Debt Collection in France vs a private individual

In France it’s forbidden for the debt collection companies to charge to private individual’s collections costs.

This was ruled first from the French Supreme Court (Cour de cassation) the 20th of May 2010 for a case where the Debt collection office asked for 9.80 € fees!

Since 2014 there is a law (Loi Hamon) confirming this rule and if a debt collection company don’t respect this rule they will face

– 2 years in jail

– And a fine of 300.000 €

The collection of unpaid invoice’s vs Private individual’s is in France extremely complicated.

If the debtor moved out it will be complicated to find his new address and the search is related with more or less high costs. In every case the best information to find those debtors is the date of birth.

In case of payment delays it’s in the B to C area more important to act very quickly than in the B to B field.

With individual’s in France you should avoid the supplier credit, the payment with check and use only the payment with credit card.