I forgot to pay the September bill for my health insurance. It was not because I didn't want to pay, just that I got busy with things. I spoke to my health insurance people on the 1st of December and asked them to send me a new bill so that I can pay it. I didn't receive it until the end of the year and so I rang them yesterday again. They said that they have sent a payment reminder to the Betreibungsamt and that I can go and pay there.

Now apart from the embarassment, I don't have a problem to go and pay it there. I am more worried about the impact this will have in the future on my credit standing, especially if I apply for car leasing etc. My insurance company told me that once I pay the outstanding amout and send the bill to them, they will remove the entry from the Betrebungsamt. Is this true? I am really worried.

I did this once and it's no bother. You pay up and also pay a service fee for the "inconvenience".

I think it sits on your credit record for three or four years. Lucky for me it dropped off before I had to get the statement of no outstanding debts for my C permit.

Thanks for your reply.

So what the guy at the Health insurer told me was rubbish then...I can't remove it from the record by paying CHF 50 the health insurer.

Also was this 'inconvenience' fee payable to the Betreibungsamt authorities and how much was it.

you might be able to clear the debt by paying the insurer, I don't know. I seems to remember the extra being 15 francs or so but I do think you get a single strike in the debt register for your trouble.....but they only start questioning things when you have three (IIRC).

You must've missed warnings 1 2 and 3 I assume?

Normally you can pay the bill to the insurer, who will then have to withdraw the injunction. However you will still have to pay the Betreibungsamt fees (fees for processing and serving the injunction). SO it's actually easier to go to that office and pay off everything in a lump sum.

I am not quite sure if it does indeed stay on your record - I ended up with one once for about 40 CHF worth, and my slate was wiped clean as soon as I paid it.

Hello,

first post - be gentle

It would indeed be the easiest way to go to the Betreibungsamt directly and pay there.

If you want to have the entry removed from the register, your health insurance needs to get in contact with the Betreibungsamt and tell them to do so. Just get in touch with them after you've paid, once they see the money has gone in they'll be happy to help.

Make sure the entry gets deleted, if you're going to rent a new place or apply for a mortgage, loan etc. the landlord/bank will ask the Betreibungsamt for a copy of your register.

HTH
Dani

I thought that as long as you go along to the Betreibungsamt and cough up the money on time (plus of course, a sizeable additional admin fee) you don't get any black marks against you. It's only if you don't pay within a defined period once you have received the order that things get sticky.

I'm pretty sure that it'd been less than 4 years when I got my C permit since the time that I didn't pay a 100CHF 'legal insurance' bill (despite having paid the 1000CHF part of the main bill) and got hit with a payment order for it by my lovely, helpful car insurance firm. Stupidly I assumed at the time that if you didn't pay an unwanted insurance, it just lapsed. How young and naive I was to the ways of Switzerland.


Gav

What will happen is that you'll get a registered mail telling you to go to your local Betreibungsamt.

When you get tehre, they'll give you a payment order for the amount of debt plus an admin charge (can be quite a large proportion of the amount). You then have a fixed amount of time to pay this. Something like 21 days or thereabouts.

As long as you do so, I don't think anything is recorded on your record.

Best to bring an amount of cash large enough to cover everything. They don't take credit card and aren't too keen on letting you make an ebanking transfer, usually. Thanks to a screwup over paying my rental deposit insurance, I once had to pay something like 4300CHF cash at my local office.


Gav

this one might help maybe:

http://www.schuldenhotline.ch/docume...gsregister.pdf

Be aware of a few things. I have covered this process pretty extensively before on another thread. Note the following.

Before a Betreibung can be issued a process of recovery must be followed. This includes sending a reminder of payment and potentially a second or third reminder.
The Betreibungsamt will then send you a registered letter with a date on by which you MUST reply.

Now if you get this letter then wait until the day before it runs out. The insurance company must provide its proof on day 9 that they have a case. if they do not do this they are in breach of the rules and the whole thing is sent back again.

PAying the insurance company within the time limit they set on the renewed slip they sent you if possible will save you a lot of bother. Then you can ask to take the legal route and they have not got a leg to stand on...

"Before a Betreibung can be issued a process of recovery must be followed. This includes sending a reminder of payment and potentially a second or third reminder.
The Betreibungsamt will then send you a registered letter with a date on by which you MUST reply."

This statement is not quite correct. In fact, anybody can issue a "Betreibung" to anybody else without going through the above mentioned process. However: it costs the person/company who wants the money (at least CHF 100.-) to start up proceedings, so don't think of annoying a nasty neighbour. If you do not agree with the "Betreibung" all you have to do is write "Rechtsvorschlag" on the paper and return it within the notice mentioned. The person/company who want the money from you have to prove that you owe them.
Re. deletion of entry: An entry is never deleted, the "deletion" or "cancellation" only goes as far as a note next to the entry in the register, saying it is deleted. Once you've been registered, that's it!

I have one of these Betreibungsamt from a scamming renting agency. They claim i owe them a ridiculous amount of commission on a short term rental of which i never signed any agreement with. (only a standard contract with the landlord)

Now they've sent me one of these letters so i send it back with "Rechtsvorschlag"?

How do i go about legal representation, there's no way im going to be bullied into paying it, ill happily pay what it takes to make them regret this!

someone one this list please correct me (as I could be worng), but....

I think you are only obliged to pay the outstanding amount. Any fees are the burden of the original debtor, since they engaged the betreibungsamt and the agreement is between them and the original debtor.

You can ask them to provide an original signed contract or a certified copy of it. Perhaps that will be enough for them to just go away, quietly.

it is not uncommon for the betreibungsamt to try and push to get additional costs/fees.

Regards,

Sorry, according to Art. 68 SchKG the fees are to the account of the debtor. The other party is just making an advance payment.

Are you now talking about the Betreibungsamt (offical debt office) or any Inkassostellen (private and often dubious debt-collectors)?

Neither will the Betreibungsamt go away quietly, nor will they add their own fees... Now the private companies and their claims are quite a different game, they are not to be trusted nor paid in any fashion.. my opinion anyway...

Thanks herc82. I misread betreibungsamt for inkasso. I stand corrected.

Cheers . . .

Obliged? So what if i dont think i should be paying it, never signed any agreement to pay it and dispute what i think i should be paying?

Is it an official Betreibung??

Then you challenge the Betreibung (check Richards posts about Betreibung and the term Rechtsvorschlag). Better be sure that you did not sign some contract or missed a line in the small print though! And good luck.

Thanks for your advice, how do i know it's a official?!

An official Betreibung is issued by an office in your municipality office, therefore has the letterhead of the Gemeinde (where you can call anytime to verify that this is an official letter). Inofficial debt collectors use a lot of (legal) threats in their letters, but usually do not have a foot to stand on.

If in doubt, always verify with them directly. I can vouch that the people at the Betreibungsamt will not try to drink your blood or use your skull as mug, they are quite civilised and helpful in fact. Unfortunately I had the pleasure with them last year..

Now they have to prove that they have a case before they do anything else. This will either be before a Friedensrichter / Juge de la Paix or a real judge depending on the amount. They might well shy away from that if they have no case. The entry will stay on your record for a year with the note that it was disputed. After 12 months in that status it will drop off.