How to recover a debt from a company in Poland

Your customer in Poland has stopped paying and stopped answering. Letters from your country change nothing — and a foreign lawsuit feels expensive and slow. The good news: Polish law gives creditors a set of pressure tools that work, provided they are used from inside Poland, in Polish, with Polish legal consequences attached. This guide explains the path step by step.

1. A formal demand for payment (wezwanie do zapłaty)

Recovery in Poland starts with a written demand for payment. It matters for two reasons: many debtors pay once a Polish operator is involved, and a documented demand is a required step before several legal tools — including the credit bureau entry described below. A demand sent by registered mail from Poland, referencing the exact invoices, statutory interest and the consequences that follow, is treated very differently from an e-mail from abroad.

2. Public exposure: the debt registry

Poland has public debt registries where unpaid business debts are listed and indexed by search engines. When a potential customer, supplier or bank searches for the debtor, the listing appears. For a trading company this is a live commercial problem, not an abstract threat — and the listing is removed only after payment, which is exactly why it motivates settlement. We operate our own national registry, Polska Giełda Długów.

3. The credit bureau entry (BIG)

The strongest amicable-stage tool is an entry at a credit information bureau (BIG). Under the Polish Act on the provision of business information, a creditor may report an overdue business debt (minimum 500 PLN, at least 30 days overdue, after a proper demand). Banks, leasing and factoring companies check BIG before granting financing. In practice, a BIG entry can freeze the debtor's access to credit and leasing — read our detailed guide to BIG InfoMonitor for foreign creditors.

4. The e-court payment order

If the amicable stage fails, Poland offers a fast electronic procedure: the e-court (EPU) issues a payment order based on documents, without a hearing. Once final, the order becomes enforceable and goes to a court bailiff (komornik), who can seize bank accounts and receivables. As a foreign creditor you do not need to appear in Poland — the case is run on your behalf under a power of attorney.

5. Don't forget the statutory compensation

EU late-payment rules as implemented in Poland give the creditor a fixed recovery-cost compensation of €40, €70 or €100 per invoice, on top of the principal and interest — see our guide to late-payment compensation in Poland.

What it costs

Traditional cross-border collection agencies often charge onboarding fees plus 20–30% of the claim. Our model is simpler: no upfront fees — a degressive success fee of 18% down to 6%, charged only on the principal we actually recover.