Recovering foreign debt

October 31, 2007 2:52 PM

Recovering debt in another country - how to go about it? I'm in the UK, the guy who owes me money is in the US.

I live in the UK, I did some work for a client in the US in May. I didn't pursue it because the deal was he would pay me at the same time he paid my deposit for another project (actually there were two of a similar value that both were 'green light' ready to go projects and the debt could have been added to either one)
5 months later and neither of these projects have materialised with a deposit - and I don't believe they ever will.
I spoke with him about it and he said I was top of his vendor list and he would pay me by the end of the month. End of the month comes along and he still hasn't paid. I sent him a paypal invoice yesterday but he has not responded.

The amount is small ($500), which is why I didn't pursue to too hard when he had potentially $10k+ coming my way but since that has pretty much disappeared from the table now I'd like to start investigating avenues for recovering this debt.

Whilst the amount in question will not make a dramatic difference to my life, I did the work, I want to be paid for it. More importantly, I want him to know that I don't take non-payment of debts lightly.

I also did some work for him whilst he was on honeymoon that I didn't charge him for, which I would now like to do so (there was never any agreement that I would do it for free), in light of the debt and the fact that the promised work (that I made room in my schedule for - when I was told 'the deposit will be in the bank on Monday') never appeared.

So what are my options? Where do I go. I know both the UK and US have small claims courts but would either apply in this situation?

posted by missmagenta to law & government (9 comments total)

You need to contact an attorney in the state where your client lives.
posted by dcjd at 2:54 PM on October 31, 2007

debt collection - it's like unleasing a horde of bees on your victim
posted by caddis at 3:01 PM on October 31, 2007

Do you have a signed contract? You pretty much are going to need one to pursue any course of action. I don't know if the State Attorney General in the state where your client lives can help, but you could certainly research it for free via the state government website. It would give you the outline of complaints they will handle. It seems pretty crummy, but he might not be paying you just because he knows it will cost you more to come to the US to pursue it (or be faxing/mailing a bunch of stuff) and the cost to you will outweigh the cost of the judgement you might be awarded. Even winning a judgement is no guarantee that they will actually pay you. Some people are professional deadbeats. Good luck.
posted by 45moore45 at 3:12 PM on October 31, 2007

Unless you're willing to (a) let a collection agency have a big chunk of whatever is collected, or (b) incur significant expenses in litigating against him, with no assurance of collecting anything, I think you are out of luck. It's probably not worth it to try to collect $500 from someone in another country.
posted by jayder at 3:53 PM on October 31, 2007

You may be able to find a collection agency that will put a black mark on his credit report. That may scare him more than the threat of unlikely legal action from someone overseas.
posted by grouse at 4:03 PM on October 31, 2007

Find who his employer is, who his coworkers and friends are, what websites he frequents, and so forth, and make lots and lots of calls. You may be able to get a detective agency in the US to get you some of this info. I can't say this will work or won't backfire, but it's the one option you have. Some people will tell you that there's debt collection laws regarding that, but you're in the UK so it doesn't make a bit of difference.

I don't agree with collection agencies doing dirty tricks like what I described since they just represent a nameless corporation, but it's a whole different story when an individual or small business owner is personally ripped off. Go to town on this guy.
posted by rolypolyman at 4:23 PM on October 31, 2007

(also when I said "what websites he frequents", I don't mean call them... I mean log in there and post messages to draw him out)
posted by rolypolyman at 4:25 PM on October 31, 2007

The amount, $500.00 is low enough to go after him in small claims court.

What state and county does he reside in? Some counties have an on-line service you can use.

Do you know any Metafile members in his area? Maybe they can go to the small claims court for you, we have enough students that I'm sure you could find one in that area. Maybe offer them 10% if you can collect?

That will teach him, don't mess with Metafilter, we ARE world wide!
posted by JujuB at 5:35 PM on October 31, 2007

you're in the UK so it doesn't make a bit of difference

If he has any assets in the U.S., it does.
posted by oaf at 6:07 AM on November 2, 2007