We are a New York law firm that helps creditors and businesses collect what they are owed. When you call us at 212-233-1233 during business hours, you are connected directly to the lead attorney, Albert Goodwin. Never to a call center, a collector, or an assistant. When you hire our firm, Albert Goodwin handles your matter directly, with associates in supporting roles.
Getting a customer or borrower to pay can be frustrating. Phone calls go unanswered, promises are broken, and the balance keeps aging. We use the full weight of New York law (demand letters, lawsuits, judgments, and aggressive post-judgment enforcement) to turn an unpaid balance into money in your account.
We are set up for volume. If you are placing a batch of accounts rather than a single file, we take the whole book on one set of terms and give you a login where you can see where every account stands.
What We Collect
Business-to-business balances, signed instruments, and broken agreements, from a single invoice to a portfolio of delinquent accounts.
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Commercial Debt Collection
We pursue business-to-business debts of every size, from a single unpaid invoice to a large portfolio of delinquent accounts. We move quickly because the older a debt gets, the harder it is to collect. Our work covers commercial collections against companies and individual guarantors throughout New York.
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Accounts Receivable Recovery
When invoices age past sixty or ninety days, in-house follow-up usually stops working. We step in to recover aging receivables so your team can focus on running the business instead of chasing payment.
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Breach of Contract Collection
When a written or oral agreement is broken and money is owed, we bring a breach of contract claim to recover the unpaid amount, interest, and, where the contract allows, attorney's fees.
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Promissory Note Collection
A signed promissory note is one of the strongest collection tools there is. We enforce notes through ordinary suit and, where available, through New York's accelerated judgment procedure for instruments for the payment of money.
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Demand Letters
Many debts settle as soon as the debtor hears from a lawyer. A well-drafted demand letter on our letterhead signals that litigation is the next step and often produces payment without a lawsuit.
How long you have to sue depends on what kind of account it is, and on a sale of goods it is shorter than most creditors think. See our guide to the New York debt collection statute of limitations.
Steps of a Successful Collection
Every file follows the same path, and we handle all of it. Many balances are paid at the first step, on the demand letter alone. The rest go on through suit and judgment to the enforcement tools that move money out of a debtor's accounts and into yours.
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Demand
A letter on firm letterhead, stating the amount owed and what happens if it is not paid.
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Suit
Filed in Supreme Court, Civil Court, or the Commercial Division.
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Judgment
Entered and docketed, whether by default or after trial.
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Find assets
Subpoenas compel the debtor and banks to disclose accounts and property.
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Levy
Accounts are frozen and a marshal or sheriff seizes the funds.
A judgment is only a piece of paper until it is enforced. Many creditors win in court and then never see a dollar because they do not know how to collect. These are the tools we use to collect it.
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Enforcing a Judgment
We take judgments (ours and those won by other attorneys) and turn them into recoveries through New York's powerful enforcement tools under Article 52 of the CPLR.
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Restraining Notices and Levies
We freeze a debtor's bank accounts with a restraining notice and then direct a city marshal or sheriff to levy and seize the funds.
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Wage Garnishment
For individual debtors and guarantors, an income execution diverts up to ten percent of wages directly to satisfy the judgment.
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Information Subpoenas
Before we can seize assets, we have to find them. An information subpoena compels the debtor and third parties such as banks to disclose where the money and property are.
