4 tips for a clean prosecution register

Finally found an affordable apartment with a view of the lake? leasing the car of your dreams? Or a bank loan? Everything is going well, but suddenly disaster strikes: you need an extract from the register of proceedings.

What is it? The lawsuit log contains all lawsuits against you in the last five years, even if they have been paid or are unjustified. If you can’t show your credentials with a clean slate, you may well have to say goodbye to your project. Do you have to? Not necessarily, the law offers you several possibilities to obtain the precious sesame:

Solution #1: Strike the lawsuit

The simplest solution: negotiate the cancellation of the lawsuit with the author (the creditor). A simple letter from the creditor to the debt collection office is all it takes for the debt to be cancelled and for you to get a clean debt collection statement!

The debt collection office does not charge for this operation. However, some creditors ask for the payment of administrative fees in exchange for the cancellation of the lawsuit (usually between CHF 10 and 40 per lawsuit) even if the claim has been paid.

To make it easier for you to have your debt cancelled, you will soon be able to use our virtual assistant to create a debt cancellation request to send to your creditor (free of charge) or to prepare a payment agreement against debt cancellation.

Of course, the cancellation of the lawsuit assumes that you and the creditor agree on the payment of the lawsuit. If you dispute the amount claimed or if the creditor turns a deaf ear, this approach will not work. Don’t panic, there are still 3 other solutions!

Solution #2: Non-disclosure of the lawsuit [1]

A new solution that is not yet well known: the request for non-disclosure of the lawsuit. This is the simplest solution when you have objected to the lawsuit and legal action by the creditor seems unlikely (doubtful claim, small amount etc.)

In short, you can send such a request to the debt collection office 3 months after the notification of the payment order. The request is granted if the creditor does not prove within 20 days that he has taken legal steps to have the stop payment lifted.

If your request is accepted, your lawsuit will no longer be made known to third parties. In other words, you will be able to obtain a blank extract from the debt collection register, although the debt collection office will keep the mention of the debt collection in its files. However, the claim will reappear in the register if the creditor subsequently takes legal action to have the stop payment lifted.

The costs of the debt enforcement office for this operation amount to only CHF 40.00[2 ] and are due even if the application is rejected.

To simplify your task, you can quickly create your masking request with our document generator (non-disclosure).

Solution #3: The malicious prosecution claim

A solution reserved for “exceptional” cases: a claim for malicious prosecution. You can have a lawsuit declared void when the creditor abuses his right to sue you.

This is particularly the case where the debtor acts with the recognizable purpose of destroying the debtor’s reputation or tormenting him, openly admits that he is not acting towards the true debtor, or initiates multiple lawsuits for the same cause of action without ever going to court[3]. In other words, the lawsuit is void when the creditor is clearly not acting to obtain payment of a sum of money but is seeking some other non-legitimate purpose.

If you find yourself in this situation, it is recommended that you file a complaint with the supervisory authority. Although this procedure is free and not very formal, it is advisable to be accompanied by a professional (lawyer or business agent). The supervisor may call you to a hearing and you may have to explain yourself. It’s best to make sure your complaint is well defended. If the complaint is dismissed, you will have to resort to more complex and costly means to try to get the lawsuit dismissed (see Tip #4).

If necessary, our Partners can help you evaluate your chances and take the necessary steps. Contact one of our Partners.

Solution #4: The cancellation of the lawsuit [4]

The last solution is also the most delicate: the action to cancel the lawsuit. You can take legal action to have the lawsuit dismissed if you can prove that the debt does not exist or no longer exists.

The terms and conditions are slightly different depending on whether you can prove it with documents or not. In any case, this is a potentially delicate procedure for which it is strongly recommended to use a professional.

Our Partners can also help you evaluate your chances in this procedure and take the necessary steps. Contact one of our Partners.

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We hope that this article has helped you to see things more clearly and that our solutions will help you to prevent your lawsuits from being an obstacle to your projects.