If you decide to take legal action against a customer for an unpaid debt, you can add a an amount of late payment interest and also compensation to your claim. There is standard wording for this and these paragraphs should be added to the 'particulars of claim' section of your court claim. The wording is as follows:
The claimant claims interest under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 at the rate of [INTEREST RATE]% from [FROM DATE] to [TO DATE] in the sum of £ [INTEREST AMOUNT] and continuing at the same rate up to the date of judgment or earlier payment at the daily rate of £ [DAILY AMOUNT]
From the 7th August 2002, it is also possible to claim compensation for the costs of debt collection on late payments. The standard wording is:
The claimant claims compensation arising from late payment under section 5A of the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998. Under the table of compensation set out in this provision, £ [COMPENSATION AMOUNT] is owed.
Both of the above paragraphs can be generated automatically using our interest calculator.
For more comprehensive information on taking court action to recover unpaid debts see our other web-site www.justclaim.co.uk.