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Site Review: Debt Collection / Recovery - Avonmere Commercial

Avonmere Commercial are a UK based debt collection agency with a head office in Tiverton, Devon. Webselect were approached by Avonmere Commercial in late 2006 with the intention of creating a sophisticated website which would allow their clients to see the exact status of any debts which Avonmere were in the process of chasing at any stage of the day or night. Avonmere now have numerous clients from around the world who are regularly making use of the system to improve their credit control.

Adding credits
(Click image to enlarge)

Signing up with Avonmere is simple, takes a few minutes and does not cost anything. Avonmere works in a different way to most debt collection agencies - typically an agency will charge a percentage of any outstanding debt, sometimes in addition to other fees. Avonmere has a much simpler approach - you buy credits in advance and each credit allows you to add one debt to the system for Avonmere to recover, whatever the value of the debt. When money is recovered from a debtor, it is paid directly to you, not to Avonmere - the cost of the credit is all you will pay. Each credit costs a maximum of £40 (plus VAT if applicable) and can be considerably cheaper if bought in bulk.

Debt summary screen
(Click image to enlarge)

Once you have purchased some credits, you can start adding debts to the system. This is again a simple process which allows you to specify the amount of the debt to be collected, the date on which you want action to start and any other notes which may be of assistance to Avonmere. Then, you can sit back and wait for Avonmere to attempt to recover the debt on your behalf.

At all stages of the process, you can log on to the Avonmere site and see the exact up to the minute status. Any communication from your debtor will be logged online along with scanned copies of any letters received. At any time, you have the option to suspend action on the debt until a future date, or until you choose to restart action.

If this all sounds a bit too online for you, don't worry. Avonmere are a real company and you can ring them and actually talk to a real person if you have any problems using the system.

So, the real question is: does it work? In our experience, and from the data we have seen the answer is generally yes. Avonmere claim a 97% success ratio as long as the debt is chased within 30 days of it being due. After that, the rate does go down, but that is only to be expected. The really good thing is that you can try it for just £40, knowing that it will definitely not cost you any more and see what happens.

To visit the Avonmere site, please click on the banner below: