Debt recovery guide · Adding pressure
They ignored your letter before action — what next?
Rule one: don't send another one. A second letter before action tells the debtor your deadlines are decorative, and every future threat gets discounted accordingly. An ignored LBA is not a failure — it's information: this debtor won't pay for a letter alone, so the next step needs teeth.
Your three real options
Issue the claim: you've satisfied pre-action requirements, so a county court money claim (online for most debts) is now clean to start. No response to the claim means judgment in default — many 'ignorers' fold exactly here, because a CCJ hits their credit file.
Instruct recovery: an agency brings phone-and-letter pressure, negotiation, and the visible machinery of escalation — often resolving it without court fees. Models are fixed fee, commission or hybrid, set out up front.
Statutory demand: for undisputed company debts of £750+, the 21-day insolvency clock concentrates minds like nothing else. Use with advice, and never on genuinely disputed debts.
Choose based on the debtor, not the anger
A trading company with assets: claim or statutory demand — they have everything to lose. An individual or micro-business: agency pressure plus a claim sized to the small claims track usually fits better. A debtor who might be insolvent: check before spending court fees; a judgment against an empty shell is a certificate, not money.
Whatever you pick, act within days of the deadline passing. The gap between your stated consequence and your actual action is exactly how much the next debtor will disrespect your deadlines.
Where this fits in the bigger picture
This is one step of a well-trodden path — demands, statutory add-ons, professional recovery, court, enforcement. The complete debt recovery guide walks the whole process, and the late payment calculator works out what you can add to a commercial debt today.
Related situations
General information, not legal advice.