With 40 years of experience and a team of highly trained tracing agents, it’s no surprise that Vilcol is one of the most trusted tracing agencies for solicitors and law firms in the UK.
We work closely alongside solicitors and law firms to tackle cases of process serving, probate searches, and debt recovery and, as proud members of the Credit Services Association and regulated by the FCA, you are guaranteed to receive dependable and effective services through Vilcol.
But just how does Vilcol combat these cases?
Process serving
Under the Civil Procedures Rules 1998 6.5, legal documentation must be served in person to the individual. It is important that the documents reach the correct person and address in a timely manner in order for legal proceedings to continue. Many papers carry serious consequences if they are not delivered on time or to the correct person. A significant amount of the documentation solicitors and law firms handle on a daily basis must be served in person under UK law.
These court-ordained papers can include:
- Bankruptcy notices
- Court summons
- Statutory demands
- Insolvency documents
- Divorce papers
- Injunctions
- Witness summons
- Claim forms
- Petitions
A professional process server can be tasked with delivering these documents. At Vilcol, we will dispatch instructions to the nearest process server as soon as we log your case to ensure that we serve someone in an adequate time frame.
We will then provide a Certificate of Service, a Statement of Service, or an Affidavit to confirm that papers have been served so solicitors and law firms can rest easy knowing we have fulfilled our service. By choosing Vilcol for your process serving requirements, you can rest assured that your documents will be served in a timely and efficient manner, and that you will receive the correct documents to prove your papers have been served.
Probate searches
Where the beneficiary of a will or a next of kin cannot be located by a probate lawyer, Vilcol probate searches are here to help. A probate search uses tracing know-how and professional probate search techniques to identify and locate missing beneficiaries and provide probate lawyers and solicitors with correct and up-to-date contact information so a will can be processed correctly.
There are many reasons as to why a next of kin may be unreachable on the first try, including moving houses or immigrating, having out-of-date contact information, or being unsure who a next of kin is. This is why Vilcol offers varying degrees of probate searches to cover a variety of cases, with an Enhanced Probate Search being ideal for wills older than 10 years old or for when law firms do not have an address for a next of kin at all.
Debt recovery
Recovering debts can be a vital but long-winded process for any law firm, with some people going to extremes to avoid paying up. Chasing debtors for overdue payments can be time-consuming and costly. Vilcol offers three levels of debt recovery services to cover every aspect of recovery:
- Credit Control Debt Collections for accounts between 30 to 90 days old.
- Standard Debt Collections for accounts over 90 days old.
- Trace and Debt collection. With this service, Vilcol aims to locate debtors who have moved or changed their contact details.
We use SMS, letters, emails, and telephone collection strategies to chase debtors. Our debt collection software can monitor debtor response ten times quicker than other debt collection agencies.
There are many debt collection agencies in the UK that promise results, but are not regulated or approved. Vilcol ensures that all payments are recovered in compliance with the CCA, Data Protection Act 1998, FCA, and industry guidelines on TCF and vulnerability, FOS and the CSA including PCI-DSS.
Hiring a professional tracing agency can save time and money
Whilst all these services could be undertaken by solicitors and law firms personally, they eat into your valuable time and often end up costing more money.
Without the 40 years of tracing experience that Vilcol can boast, it can be a daunting task to locate a missing beneficiary or debtor and lead to wasted hours scanning public records or following false leads. With a 98% success rate, Vilcol can track down missing individuals quickly and efficiently, often within days of receiving your case.
We recently worked alongside a UK solicitor who had spent days attempting to track down a next of kin who appeared to have emigrated 20 years previously. We were able to follow his movements across Europe and uncovered that he had settled in Malta. The updated contact information was passed along to the solicitor who was finally able to execute the will. You can find out how Vilcol tackled the case here.
Delivering documents in person in the appropriate time frame can also be a challenge for busy law firms. Recipients can often be out of the house during business hours, leaving lawyers and solicitors to work overtime to catch them at home. Vilcol works around the clock to deliver documents on time, and with offices around the UK, we always have agents available to take your case. As trained professionals, we know how to tackle even the most difficult of recipients and de-escalate any issues as they arise.
Hiring a professional agency like Vilcol can ensure that all cases are tackled with the care they require and in accordance with all laws and regulations. We are committed to providing trustworthy and effective solutions to every client.
Are you a solicitor or law firm looking for efficient, dependable, and certified agents? Do you need documents served, debts collected, or a beneficiary located? Contact Vilcol today.