Mr. Ahmad (not his real name) messaged me on WhatsApp: “My debt is below RM100k. Is it too small for you to take on?”
That single line says a lot about how most business owners think about debt recovery.
Ahmad runs an SME. He delivered goods, the customer kept promising to pay, the replies slowed, followed by ghosting.
Debts below RM100,000 sit in an awkward zone - they are too painful to write off; yet too expensive to chase the traditional way.
For debts above six digits, the math is easier. But for five-figure debts, paying tens of thousands in upfront legal fees feels irrational. You're already five digits in the red, the last thing you want is to fork out an additional five digits with no assurance of results.
So I agreed to take Ahmad’s case on a Success Fee basis; which meant that if recovery failed, he would not pay beyond a nominal basic fee. I knew the numbers had to make sense for him to say yes to my appointment.
Once the engagement was sorted, I contacted the debtor through three WhatsApp numbers: the CEO, the accounts manager and a young sales exec.
The CEO blue-ticked me; but the sales exec panicked. He was definitely the weakest link lol.
“Boss, I’m only sales ya. Not my responsibility. I’ll talk to my CEO ASAP.”
An hour later, the accounts manager replied and asked for invoices, delivery orders, and purchase orders.
I alerted Ahmad, who had all the docs ready - clean, comprehensive, undisputed. Organized clients like him make my job 100x easier fr.
A few days later, the CEO messaged and asked to speak directly to Ahmad.
I made it clear that I was the appointed legal representative and would handle the matter.
I also made my position clear: I was not there to start a fight, I was there to resolve it amicably as long as he was willing to cooperate. With his guard down, we spoke openly with minimal posturing or drama.
Finally we concluded that a six-month repayment schedule by post-dated cheques would be reasonable for both him and my client. I usually insist on the post dated structure because it saves me the trouble of chasing the debtor monthly; and also acts as further conclusive evidence of debt.
I added one condition: "In return for allowing instalment's, my client needs the reassurance of late interest at 1.5 percent per month if there is any default."
The CEO scoffed but eventually agreed.
Last Friday, the final cheque cleared, I messaged Ahmad and told him the matter was resolved.
Sub-RM100k debts are not insignificant to business owners who rely on cashflow to pay salaries and running expenses. But most of the time, business owners feel lost without a viable recovery solution. I take pride in helping my clients settle even the debts that sit in this "alang-alang" zone.
Rudi Cheu (rudi@rulecolaw.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
The User Content (as defined on Newswav Terms of Use) above including the views expressed and media (pictures, videos, citations etc) were submitted & posted by the author. Newswav is solely an aggregation platform that hosts the User Content. If you have any questions about the content, copyright or other issues of the work, please contact creator@newswav.com.