How to Recover a Debt From a Spanish Company: The Practical Guide

Twelve emails. Four voicemails. One reply — "«el pago está en proceso»" — three months ago. Your internal collections team has followed every procedure in the manual. The Spanish company that owes you €220,000 remains entirely unmoved.

This is the point where most overseas creditors make one of two mistakes. They either write it off as a cost of doing international business, or they hand it to their domestic solicitor, who sends an impressively formatted letter that arrives in Seville with all the enforcement power of a postcard.

There's a third option. It involves understanding why your internal efforts failed and what actually moves a Spanish debtor to pay.

Why Your Internal Team Can't Collect in Spain

It's not a competence issue. Your credit team may be excellent at domestic collections. But collecting across borders — particularly into Spain — requires three things they don't have:

Physical presence. A phone call from Toronto is easy to ignore. A visit from a collection agent based in Spain is not. Spanish commercial culture places significant weight on face-to-face interaction. An agent who can appear at the debtor's registered office, speak Spanish, and reference the specific legal consequences under Spanish law creates pressure that your international emails never will.

Local legal capability. Spain's monitorio payment order is the primary tool for recovering commercial debts. It's fast, relatively inexpensive, and produces an enforceable court order. But it can only be filed by a Spanish attorney in a Spanish court. Your domestic legal team can advise you on whether to pursue it. They can't actually file it.

Cultural context. Spanish payment customs differ from Northern European or North American norms. What looks like deliberate evasion may be culturally normal payment behaviour — or it may be a warning sign of deeper financial trouble. A local agent reads these signals accurately because they navigate them daily.

The Recovery Process That Works

Step 1: Engage a Spain-based collection agency. Look for no-win, no-fee terms, experience with B2B commercial debts, and a legal team capable of filing in Spanish courts. The agency conducts an initial assessment of your documentation and the debtor's financial profile before committing resources.

Step 2: Amicable collection. Direct contact with the debtor — phone calls, formal demands, field visits. This phase typically runs 30–90 days and resolves the majority of commercially viable debts. The debtor's behaviour changes materially when a local professional replaces overseas emails.

Step 3: Pre-legal escalation. A formal demand from a Spanish attorney, referencing specific legal provisions and setting a payment deadline. This is the tipping point for debtors who've been testing whether you'll actually pursue enforcement. Cost: typically €300–€800.

Step 4: Legal proceedings. The monitorio payment order for documented debts, or juicio ordinario for contested claims. Court costs are recoverable from the debtor in successful cases. Your agency's legal team handles the entire process — you don't need to travel to Spain or engage separate counsel.

Common Recovery Mistakes

Waiting too long. Every month past 90 days overdue reduces your recovery probability. The debtor isn't going to spontaneously start paying because you sent another email. Early professional engagement is cheaper and more effective than late engagement in every measurable dimension.

Using the wrong professionals. A domestic solicitor can write an excellent letter that has no enforcement mechanism in Spain. A Spanish collection agency can actually collect. The cost difference is negligible; the outcome difference is enormous.

Accepting vague promises. "We'll pay next month" without a specific date, amount, and documented commitment is not a payment plan — it's a delay tactic. Insist on structured, written repayment agreements with default clauses.

FAQ

My debtor has offered partial payment. Should I accept?

Partial payment can be a positive sign — it acknowledges the debt and creates a framework for recovering the balance. Accept it, but ensure it's documented as a partial payment (not a settlement) and that the remaining balance is acknowledged in writing with a clear payment date.

The debtor claims they're in financial difficulty. How do I verify?

Your agency can check the Spanish commercial registry (Registro Mercantil) for filed accounts, the ASNEF and RAI debtor registries for outstanding defaults, and conduct a general financial assessment. These checks reveal whether the claimed difficulty is genuine or a negotiating tactic.