
Should a debt collection clause be present in the contract, and when lodging the debt for collection creditors can consider who to make liable for costs and how the debtor incurred the debt in the first place.
There are a number of ways in which a debtor can’t get into debt, and these could be considered when deciding who is liable for debt collection costs.
Did the debtor incur the debt as a result of a change in circumstances? Are they simply experiencing hardship? Is the debt related to hardship caused by Covid 19? Or is the debt related to malicious damage or cleaning? Or was the debtor careless? All of these considerations should be taken we deciding who is liable for the cost of collection.
Payouts
Pay-outs are made quarterly in March, June, September and December and our commission is deducted at the time of each pay-out.
You will receive a statement with a breakdown of the amount being paid well in advance of the payment.
Commission
20% of the debt total
The creditor is liable for GST
District Court Enforcement
NZC may cover some of the costs of tracking and/ or enforcement which includes Solicitor and District Court application fees.
The District Court will award these costs to the top of the debt to be paid by the debtor and recover these costs first before making pay-outs to the creditor.
Attachment order
$200 inc GST
An Attachment Order is where NZ Collections applies to enforce payments directly from the debtor’s income through the District Court. An Attachment Order may be required if NZ Collections are unable to arrange a voluntary repayment plan.
This cost is made up of a $50.00 application fee charged by the Ministry of Justice and a $150.00 lawyer’s fee as a lawyer is required to sign the document before it is sent to the Ministry of Justice.
NZC may cover these costs upfront and will first recover any costs incurred as disbursements.
These costs are added to the debt amount to be paid by the debtor.
Basic Tracking
$23 inc GST
Basic Tracking is where NZ Collections needs to find additional basic information about the debtor, usually for the purpose of obtaining a tribunal order or to enforce the debt through the District Court.
Basic information includes a date of birth or an address for service which we may be able to find through our various tracking methods.
Comprehensive Tracking
$86.25 inc GST
This is where we need to find additional information about the debtor which can be more difficult to find such as new contact information or a source of income for the purpose of enforcement.
Success with tracking varies. The information we find may provide a phone number which leads to a voluntary payment, a source of income to enforce the debt.
We will continue to track the file periodically and debts are loaded with the Centrix credit bureau where we may be notified of new information at a later date.
The cost of this is charged as disbursements from money collected at the time of pay-out.