{"id":71480,"date":"2023-01-31T09:37:07","date_gmt":"2023-01-31T08:37:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tcm.be\/tcm-be-marktleider-in-ethisch-innen-onbetaalde-schoolfacturen-2\/"},"modified":"2026-08-13T01:09:26","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T23:09:26","slug":"tcm-belgium-leader-ethical-collection-unpaid-school-invoices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tcm.be\/en\/tcm-belgium-leader-ethical-collection-unpaid-school-invoices\/","title":{"rendered":"TCM Belgium: leader in ethical collection of unpaid school invoices"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"TCM Belgium is de marktleider in het ethisch innen van onbetaalde schoolfacturen.\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/XP2a4Z66etA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Yesterday, <strong>VTM Nieuws<\/strong> visited our new office in Tienen. As <strong>market leader in the ethical collection of unpaid school invoices<\/strong>, we were asked whether we see a rising trend in the number of schools turning to us, and in the number of school invoices that remain unpaid.<\/em><\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">The number of unpaid school invoices is rising<\/h2>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We can unfortunately confirm that <strong>the number of unpaid school invoices is rising<\/strong>. More and more parents who previously experienced no financial difficulties are being pushed into precarious positions by the succession of recent crises.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The table below shows this trend in figures:<\/p>\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>JAAR<\/strong><\/td><td>TOTAAL HOOFDSOM<\/td><td>TOTAAL BETAALD<\/td><td><strong>SECTOR<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>AANTAL<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>OPEN<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>2020<\/td><td>\u20ac 1,848,806.44<\/td><td>\u20ac 1,188,461.12<\/td><td>SCHOOLS<\/td><td>10756<\/td><td>146<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>2021<\/td><td>\u20ac 2,047,528.64<\/td><td>\u20ac 1,286,602.42<\/td><td>SCHOOLS<\/td><td>11841<\/td><td>1147<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>2022<\/td><td>\u20ac 2,222,704.79<\/td><td>\u20ac 1,107,957.56<\/td><td>SCHOOLS<\/td><td>13006<\/td><td>3268<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>&nbsp;<\/td><td>\u20ac 6,119,039.87<\/td><td>\u20ac 3,583,021.10<\/td><td>&nbsp;<\/td><td>35603<\/td><td>4561<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Instalment plans<\/h3>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It is very important to underline: parents always have the option to request <strong>instalment plans<\/strong>. The table shows that in 2020 there were still 146 ongoing cases, in 2021 that number was 1147 and in 2022 no fewer than 3268 cases. In those cases, instalment plans are typically used.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Instalment plans are approved when the <strong>repayments are in line<\/strong> with the parent\u2019s financial means, and when the school can agree to the plan. <strong>The most appropriate solution<\/strong>, then, for both creditor and debtor. In this way, <strong>long and costly legal proceedings are avoided<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Ethical collection<\/h3>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">TCM Belgium stands for the <a href=\"https:\/\/tcm.be\/en\/ethics-and-deontology\/\"><strong>ethical collection<\/strong><\/a> of unpaid (school) invoices, which means that we <strong>proactively look for a cost-effective, tailored solution for every case and every debtor\/creditor, and that we do not push people in poverty even deeper into debt<\/strong>. When, in rare cases, a solution cannot be found within the scope of our services, we refer parents\/debtors to supporting bodies and financial aid at municipal\/city level.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pointing people in poverty to their rights and options is equally part of ethical collection.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Both by law (<em>Act on the amicable recovery of consumer debts, 20\/12\/2002<\/em>) and via our code of conduct, every actor engaged in amicable recovery (collection agency, bailiff, lawyer) is prohibited from passing operating costs on to the debtor. <strong>In the case of collecting school invoices, the instructing school pays us, never the parent!<\/strong> The school thus chooses ethical collection, whereby a parent does not have to pay a single extra EUR for our services.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The follow-up of payment plans<\/strong> is <strong>completely free of charge<\/strong> for the parent (and the school); TCM Belgium charges nothing for this.<\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">FOD Justitie recommendation report<\/h2>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">TCM Belgium has been trying for years to adjust the perception of policymakers, people in poverty, anti-poverty networks,&#8230; of how collection agencies work, towards reality. There is a misconception that we do not work ethically because we would pass costs on to debtors.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Strange, because policymakers in particular ought to know that this is prohibited by law. We are, however, often <strong>confused with bailiffs, who do pass on operating costs\/administrative costs<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/justitie.belgium.be\/sites\/default\/files\/Boek%20Armoede%20en%20Justitie_Web_DEF_NL.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>recommendation report of the FOD Justitie<\/strong><\/a> (Poverty and Justice, 2022) does give us hope that <a href=\"https:\/\/tcm.be\/en\/our-good-intentions-ethical-collection-of-unpaid-invoices\/\">ethical collection will in future have to be followed by all parties<\/a> engaged in amicable recovery, and that confusion will therefore no longer have a negative effect. The report makes recommendations that we as a sector have been asking for for years. <strong>Concretely, they recommend the following<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Dare to ask whether there is really a need for the bailiff as a collection partner<\/h3>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There is <strong>no societal need for bailiffs to carry out amicable collection activities<\/strong>; it is rather a matter of the economic need of the bailiff. But a bailiff then no longer works independently, while THE bailiff unconsciously puts considerable pressure on many debtors to pay. Whether the debt is correct or not.<\/p>\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">One and the same supervisory body<\/h3>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Ensure that every actor engaged in amicable collection (bailiff, lawyer, collection agency) is supervised by one and the same supervisory body<\/strong>. At present this is not yet the case: FPS Economy only supervises collection agencies; lawyers and bailiffs have their own disciplinary body for this.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Complaints about collection activities are, however, mainly linked to bailiffs, which is why that uniform supervision still seems badly needed.<\/p>\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Make operating costs free\/cheaper<\/h3>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Because of the high operating costs of bailiffs, people in poverty are pushed even further into financial difficulty. <strong>Instalment plans are not followed up free of charge by bailiffs<\/strong>, and are therefore a very costly matter for debtors. That is why collection fees (the cost paid to the bailiff when the total sum is repaid) and <a href=\"https:\/\/tcm.be\/en\/redemption-right-why-pay-bailiff-for-instalments\/\">redemption rights<\/a> (the cost paid to the bailiff for each instalment) should be made cheaper, adapted to reality.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>For more information about our help in collecting unpaid invoices, do not hesitate to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/tcm.be\/en\/contact-us\/\">contact<\/a>&nbsp;us via&nbsp;<\/em><a href=\"mailto:s.dereze@tcm.be\"><em>s.dereze@tcm.be<\/em><\/a><em>&nbsp;or 0498292914.<\/em><\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">31\/01\/2022<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Yesterday, VTM Nieuws visited our new office in Tienen. As market leader in the ethical collection of unpaid school invoices, we were asked whether we see a rising trend in the number of schools turning to us, and in the number of school invoices that remain unpaid. The number of unpaid school invoices is rising [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":23390,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63,82],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-71480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-news-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tcm.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tcm.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tcm.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tcm.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tcm.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71480"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tcm.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71480\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":71849,"href":"https:\/\/tcm.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71480\/revisions\/71849"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tcm.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tcm.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tcm.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tcm.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}