Debt Collection in Jordan: Enforcement Means Available to the Creditor
Debt collection in Jordan entered a different phase after Article 22 of the Jordanian Enforcement Law No. 25 of 2007 was amended by amending Law No. 9 of 2022, which came into force in June 2025, weakening the tool many creditors had long used as their first means of pressure. As a result, collection is no longer about persistence and follow-up; it is about choosing the right path from the outset. This shift confronts companies with accumulated receivables with a new reality: files managed the old way consume a full year only to end in nothing, while weaker files get collected because they were built on an assessment made before they were opened. That is why having a lawyer specializing in enforcement cases review a receivables portfolio has become as much a financial decision as a legal one.
1. What Actually Determines the Chances of Collection
Many creditors assume that what determines the outcome is the strength of the right or the clarity of the debt. In practice, two other factors carry more weight.
The first is the instrument used to document the debt. The same amount may be backed by an instrument that opens a direct path for its holder, or it may rest on an ordinary document that requires a longer path before even reaching the enforcement stage. The difference between the two cases does not appear on the day the debt arises, but on the day one tries to collect it, and by then what has been missed cannot be remedied.
The second is what is known about the debtor's situation before the file is opened. Ultimately, enforcement depends on finding assets to enforce against. Opening a file without knowing whether any such assets exist means spending money to test a hypothesis rather than to collect a debt.
Together, these two factors explain a phenomenon that recurs in company portfolios: large, old receivables that do not move, and smaller ones that are collected quickly. The difference between them lies neither in the amount nor in the clarity of the right.
2. The Paths Available to the Creditor
There is more than one route to recovering a debt, and the routes differ in their conditions, duration and cost:
The direct enforcement path. This is available when the creditor holds an instrument that is enforceable in itself. It is in principle the fastest, because it starts from an advanced stage without the need to obtain a judgment first.
The judicial-then-enforcement path. This is the road when the creditor does not hold a ready enforceable instrument, so a judgment must be obtained first before moving on to enforcement. It is longer, and considerations of the length of litigation and appeals are added to it.
The arbitration path. When the contract from which the debt arose includes an agreement to arbitrate, the road to the right passes through arbitration, not the courts, and it has its own rules, which we have detailed in Arbitration in Jordanian Law.
The cross-border path. When the debtor or the debtor's assets are outside Jordan, or when the judgment was issued abroad and is to be enforced locally, separate rules apply, which we have addressed in Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Jordan.
Determining the most suitable path for a particular file is not a formal choice; it is itself a legal point that merits consultation before any step is taken, because the wrong path does not merely delay collection but may consume the time that could have been invested in the right one.
3. How the Picture Changes Depending on How the Debt Is Documented
The following table shows why the positions of two creditors owed the same amount can differ fundamentally:
| Point of comparison | Debt documented by a strong instrument | Debt based on an ordinary document | Undocumented debt |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starting point | A relatively advanced stage | Needs proof first | Needs proof that it exists at all |
| Burden of proof | Limited | Moderate | The heaviest |
| Expected duration | The shortest | Moderate | The longest |
| Room for dispute | Limited | Open to the debtor | Wide |
| Cost of collection | The lowest | Moderate | May exceed the value of the debt |
| Likelihood of early settlement | High | Moderate | Low |
The last row is what most creditors overlook: early settlement is not a sign of a weak position but a result of a strong one. The debtor negotiates seriously when they see that the creditor's path is short and clear, and stalls when they see that it is long and fraught with dispute.
4. Why Collection Files Fail Despite a Clear Right
The recurring patterns in stalled files are few and well known, and most of them occur before the file is opened, not after.
Delay. This has the greatest effect. Every month that passes on a receivable reduces the chances of collection, because the debtor's financial situation changes, because other creditors are moving, and because the chronological order of claims is not without effect. A company that waits a year before acting does not retain the same right it had in the first month.
Administrative rather than legal handling. Receivables are managed for months through correspondence, calls and repeated promises, and this is later read as laxity or as tacit acceptance of postponement.
Treating the portfolio as identical files. No single yardstick applies to receivables; some warrant immediate action, some warrant negotiation, and some do not justify the cost of litigation at all, and sorting this out early is what protects resources.
Practical note: Many companies measure the success of collection by the number of files opened, which is a misleading indicator, because opening a file against a debtor who has nothing to enforce against adds cost without return. The lawyer assesses the viability of each file before acting on it, based on the instrument and the debtor's situation, a point that is settled by reviewing the portfolio or by consulting a specialist lawyer before allocating effort to it.
