Glossary.
Easily explained.

In an assignment, a creditor transfers a claim to a new creditor. Your contractual partner assigns an outstanding claim to EOS. We are then the new creditor and ensure that the claim is paid.

If we are unable to contact you at the address provided to us, we will commission an address tracing service. A service provider will then find your current home address for us, at which we can contact you in writing. This may incur costs, which will be charged to you.

To save these costs, please always let us know if you have moved. Update your contact details quickly and easily here. Please have your 11-digit claim number ready. You will find this at the top right of our letter. 

The settlement fee, also known as the settlement fee, is a legally regulated fee that we are allowed to charge in the event of an out-of-court settlement of a claim. This is the case, for example, if we agree with you on payment in installments.

The agreed due date for payment is the date on which the money must be in our account. If you do not make a payment until the due date, the payment will not be received on time due to bank working days. The payment will then be overdue. It is therefore in your own interest to ensure timely payment.

In some cases, we agree with you on a fixed amount of the claim. This means that we do not charge any further interest or costs on the amount of the claim. Depending on your financial and personal circumstances, we agree on an individual amount (known as the fixed amount), which you then pay off in a monthly installment.

Our most important concern is that we reach an out-of-court settlement with you. This is the quickest and most cost-effective option for everyone.

If we cannot find a joint solution, we are usually required by our client to initiate legal dunning proceedings, in order to bring about payment. 

To do this, we apply for a dunning notice, which will be sent to you by post. This will incur fees and other costs. Do not file an objection if you have no justified reasons, as otherwise the costs will increase significantly due to the subsequent legal dispute. You can avoid the proceedings and the associated costs by paying the outstanding debt in full within two weeks.

If you do not pay in full or do not make a justified objection, we will apply for an enforcement order in the next step. This enables us to enforce the debt with an enforcement.

As you can see: As a debt collection company, we have several options at our disposal to bring about payment of the outstanding debt. We were commissioned by your previous contractual partner to do this. However, our aim is to find a solution with you that suits everyone before taking these measures.

In the case of enforceable claims, bailiffs are used, for example, to obtain information about your assets or to carry out enforcement measures. As the party responsible for the claim, you must bear the bailiff's costs yourself.

The principal claim is the amount you owe from the original transaction. Ancillary claims, such as collection costs and interest, depend on the value of the principal claim or arise as a result of measures such as address tracing or legal dunning proceedings.

When we receive an order to collect a payment, we incur costs. Typical collection costs are therefore the collection fee, interest, reminder costs, telephone and postage costs, costs for determining the address.

In Germany, the amount of recoverable debt collection costs is regulated by the Legal Services Act.

The attachment of your account is a legal measure to bring about the payment of an already enforceable claim. In the case of an account attachment, the court informs the bank of the outstanding claim because EOS has applied for the amount to be attached.

The effect of the garnishment is that your bank is no longer allowed to pay you any more money in the amount of the garnishment or to execute any more standing orders or transfers until the amount of the garnishment has been settled. The account and the associated cards are blocked for this period.

The garnishment of wages is a legal measure to bring about the payment of an already enforceable claim. In the case of an attachment of earnings, your employer pays the attachable part of your salary directly to us. You receive the remaining portion of your salary that you are entitled to for your living expenses. This is the so-called garnishment allowance.

If you have received a reminder notice, legal proceedings are already underway to bring about payment. To avoid further costs, please contact us now at the latest. Please give us the claim number. You will find it in the reminder notice as the reference number of the attorney of record beginning with "V" at the bottom left.

We are always interested in reaching an amicable settlement with you.

Sometimes people get confused, e.g. if the obligated party has moved without officially re-registering. Then our mail does not arrive. We then commission an address search. It can happen that the service provider confuses two people with the same name.

If you receive mail from us and are absolutely certain that it is a case of mistaken identity, please use our form for checking identity theft and mistaken identity.

If you do not pay your debts, we have the option of enforcing our claim by means of compulsory enforcement, e.g. seizure. This allows the enforcement court or bailiff to seize your assets. These may be movable assets (e.g. a television or car) that are sold or realized in order to settle your debts.

It doesn't have to come to this. There are always ways to avoid such negative consequences by talking to us. Get in touch with us. Together we will find a better solution.

See also account seizure, wage garnishment, pre-seizure.

With direct debit or direct debit, you give us permission to collect a certain amount of money from your account. This is a convenient payment method, especially for installment payments. However, if we are unable to debit a payment because your account is not covered, for example, a so-called return debit note will be issued. This return debit note is associated with bank charges, which we charge to you as the originator.

Therefore, always make sure that your account is covered for direct debits or contact us beforehand.

By acknowledging the debt, you confirm the existing claim and recognize your debt. This written declaration is legally binding. It cannot be revoked.

You are asking yourself: What is the advantage for me as the debtor? Quite simply: Your acknowledgement of debt can prevent the case from escalating.

If you adhere to the installment payment agreement, you will also save yourself further costs that would be incurred by legal dunning proceedings.

If a claim is "titled", this means that it has been officially certified by a court or a government agency. A claim is usually enforceable by means of a judgment or an enforcement order. If we have a title, we are authorized to initiate enforcement measures to bring about the payment of your outstanding claim for our client - for 30 years.

It doesn't have to come to that. Give us a call. Together we will find a better solution.

We define the original transaction as the contract that you entered into before we were instructed to bring about the outstanding payment.
For example, you have concluded a loan agreement with a bank and have not paid the monthly installments or have not paid them in full. Or you have bought something from an online retailer and have not paid the invoice. This is the original transaction for which the outstanding claim exists and for which we were commissioned.

Claims usually expire after three years. In the case of consumer loans, this three-year limitation period only begins after 10 years. Enforceable claims, on the other hand, are secured for 30 years.

The submission of a statement of assets is an enforcement measure and is served by a bailiff. A credit agency such as Schufa registers this submission of a statement of assets, which in most cases classifies you as unworthy of credit. See also "Has this already been reported to Schufa?"

According to the law, you are in delay of payment if the debt is still outstanding after 30 days and you have been informed of the legal consequences or if you have not complied with the payment deadline stated on an invoice or a reminder.

The enforcement order is a court title with which we may initiate enforcement measures, e.g. a seizure.

Pre-seizure is a measure of compulsory enforcement. With the attachment, we inform you and, for example, your bank or employer that a seizure of your account, wages or assets is imminent. In the event of a pre-seizure, you will no longer be able to access your bank balance or salary up to the amount of the pre-attachment.

As with all other legal measures, we would prefer to avoid attachment and only use this method if we have found no other way of reaching an agreement with you. It doesn't have to come to that. Get in touch with us. Together we will find a better solution.

Companies that technically handle the payment process during the purchase process are called payment service providers. Well-known payment service providers include Klarna, PayPal, Ratepay and Otto Payments. You then owe the purchase price or installment to the payment service provider, even though you have purchased goods or services from another provider, such as Otto or Deutsche Telekom. When we contact you, one of these payment service providers has often instructed us to settle the invoice.

See due date and delay

Enforcement is always preceded by a titulation of the claim. This gives us the opportunity to access your assets in order to settle the outstanding claim.

We try to avoid enforcing our claims against your will during the entire debt collection process. However, we are dependent on your cooperation and willingness to talk to us.

Use one of the many payment options in our service portal or give us a call. Together we will find a better solution!