Court actions recover €894m in debts in 2010

THE value of outstanding personal and corporate debt recovered through court action has shot up 146% to €894 million in 2010.

The new figures from business information and risk agency Vision-net.ie show that the Revenue Commissioners and the banks were among the main plaintiffs going to the courts in a final attempt to get paid.

Revenue accounted for the majority of last year’s cases, recovering €55.2m alone through the courts.

Since 2008, Revenue has recovered €178m from individual and business taxpayers through the courts.

Construction firms recovered €4.6m, banks recovered €4.7m and local authorities managed to recover €6.7m in unpaid debts last year.

Vision-net’s managing director Christine Cullen said that the increase in recovered debt illustrates a more “get-tough” approach being adopted by creditors.

“There is a shift in the increase in adverse actions, which signals a shift in the behaviour of creditors who are far less tolerant of people who are withholding payment.”

However, Ms Cullen warned of the dangers of unregistered judgments: “Accessing judgment data before extending credit is imperative.

“We’ve seen literally thousands of cases month after month where judgments are awarded and a consumer or corporate still gets credit elsewhere and the cycle of non-payment continues.

“The level of repeat defaults is staggering. This problem is now being compounded by not making it compulsory to register all judgments, meaning people will continue to trade in the dark.”