Posts Tagged ‘credit collection agency’
Debt Collector Basics Part Five: Getting Proof Of Payment And Avoiding Future Phone Calls
Saturday, August 7th, 2010In the first four articles in this series I wrote about the definition of collections account, spoke about how sending late accounts out to an agency helps out a creditor, and described the practice of selling an old debt to a third party collection agency.
I described the sort of information that a collection company will use to help them in their efforts, and the kind of laws that third party collection companies must follow. I described illegal and legal tactics that debt collection agencies use to collect.
I reminded you that most debt collectors realize that it is imperative to collect on your accounts as soon as possible. Many will ask you why you can’t pay today, and many will attempt to manipulate your emotions or insinuate that you are fiscally irresponsible to upset you into agreeing on a payment. After a frustrating and upsetting phone call with a specific debt collector, this agency employee may put you on the phone with a supervisor, and you may be prone to agree to something that you ordinarily would not agree to.
As a general fact, bill collection companies are slow to document that an account has been paid off or transferred to a different agency, so it is imperative after you pay that you get proof of payment. In the future, before an account goes delinquent, if you have missed one or two payments, contact your creditor before they send your account to collections. Many times a payment plan can be worked out.
Best case scenario, you can predict that you won’t be able to pay and call your creditor in advance. Let them know you don’t anticipate being able to make payment and ask them if there is any way anything can be worked out. Many times, in situations like this, an agreement can be made without any penalties or late charges.
Find a bad debt collection solution with the help of an accounts receivable collection agency. Mallory Megan writes articles on medical debt collection agencies.
The Difference Between In House And Third Party Debt Collectors And Why It Pays To Know Who You’re Paying Part One
Friday, July 30th, 2010Anyone who has experience in the field of bill collection probably knows about the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. This legislation was crafted in 1978 and provided a very decent amount of protections for consumers. There are a variety of guidelines that a debt collector must follow, and if any of these rules are violated, you should call up your attorney general’s office and complain. Examples of rules that third party debt collectors must follow include: a debt collector can only call between 8:30 AM – 9 PM, they cannot call a debtor repeatedly, and they must positively identify that they are speaking directly to the debtor before they proceed with their attempt to collect debt.
These are just some of the rules of the FDCPA, which you can look up on Wikipedia if you would like to know more, and also, third party collection agents have to abide by certain state rules and regulations as well. But different kinds of people owe different types of debt. What about that friend of yours who owes you five bucks? Do you have to grant them thirty days to refute the claim? Of course not! You can call up that friend at eleven at night if you know they are up and ask for your money back!
This is where things get tricky. Notice how I specifically said “third party” debt collectors when I wrote about the guidelines of the FDCPA. These are just one kind of collection agent. The other kind is called “in house collectors.” Third party debt collectors work for an independent debt collection company that is hired by a creditor to collect delinquent accounts. In house collectors work directly for the creditor. Usually in house collectors work for financially based institutions that have huge accounts receivable departments like credit and mortgage companies, or health care companies. In house collectors are not considered “debt collectors” under the FDCPA and therefore do not have to follow many of the legal rules.
Three examples: The Department of Education works with seventeen private debt collection agencies to collect on federal student loans. Any officer or employee of the Department of Ed is not bound by the FDCPA. However, the private debt collection agencies are. Second example: Morency v. Evanston Northwestern Healthcare Corp, a district court case in Illinois from 1999. While trying to retrieve medical debt, a hospital issued and mailed out pre-collection notices. Big no-no for third party collection agencies. This could have potentially meant that everybody who received that notice would have been absolved of their debt, but the court ruled that the hospital was a creditor, not a collection agency, so the FDCPA did not apply.
Third example: I am notorious for taking out ten books at the library at one time, reading about five, getting distracted and reading other books in between, and reading multiple books at the same time. I am surprised I have not gotten my library card revoked. Last summer I had books out for so long that they had a debt collector call me! The debt collector called my third party telephone, clearly a shared number, and left intimate information on a message about my delinquent account. I might have been annoyed, but I knew I had to give the books back, and the debt collector told me to pay the library directly, which meant that she was an in house collector, so the FDCPA does not apply. Third party collection agencies will almost always ask you to pay them directly, not the creditor, and they certainly cannot leave messages on third party phones with specific account information. Luckily I returned my books and because it was a public library I ended up owing like five dollars. To find out what makes third party collection agencies and in house collectors different see part two…
Mallory Megan works for Rapid Recovery Solution and writes articles on nationwide collection agencies.
