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A Guide to Credit Management:

Difference between judicial debt collection and extrajudicial debt collection
Debt collection activities ( dunning ) fall into two broad categories: judicial debt collection and extrajudicial debt collection .

In the case of out-of-court debt collection, all the actions implemented do not involve the judicial authority : the person responsible for recovering the missed payment cannot force the debtor, but must be able to communicate with him, attempting to persuade him .

In the case of judicial debt collection, however, the creditor - after having honduras whatsapp resource unsuccessfully attempted to obtain payment by resorting to extrajudicial means - decides to turn to the judicial authority which then intervenes through enforcement on the debtor's assets.

A further general clarification on the concept of credit : in order to proceed with the recovery of a missed payment, it is essential that the credit in question presents the three characteristics of certainty , finiteness (liquidity) and enforceability .

Certainty: There must be a sufficient number of elements to demonstrate its existence.
Finiteness (liquidity): must be certified in its exact amount.
Due date: based on the debtor's actual assets, if there are no terms or conditions that prevent payment.
Actions of judicial debt collection
Judicial debt collection can only be carried out by lawyers or companies registered with the Bar Association, upon the initiative of a legally authorized person and in the presence of an enforceable title (judgment, bill of exchange, etc.). It can be divided into a series of actions:

the injunction : a formal provision by which the Judge issues a payment order, which may be followed by a hearing and, possibly, the seizure of the debtor's assets;
the revocation action and the precautionary seizure ( which protect the creditor's patrimonial guarantee) : they allow action to be taken on the debtor's assets, even if these had previously been sold;
seizure (in the presence of a ruling in favour of the creditor by the Court) : the forced expropriation of the debtor's property, whether movable or immovable, which is subsequently sold ;
bankruptcy petition: final enforcement action that is carried out in the absence of other assets.
Credit Management: What is the current scenario?

Professional debt collection entities
Debt collection is an activity that must have precise organizational and continuous characteristics. If it is carried out by others and not directly by the creditor, it must be delegated to professional entities ( debt collection agencies ) that:

are in possession of specific authorization ,
do not act to recover their own credits, but the credits of third parties .
The application for obtaining the authorization must be submitted to the Police Headquarters or to the SUAP – the One-Stop Shop for Productive Activities , present in all Italian Municipalities, which deals with the procedures relating to the opening and management of a business. The SUAP is required to forward the authorization to the competent Police Headquarters .



The operational context: the Italian situation
In Italy, the stock of credits entrusted for recovery to Unirec member companies reached, in 2022, the record figure of approximately 200 billion euros , +26% compared to approximately 160 billion in 2021, with strong growth in the amounts managed for Third Party Accounts. Credits managed in C/III represented approximately 80% of the total: 52% of the amounts are related to the B2C (Business to Consumer) sector which this year surpasses B2B (Business to Business). At a territorial level, the majority of credits entrusted (43%), considering Third Party Accounts (C/III), are concentrated in four main regions: Lombardy (15%), Lazio (10.6%), Campania (9.4%) and Sicily (remains stable at 8%). While Emilia-Romagna, Tuscany and Veneto show an increase in the weight of the amounts entrusted, but not significant enough to change their percentage of the total.

During the annual conference of the National Union of Credit Protection Companies, Francesco Vovk, before passing the baton to the new president Marcello Grimaldi, underlined how “the XIII annual report of Unirec gives back the image of a sector in profound evolution.”

In a previous interview with Vovk, it emerges that debt collection increasingly means "having a very precise management organization, having an in-depth understanding of macroeconomic phenomena, excellent IT equipment and a marked orientation towards problem solving towards the consumer debtor" .

The article also states that it is “the ability to preserve the relationship with the debtor ” that is becoming increasingly important. Such an objective can only be achieved by fully exploiting all the tools available and making the most of the most advanced skills (technological, relational, communicative). According to Vovk, in fact, it is through investment in digital that the quality of service can be improved. As Cristian Bertilaccio, Vice President of UNIREC, states, “the adoption of high standards of quality and compliance, IT security and protection of information assets, the implementation of control processes on multiple levels, also represent essential requirements to which all the actors in the supply chain are called upon to provide answers.”

The debt collection process: sending the reminder
Sending a reminder is the central moment in the debt collection process ( dunning ). The reminder must have some essential elements:

the title (the source of the right claimed by the creditor, for example the contract or estimate signed between the parties, the reference to the outstanding invoice, etc.);
the exact amount to be paid;
the deadline by which payment is requested;
the indication that the creditor, in the event of further non-payment, may take legal action.
The reminder can also be sent by the creditor himself without resorting to a law firm, possibly deciding to avail of specialist advice if the debtor continues to be in arrears .

Communication conveyed by the reminder
The law does not prescribe any particular form of communication to request payment. Among the most used tools to date to send the reminder we can name:

sending by registered mail with return receipt ,
sending via certified email (now mandatory for businesses and professionals).
These two methods allow you to have proof that the message has been received by the recipient and can be used in the event of a subsequent appeal to the judicial authority.

Over time, the actions through which extrajudicial debt collection is structured have become more precise. The process, increasingly focused on communication activities towards debtors, has evolved in parallel with the differentiation and multiplication of media , formats and possibilities of reaching recipients through off-line and on-line methods .

The new opportunities of digitalization
With the emergence of new technologies and the multiplication and differentiation of communication possibilities offered by digital technology, a fourth ( digital ) form is being added to the three traditional forms in which out-of-court debt collection can be carried out ( letter , telephone , tax collection), based on the use of tools such as interactive emails, apps and interactive videos which are able to increase interaction and transparency .

The commitment to creating increasingly sustainable, conciliatory, personalized solutions is part of a different approach to debt collection that also involves:

a more efficient and complete mapping of the legal discipline combined with a smart graphical interface;
the management of payments in electronic format;
the use of digital tools in customer communication.
This last aspect in particular is particularly rich in potential.

To obtain real advantages from digitalization, in general it is necessary to change perspective : moving from managing the relationship with the customer to managing the experience with the customer , providing clear, immediate and simple to use tools, which easily enable the user to monitor the status of the practices and proceed with the execution of some operations (for example, giving real-time confirmation of the viewing of the reminder or completing the payment due), with a view to shared management , with benefits in terms of maintaining the relationship , effectiveness of actions , cost savings.