Debt Recovery Insurance is what??

I have been self-employed for 4 years now and the money i am owed by clients varies a lot. These last 12 months it has gone up - people seem slower to pay (though i have to admit when i start chasing  them a few point out that they have already paid, if i would just check my bank statements, and embarrassingly they are often right).

Currently the amount i am owed floats around the £5000-£6000 mark. I suppose i am in  the lucky position that most of the time i can, eventually, threaten to turn off theor website, not renew the domain name, generally stop offering  the service that they are not paying  for.

But other people are not in  such a strong position: once you  sell a bag of sweets on  credit  and those sweets are eaten, then you  can't really get them back, not without some fairly swift and unlikely surgery.

So, what are the options? The one i always hear about is The Small Claims Court. But when i do a search for Small Claims Court, nothing  comes up  that says 'i am your local small claims court'. In fact the only thing remotely like that is the .gov site/page: Making a court claim for money: an introduction. And its not very helpful:

Taking legal action should be a last resort if other options don’t work. First see if you can:
- speak or write to the person or organisation you’re in dispute with
- try an alternative to court, such as ‘mediation’

I am guessing  taht if you  are thinking  of the Small Claims Court then you  have already asked for your money - a few times.

There is a Guide: Recover debts owed to you - a guide. But again nothing  that particlularly helps you. A bit of advice, it points out that solicitors are expensive!

Where am i headed with this?

I build a site recently: Nexum Debt Recovery Insurance  (its not the most beautiful site i ever made, but its not a beautiful topic, in  fact its a really boring, don't ever want to really have to think about this topic). The gist being:

1. You Buy Debt Recovery Insurance for £450pa
2. You then get Nexum to chase your debts for you
3. This does not involve scary thugs, but scary letters
4. It may end up  in  court but you  get a discount??

And this is where i get a bit muddled (i designed it, i didn't write it!).

1. There is some sort of limit for the amount of debt you  can chase - £4500.
   Is that per year, or at any one time?
2. Scary letters? really - does that work?
3. No thugs - promise?
4. Court? How much will i have to pay? Do Nexum want it to end up  in  court so they make loadsamoney?
5. Court? if i win does that mean that there are no fees - as the loser pays?
6. Court? Do i always win?
7. Court? Does that take a long time - years?
8. Court? Do  i have to pay for costs until i win or is there no fee until the end, when there is no fee in  which case why mention fees?

There is also talk of some online system - but there are no screen shots or instructions, or online demos to try, so who knows what happens there.

Debt recovery is a bit of a minefield. In  a way i don't know what the problem is - beyond "X is being  slow to pay me". I don't know what my options are. I am very suspicious to do with anything that involves solicitors, but maybe more worried about something  that does not involve solicitors - what is a para legal and should you  give them money??

If Nexum Debt Solutions works, if you  pay £450 and get your debt recovered for you easily without using  heavies, maybe using  a nice online system, then that could be great.