5. The Effect of Restricting Debtor Imprisonment on the Creditor's Position
In the past, imprisonment was used in practice as a means of pressure pushing toward settlement more than as a means of collection in itself. Restricting it changed the balance of negotiation across a wide range of contractual debts.
But the effect is not as sharp as it has been portrayed. First, the restriction did not cover all obligations; obligations arising from employment contracts and lease agreements remained within the exception, and claims whose source is not a contract remained outside the scope of the restriction altogether. Second, and most important for the professional creditor, the other means that the Enforcement Law provides for reaching the debtor's assets were not affected by the amendment, and these are, in principle, the means by which rights are actually collected.
We have detailed the limits and scope of the restriction from the debtor's angle in the article Debtor Imprisonment in the Jordanian Enforcement Law, and reading it is useful for the creditor too, because knowing the other party's position is part of building a collection strategy.
The practical conclusion is that those who relied on pressure alone have seen their position weaken, while those who relied on the quality of documentation and on choosing the path precisely have seen little change in theirs.
6. What the Lawyer Assesses on Receiving a Receivables Portfolio
Handling a group of receivables differs from handling a single file, and assessment comes before action:
- Sorting the portfolio by the quality of the instrument: this determines the path, duration and cost for each file, and allows priorities to be ranked instead of spreading effort evenly.
- Estimating viability before opening: a file from which no return is expected consumes resources that could have been directed to a collectible file.
- Reading the debtor's situation in its full context: including the presence of multiple creditors and the order of claims, a factor that changes the assessment radically.
- Deciding what is negotiated and what is litigated: not every file warrants litigation, and not every settlement is a gain.
- Addressing the cause of recurrence: because the accumulation of receivables in an establishment is rarely a coincidence, and handling existing files without looking at their source keeps the problem renewing itself.
7. Frequently Asked Questions
How is a debt collected in Jordan after the restriction of debtor imprisonment?
The creditor still has the means the Enforcement Law provides for reaching the debtor's assets, and these means were not affected by the amendment. The change targeted a single means of pressure in a category of contractual obligations, not the collection system as a whole.
What is the difference between a debt documented by a commercial instrument and an ordinary debt?
The difference is fundamental and shows in the starting point, the burden of proof and the expected duration. An enforceable instrument cuts out entire stages, while an ordinary document requires the right to be proven first. We have addressed this aspect in our article on Commercial Papers and Cheques in Commercial Transactions, and the article on bounced cheques under Jordanian law covers what follows when a cheque is returned for insufficient funds.
Does every debt justify opening an enforcement file?
No. The viability of a file depends on the instrument and on what is known about the debtor's situation. Opening files against debtors who have nothing to enforce against adds cost without return, which is why sorting comes before action.
When should a company refer a receivable to a lawyer?
The earlier, the better the chances. Lengthy administrative handling drains time, which is the most influential factor in collection, and is later read against the creditor.
Can a debt be collected from a debtor outside Jordan?
It is possible, but it is subject to separate rules that differ depending on where the debtor or the debtor's assets are located and on the nature of the instrument, and it is a path with its own requirements that is studied separately.
Is a settlement a waiver of the right?
Not necessarily. A settlement that secures a certain portion within a short time may be economically better than a full judgment that is never enforced. The correct comparison is between what is actually collected on each path, not between the figures on paper.
What is the effect of the passage of time on a debt claim?
The law attaches consequences to the lapse of time that differ according to the nature of the debt, the instrument on which it rests, and whether anything has occurred that interrupts the running of the period. These are among the matters that must be examined early, because they may affect the right itself, not only the means of obtaining it.
Legal Consultation
Accumulated receivables are among the things that drain companies most quietly, because their cost does not appear as a separate line item but in eroding liquidity and administrative time spent without return: on the creditor's side, delay in acting or choosing the wrong path may lead to spending a full year to reach a debtor who no longer has anything to enforce against; on the debtor's side, ignoring the claim may lead to a file whose impact multiplies across their entire business. And because the chances of collection are determined by the quality of the instrument and the timing of action more than by the clarity of the right, assessing the portfolio before acting is what separates effort that bears fruit from effort that is wasted. For specialist legal consultation in enforcement cases, or to read our related articles on Debtor Imprisonment in the Jordanian Enforcement Law and Arbitration in Jordanian Law, you can contact Alabwini Law Firm.
