Debt recovery for firms that sell advice
Fees challenged after the work is delivered, WIP sitting too long, and a client you'd rather keep. We recover fees without turning a billing issue into a complaint.
At a glance
- 10% UK · 15% overseas, no collection, no commission
- Work starts within 24 hours
- FCA authorised · CSA member since 1995
- Collected in 154 countries last year
After delivery, how you chase is your leverage.
Every day between doing the work and banking the fee comes out of your balance sheet. Lock-up is the cost nobody invoices.
Fee challenges almost always arrive after delivery, when the file is closed and your leverage is at its lowest.
Statutory interest at 8% above base runs from the first day an undisputed invoice is overdue. Most creditors never claim it.
We understand what was actually engaged
We speak the language
Engagement letters, scope and variation, disbursements, fee estimates, interim billing and objections raised long after delivery.
Legal support from day one
STA Legal, our sister firm of solicitors, can escalate the moment a case needs it, without a panel firm reading the file cold.
Handled with your clients watching
A fee chase that reads as aggressive can turn into a formal complaint. Ours are handled by people who understand that risk from the outset.
Fast, because lock-up is expensive
Average recovery in 3–4 weeks. Every extra month of lock-up is working capital funded for someone else, and we collected in 154 countries last year.
Five steps, the same on every professional services case.
You always know where the file sits and what happens next.
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1
Send fee note and engagement
The fee note, with the engagement letter and the scope as agreed.
More detail
Invoice, engagement letter or terms of business, the scope as agreed, any fee estimate issued, and the correspondence where the work was approved.
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2
Assess the client and objection
A solvency check, and an honest read on whether the scope challenge is genuine.
More detail
A solvency and conduct check, plus an honest read on whether a scope challenge is genuine or a way of renegotiating a fee after the fact.
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3
Professional, informed contact
We contact the debtor as your representative, on the contract terms.
More detail
We contact the debtor as your representative, using the contract terms rather than pressure — the relationship stays intact.
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4
30-day review checkpoint
Most claims resolve hereStill open at 30 days? We review it with you.
More detail
If the debt is still open at 30 days we review it with you, with legal escalation available through STA Legal — your decision, not ours.
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✓
Weekly BACS remittance
Funds remitted weekly, every movement visible in Your Debts Online.
Services for this sector
Questions professional services clients ask us
What does "No Collection, No Commission" mean?
If we don't recover anything, you pay nothing. No placement fees, no upfront costs, no hourly billing: our commission is a percentage of what we bring in, so our incentive matches yours from day one. If you decide to take a case to court, STA Legal agrees its costs with you in writing before anything is issued.
How quickly can you start?
Usually the same working day. Placing a debt through Your Debts Online takes a few minutes, and first contact with the debtor goes out within 24 hours of the file being validated. Speed matters: recovery odds drop sharply after 90 days.
What happens if the debtor still won't pay?
We review the file with you at 30 days and set out the options. If you decide to escalate, the case goes to our solicitors at STA Legal with its full history. They issue proceedings, obtain judgment and enforce it, with costs agreed with you before anything is issued. Escalation is always your decision, never an automatic step.
The client has raised a complaint to avoid paying. What happens?
We deal with the complaint and the debt separately. A genuine service complaint belongs in your own complaints process and we won't cut across it. A complaint raised only once the invoice fell due is a different thing, and we deal with those regularly.
We never issued a formal engagement letter. Is the fee still recoverable?
Often, yes. Instructions, emails, accepted proposals and the work itself all evidence a contract. A missing engagement letter weakens your position but rarely ends it — we'll tell you honestly how strong the file is before we act.
Will this reflect badly on the firm?
It shouldn't. We contact clients as your representative, professionally and on the engagement terms. Tone matters more here than in almost any other sector, and we work accordingly.
Tell us what you're owed.
We'll recover it.
Get a free quote and talk to our team — no upfront cost, no obligation.
No Collection, No Commission. If we don't recover, you don't pay.