The most useful thing to know before you hire anyone is that Dutch law fixes what a debtor can be made to pay on top of the invoice.
The scale is set by decree, so an agency quoting you something different is quoting its own fee, not the debtor’s liability.
What the debtor can be charged
The statutory out-of-court collection fee (buitengerechtelijke incassokosten) is 15 per cent of the first EUR 2,500 of the principal, then 10 per cent of the next EUR 2,500, 5 per cent of the next EUR 5,000, 1 per cent of the next EUR 190,000 and 0.5 per cent above EUR 200,000.
The fee is never less than EUR 40 and never more than EUR 6,775.
On a EUR 1,000 unpaid invoice that comes to EUR 150; on EUR 10,000 it comes to EUR 875.
Where your debtor is a private individual rather than a business, you must first send a demand giving fourteen days to pay and stating what the collection costs will be, and only after that period runs out can those costs be added.
Between businesses the same scale applies as the default, but the two parties are free to agree something else in the contract, which is why your own terms and conditions are worth reading before you chase anything.
The two phases, and where the money goes
Recovery starts with the amicable phase (minnelijke incasso), which is reminders, phone calls and a payment arrangement if one can be reached.
If that fails the file moves to the legal phase (gerechtelijke incasso), where court fees and a bailiff’s charges arrive on top and are no longer covered by the scale above.
Several Amsterdam agencies work the amicable phase on no cure, no pay, among them Hettema & van Bambost Juristen on the Prinsengracht, Bill Incasso on the Keurenplein in Nieuw-West and BVCM out on the Hessenbergweg.
Hettema & van Bambost is the strongest-rated of the three at 4.9 across 64 reviews and says it has been at this for more than 29 years, taking national and international files.
Agency or bailiff
An incassobureau can write, call and negotiate, and that is the limit of its powers.
A gerechtsdeurwaarder is a court-appointed officer who can serve a summons and enforce a judgment, which is why several Amsterdam firms hold both roles and can take a file the whole way without handing it on.
Nijstad & Toonen on the Poeldijkstraat, Hafkamp Groenewegen on the Weerdestein, Swier cs on the Pietersbergweg and Syncasso on the Overschiestraat all combine collection with bailiff work.
If you already expect to end up in court, starting with one of those saves a handover.
Cross-border invoices
European Credit Control on the Hullenbergweg in Zuidoost works specifically on cross-border recovery of trade receivables and puts its international experience at more than twenty years.
Alektum Group on the Transformatorweg has traded since 1992 and works with businesses across Europe, and IA Group on the Van Boshuizenstraat acts as the legal partner for credit insurers, which is the one to ask about if your receivables are already insured.
Do not choose on the star rating
Reviews in this category are written overwhelmingly by the people being chased, not by the businesses doing the chasing.
Firms whose public website exists mainly to help someone pay a demand -- Call2Collect, Intrum, Inkassier -- sit near one star, and that number tells you nothing about how they perform for a creditor.
Judge instead on what they will put in writing: the commission percentage, who carries the cost if the debt proves uncollectable, and whether the statutory fee is passed to you or kept by them.
When you can actually reach them
Most of these are weekday offices and nothing more, so a Friday afternoon problem waits until Monday.
Euro-Incasso on the Bos en Lommerplein keeps the longest day at eight to six and offers a free first assessment of a case.
Syncasso is open only from nine to two, Monday to Thursday, and closed on Fridays entirely, and Pair Finance on the Vijzelstraat -- the busiest listing in the category on 394 reviews -- is shut on Tuesdays.
Stopping it happening again
The fourteen-day rule means a consumer debt cannot start earning collection costs until you have sent a proper written demand, so an invoicing system that issues those automatically is worth more than any agency.
The city’s accountants set up the debtor administration that flags an overdue account in week two rather than month four.
Enforceable terms and conditions are the other half of it, and a notary or one of the city’s lawyers is the right stop for that, as they are for a debt that is genuinely disputed rather than simply unpaid.
The full list of Amsterdam debt collection agencies carries the address, phone number and opening hours for each firm.
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