68% Recovered on an £800,000 Ledger: Invoices up to 5 Years Old

Client Background

This engagement involved a substantial UK business carrying a legacy debtor ledger that had accumulated over several years. Across a large number of accounts, invoices had aged, payment chasers had moved on, and the hope of recovering the outstanding balance had, for many on the internal team, quietly faded.

The total outstanding balance across the ledger was over £800,000. The oldest invoices dated back nearly five years.

When the business approached KS Credit Control, they were realistic (or perhaps pessimistic) about what could still be recovered. Several accounts had been mentally written off. Others had received sporadic contact but no resolution. The ledger had become something to be quietly managed rather than actively pursued.

The Challenge

Legacy debt recovery is among the most challenging work in credit management. The older a debt becomes, the more obstacles accumulate:

• Debtor contacts move on or change roles
• Companies restructure or are wound down
• Payment records become disputed or difficult to verify
• Debtors become used to the debt existing without consequence

On top of these practical challenges, there is a more fundamental problem: by the time a debt is one, two, or five years old, the relationship that produced the invoice has often changed significantly. The commercial context is different. The individuals involved may have left.

This makes recovery work that requires both patience and persistence, qualities that internal teams, stretched by day-to-day demands, rarely have the capacity to sustain.

The business had no appetite to invest further in recovery attempts that might yield nothing. That made our No Collect No Fee service the appropriate model: no upfront cost, no retainer, with commission applied to all invoices collected during the engagement.

Our Approach

KS Credit Control began with a detailed review of the full ledger, segmenting accounts by age, value, debtor status, and the history of previous contact. This triage stage is essential: it ensures that time and effort are directed where recovery is most feasible, rather than spread equally across accounts regardless of likelihood.

The process over eleven months included:

• Initial debtor outreach: Every traceable account was contacted with a professional, factual, and non-aggressive communication. For accounts where contact details were outdated, we worked to identify current contacts through available channels in consultation with the client.
• Relationship and dispute review: Many long-aged debts carry with them a history of unresolved queries or perceived disputes. Rather than dismissing these, we investigated, relayed relevant information to the client, and in many cases helped to find a resolution that unlocked a payment.
• Structured payment plans: For debtors with genuine financial difficulty, we negotiated phased payment agreements, typically spread over four to six months, with written confirmation and regular monitoring. Approximately 5 to 10% of recovered funds came through payment plans.
• Persistent, professional follow-up: Not every debtor responds immediately. Some required multiple rounds of contact over weeks or months before a resolution was reached. We maintained consistent follow-up throughout, escalating where necessary (including formal letters before action), while keeping the client informed at every significant stage.
• No legal action without client consultation: Where legal options were discussed, we presented the case to the client, including the likely costs and the probable outcome, before any formal steps were taken.

The Results

Over eleven months, KS Credit Control recovered approximately £544,000, representing 68% of the original ledger value.

This figure substantially exceeded the client's internal expectations. Several of the accounts that delivered the largest recoveries were among those that had been mentally written off before the engagement began.

The engagement cost the client nothing upfront. Fees were applied only to the amounts successfully recovered, under the No Collect No Fee model.

The client has since moved to a proactive outsourced credit control arrangement to prevent a similar situation from developing on future ledgers.

Key Takeaway

Legacy debt is often treated as a lost cause. That assumption is worth challenging.

Professional, persistent, and patient recovery work, supported by the right skills, the right process, and enough time, can unlock significant value from ledgers that internal teams have stopped believing in.

The key is engaging a specialist with the expertise to navigate complex, aged accounts and the patience to see the work through over months rather than weeks. The No Collect No Fee model removes the financial risk of trying, which means there is rarely a good reason not to.

Even at 68%, that is more than half a million pounds returned to a business that had, in many ways, already written it off.