What is a debt collection or debt enforcement (Betreibung)?
In Switzerland, "Betreibung" refers to the formal debt enforcement procedure. It's a legal process initiated by a creditor when a debtor fails to pay an owed amount, and begins by a request at the Betreibungsamt (Debt Enforcement Office) and ends when the debt is paid or successfully disputed.
In order to lease a car in Switzerland, customers cannot have any running debt enforcements. This is proven by a clean record from the debt enforcement register (Betreibungsregisterauszug).
A debt enforcement record reflects negatively on a person’s financial reliability, indicating to lenders and leasing companies that they’ve had issues with paying their bills in the past. Furthermore, granting people a lease while they are already struggling to make ends meet would be unlawful according to laws protecting consumers from over-indebtedness.
Find out more about debt collection pertaining to leasing, read our blog article: Leasing despite Debt Collection