Sixty days. Six stages. One recovery. The complete route map for collecting a B2B debt in Spain from abroad — amicable first, legal when it earns its cost, and no fee unless we collect.
Start with a documented amicable phase — most undisputed B2B files resolve in 20–60 days without a lawsuit. If the debtor won't engage, a burofax formalises the demand and interrupts the 5-year limitation period (Art. 1964 Código Civil), and the proceso monitorio converts your invoice into an enforceable title with no upper claim limit. You pay nothing unless we recover.
You've invoiced a Spanish company from abroad, watched the due date pass, and discovered that your usual leverage — the relationship, the next order, the awkward phone call — doesn't survive the border crossing. You're not the exception: cross-border files stall precisely because distance makes silence cheap. What follows is the complete route map — the amicable sequence that resolves most files in 20–60 days, the three escalation routes and what each one costs, and the guides that go deeper on every step. Starting with the phase most creditors skip straight past: the seventy-two hours before anyone calls the debtor.
Invoice, purchase order, delivery note, email chain. Within four working hours the file is registered, assigned a case officer, and entered into our Spanish pipeline. The pressure starts the same day.
Registro Mercantil, BORME, solvency databases, Agencia Tributaria cross-checks. Before the first call we know the real directors, the current legal address, the sister companies, and whether the debtor is quietly insolvent — which changes everything about strategy.
Phone to the director, email with read receipts, WhatsApp to the finance manager, certified post to the legal address. Spain runs on WhatsApp; a demand letter alone is furniture.
Offer, counter, instalment plan, signed agreement — while every concession is documented, because the file may still need to become a lawsuit. Missed instalments trigger immediate escalation; the debtor knows this in writing before signing.
A burofax is Spain's certified, content-attested demand — it interrupts the limitation clock and is the standard evidentiary predicate for the proceso monitorio. The file moves to the legal track without re-documenting anything. Full details in the legal collection guide.
Undisputed invoices, active debtor company. The default — and the evidence bundle for everything after.
Documented debts the debtor ignores. No upper claim limit; the debtor gets 20 days to pay or contest.
Genuinely disputed debts over €6,000. The long road — taken only when the file's economics justify it.
Usually, yes. Most undisputed B2B files resolve in the amicable phase when pressure is applied correctly — in Spanish, across multiple channels, backed by registry intelligence. Court is the escalation path, not the default.
The general limitation period is five years. A properly sent burofax interrupts it and restarts the clock — but recoverability decays much faster than legality. A legally valid three-year-old claim against a dissolved debtor is worth nothing.
Not for the amicable phase, and not for a monitorio filing at lower claim values. Counsel becomes mandatory when the file escalates to ordinary proceedings — we involve it only when the file's economics justify it.
Amicable collection is strictly no-recovery-no-fee: a success commission agreed up front, zero if nothing is recovered. Legal escalation adds court fees for the monitorio, and lawyer costs only if the debtor contests — both quoted before you decide anything.
The invoice, proof of delivery or performance (signed delivery note, acceptance email), the contract or purchase order if one exists, and the correspondence trail. That same bundle serves the amicable phase and, unchanged, becomes the evidence for a monitorio filing.
Yes — no Spanish entity, presence, or bank account required. You place the file remotely, we act in Spain under Spanish law, and recovered funds are transferred to your account wherever you are. Most of our creditors have never set foot here.
Typical undisputed files resolve amicably in 20–60 days. Files that escalate add 2–6 months through the monitorio to an enforceable title. Age is the enemy: recoverability decays faster than any legal deadline, which is why early placement outperforms every other variable.
Holding an unpaid Spanish invoice? Assessment is free, debtors are contacted within 24 hours, and you pay only on recovery.
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