Just What Can A Debt Collector Do To Me If I Don’t Pay?
Friday, July 30th, 2010There seems to be a lot of misinformation about what collection agents have the power to do. Admittedly, some bill collectors may intentionally lie or insinuate that they can do more than they legally can to intimidate debtors. Typically the main factor that will motivate debtors to pay is the persistence of correspondence from the debt collectors. If they do not pay, they know that the letters and phone calls will not stop.
Debt collectors do have the capability of negatively marking credit scores which can do a lot of financial damage and stay on the score for seven years. If a debtor is especially resistant and obviously has assets, a third party debt collector will either recommend that the creditor sue them, or if they own the debt themselves, they are entitled to sue themselves.
Contrary to popular belief, debt collectors can’t seize a debtor’s bank accounts, assets, or garnish wages unless there has been a successful lawsuit already with a judgment against them. Debt collectors are strictly banned from making the debt public. The only entity that they can discuss the debt with is the credit bureaus. They can not get a debtor fired from their job, and if a collector was to threaten violence on a debtor for the purposes of intimidation, they would almost certainly be fired, and perhaps sued.
Again, debtors usually repay their debts to collection agencies to stop the constant contact, but oftentimes, most debtors realize that the debt is legitimate and it is the right thing to do. Perhaps they did not have the money to pay on the delinquent account in the past, but have it now, or maybe the account simply slipped their mind.
In light of the negative stereotypes about collection agents, it is ironic that it is oftentimes the collection agents themselves that enable the debtor to pay off their debt. Collection agents usually have the authority to offer some type of repayment plan or debt reduction plan, or in some cases, both. Because of their two main capabilities, one being the authority to damage your credit score, and two being the authority to make it easier to pay, it is never a good idea to simply ignore a call from the debt collector.
Mallory Megan works for Rapid Recovery Solution and writes articles on commercial collection agencies
Debt Collectors Working From Home May Be A Reality Soon
Thursday, July 29th, 2010Despite the fact that professionals in managerial positions at collection agencies should always be looking for more excellent workers to add to their ranks, they also must keep in mind that keeping the best employees around is crucial. These are the workers that have already proven themselves motivated and capable; often they are the hardest workers and bring home the biggest commissions. Trends in the collections industry have indicated that one way of doing this is allowing tenured collectors to work from home.
For these hard workers that have put much time and energy into improving your company, it might be a wise decision to accommodate for these people’s needs considering that the number of accounts that collectors receive nowadays might be smaller, thus reducing commission. Also, personal situations such as health, stress of a commute or a need to spend more time at home with the family might drive your top collectors away. Although work-at-home programs have not become an everyday thing yet, there are a few agencies that are currently making exceptions for particular debt collectors. Typically these collectors are the best at what they do and most likely deserve to work from home a couple of days a week.
The way that work-from-home programs operate is simple enough. Usually, the bill collector will be given a computer with access to the computers at the agency and they will be given designated phone equipment to use. One of the perks for agency managers is that everything that the collector does and says can still be monitored, just as if he or she was working in the call center itself.
However, before you start to send workers to work from home, it is important to closely evaluate the good and bad qualities of each collector. Obviously, the debt collectors with the best work ethics can be trusted to work from home more than the easily distracted ones. But, research has indicated that if a debt collector is a good fit for working at home, they will likely be more productive, take fewer breaks, and without the social interactions with other employees they are free to hone in on the job itself.
Still, there are many issues that should be addressed before management thinks about permitting collectors to work from home. First, there is the potential of data security issues. Also, due to the fact that there has been a staggering amount of recent legislation impacting the collection industry, many formal work-at-home programs may not come to fruition anytime soon. Still, researchers feel that it is not good to alienate the top workers at your agency who are asking about working from home. They predict that the collections industry will see more agencies permitting debt collectors to work from home within the next five years.
Mallory Megan works for Rapid Recovery Solution and writes articles on commercial collection agencies
