Legal challenge filed against Belgium’s biggest debt collection firm

Brussels' debt mediation service and the Belgian Anti-Poverty Network are filing a joint lawsuit against Modero, the largest debt collection firm in Belgium.

The two associations are suing the firm for “illegal debt collection practices”, RTBF reports, targeting fees charged by bailiffs when collecting unpaid fines for Stib and De Lijn in Brussels.

The charges have been condemned for years, but are still being applied.

When a passenger is caught using the transport systems without a ticket, they’- are issued a fine by the transport companies.

But when Modero collects that fine on Stib and De Lijn’s behalf, their bailiffs sometimes add a €25 "administrative fee" which Modero keeps.

“Stib is subject to legal texts – it's a public service, so the rates are set by a Brussels ordinance that is debated in parliament,” said Anne Defossez, director of the Centre d'Appui-Médiation de Dettes.

“The additional €25 is not provided for anywhere, and is therefore quite simply illegal. Neither the bailiff, nor the lawyer, nor Stib has the right to charge more than what is provided for in the order and in the implementing decrees.”

Defossez said what Modero is doing is simply theft. The legal complaint filed uses the term "bribery".

“It's theft committed by a civil servant, a ministerial officer, which is the case of the bailiff,” said Defossez. “He is an agent of the rule of law, and that's what's all the more shocking about this case.”

According to Stib figures, more than 38,000 fines were issued in 2021. A €25 on top of each fine would amount to potentially €1 million for Modero. The firm has seen its turnover increase dramatically over the past decade – close to €23 million per year.

Such practices have been denounced before, but the National Chamber of Bailiffs, the supervisory body, is headed (on the Dutch-speaking side) by Jan De Meuter, the founder and chairman of Modero.

“We can see that there is a problem,” said Caroline Van der Hoeven of the Belgian Anti-Poverty Network. “This may raise questions about the independence of this chamber. For us, it is very important to be attentive to this and for it to be called into question.”

Stib had been made aware of these extra fees in the past and already made it known via its ombudsman that it was going to ask Modero to stop applying these fees immediately – back in 2021.

However, according to the associations lodging the complaint today, these administrative fees were still found in files dating back to 2024.

A spokesperson for Stib told RTBF that it “intends to hold the company to account”.

“For a long time, the profession itself had been calling for a review of the fees, which dated back to a 1976 Royal Decree,” said Quentin Debray, the French-speaking president of the bailiffs' supervisory board.

“It provided for obsolete tasks that no longer exist, and on the other hand other tasks were not provided for. The aim is also to respond to criticisms, in particular the lack of transparency. As soon as you have a complex tariff, it is necessarily difficult to understand and not very transparent.”

But the associations lodging this latest legal challenge describe an “industry of debt” that preys on the most vulnerable.

“We have several examples of debts of €50, for example, increasing in the space of a few months to amounts of €500 or even more – we can see that there really is a debt industry pushing people into a vicious circle of debt,” said Caroline Van Der Hoeven of the Belgian Anti-Poverty Network.

“For us, [this case is] a way of representing all those people who are affected but who don't have the means to go to court themselves.

"What’s more, we're talking about public transport here. It's very important to have proper and ethical collection of fines so that people have confidence in the system and in the state."

The associations noted that in August 2023, a complaint was filed against the bailiffs' office Modero Antwerp for charging unlawful fees when collecting parking debts for the city of Mechelen, meaning the supervisory board and authorities are already well aware of the issue and its impact beyond just Brussels.

Some changes to the rules for bailiffs will already be implemented this October.

Judicial officers' fees will be simplified from 1 October, and a new online calculation tool designed to provide transparency on the various fees charged by bailiffs has been developed.

Among other measures negotiated with the supervisory board, the collection of debts relating to basic services such as water, energy, health, telecommunications or school bills will henceforth be at the lowest rate, regardless of the amount of the debt.

A solidarity fund, financed by the profession itself, will also be set up to reduce costs.

Bailiffs will also begin to use flat-rate indemnities and apply a collection fee that will be fixed from the start of the collection process, with no subsequent changes, and the supervisory board will also abolish the advance payment fee, which was previously due with each repayment under a monthly payment plan.

Finally, the costs and procedures associated with summonses and searches will be replaced by a fixed handling fee of €50.