Debt Recovery

Non paying customers create a major financial burden on the telecommunication companies. Telecom is a highly competitive industry and without a proper accounts receivables strategy, past-due accounts can restrict the ability of a telecom provider to expand business, provide quality service existing customers and create a crunch required to upgrade systems to a new technology to stay competitive.

The billing department of the telecom companies is always under lot of pressure because not only customers are constantly unhappy about the mandatory charges that telecom and mobile phone providers are supposed to add on base price of a plan by law,  moreover if a customer uses services that exceed beyond the service plan, it results in a lot of over-charges that customers often dispute and refuse to pay. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau recently conducted a survey and found that over one-third telecom customers were behind payments due to billing disagreements or personal financial issues.

Hiring a professional debt collection agency will relieve the accounting staff from the headaches of collecting money from past-due accounts. A good collection agency is able to serve both national and regional telecom providers.

Benefits of engaging a Debt Collection Agency:

1. Agencies are able to do advance skip tracing to locate the debtor and engage with him, professionally and diplomatically.

2. Check if the person has filed for bankruptcy or has deceased, then recommend that the case should be closed without wasting any more resources.

3. Report the debt to Credit Bureaus if you want.

4. Collect the debt by following the FDCPA guidelines prescribed by the federal government and do a preemptive scrub for “litigious” customers thereby greatly reducing the number of lawsuits that a telecom provider get dragged into.

5. Involvement of a Collection Agency conveys a very strong message to the customer and they are more likely to settle, verses when the employees of a telecom provider were trying to collect money under their own company’s name.

Check this: Cost of hiring a collection agency

Getting better collection rates from your agency:

1. Transfer the accounts early and automatically to your collection agency. Older an account gets, it becomes harder to settle.

2. During the collection process customers often ask for the contractual agreement (soft/hard copy) and copy of bills. Those should be provided proactively.

3. Sign a Settled-In-Full agreement with your collection agency, which authorizes them to settle the case for a slightly less money in some cases.

If you need a collections agency to recover money from past due accounts: Contact us

 

Lawn care and landscaping companies face rising challenges to keep their accounts in “green” and usually employ too few resources to properly manage the administrative side of the business mainly because they are looked upon as a cost center. Therefore, most Lawn Care and Landscaping companies do not have a good enough system in place for accounts receivables. But these past due accounts can quickly become a huge problem as it impacts cash flow in this fiercely contested industry.

Already the Lawn Care and Landscaping companies face numerous challenges like:
1. Finding and retaining dependable good field workers and supervisors.
2. Government regulations regarding the safety, chemicals, equipment and the environment.
3. Competition from non-licensed and uninsured businesses
4. Marketing and getting new clients.
5. Rising overhead and fuel costs.
6. Pricing pressure and tighter margins.
7. Personal stress.
8. High insurance costs.

Need for a Collection Agency:

A professional debt collection agency works an extended branch of your business. They are experts in debt collection. They will diplomatically approach your clients whose payments are late or employ various tactics to recover money from them. Collection agencies work within the laws of The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and their staff knows how to negotiate patiently.

Check this: Cost of hiring a collection agency

Your options include trying to collect by first sending low cost “Collection Letters” followed by “Collection Calls” or go for “Collection Calls” directly. Collection agencies are licenced , insured and bonded, and they do various checks to minimize risk for your business and attempt to maintain good relationship with your clients by using a diplomatic approach to recover money. If needed they will report the debt to the Credit Bureaus and may even file a Legal Suit to recover money.

While you make the world go greener, a collection agency will work aggressively to keep your accounts receivables in green as well.

Contact us if you are looking for a collection agency with experience in your industry.

Pest Control is a very competitive industry. The market is huge but so are the number of Pest Control companies. Hiring a collection agency for your accounts receivables will enable you to focus on your business and also protect your firm against lawsuits that you may occasionally run into. Staff of collection agencies are well versed in the “Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA)”, and protects you and your staff from breaking laws while trying to recover money. Moreover, most Collection Agencies do a “Litigious Individual” check, it allows to take a different approach when collecting from these high risk individuals who look for excuses to file a counter lawsuit. The staff of a Pest Control company is not trained to professionally recover money and that can be very frustrating activity.

While you concentrate on eliminating roaches and rodents, the collection agency will eradicate your headaches related to the past due accounts. Collection agencies follow a diplomatic approach for collections, therefore it is your best chance to protect your brand image.

Low cost Collection Letters from Collection agencies is the best first step towards recovering your money. Five letters are sent out in about 45 days, starting with a softer verbiage in letter one to a firm (yet diplomatic) verbiage in letter five. It indicates the debtor that you are serious about recovering your pending bills. Unpaid bills can be further transferred for “Collection Calls” or the “Legal Suit” service.

Check this: Cost of hiring a collection agency

Involvement of a collection agency is a game changer while collecting money. The debtor knows that this matter can not only be reported to Credit Bureaus, damaging his credit history, but more importantly a collection agency will go great lengths recover the money.

Contact us if you are looking for a collection agency with experience in your industry.

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Vineyard owners often face problems of outstanding accounts receivable from suppliers, clients and service providers. A smooth cash flow is critical for the ongoing operations and expansion of your winery. Same is true for beer and spirits producers.

Collection agencies classify the debt as “Commercial Debt” or “Consumer Debt“.

Commercial Debt: In commercial debt, the debtor is a business ( not an individual). Collection balances are higher and settlement is attempted in a way that the business relations of two parties are not damaged. Before starting, the collection agency will give you a final fees quotation after studying the complexity of your case. Collection fees charged by agencies vary from 15% to as high as 50%. 

Consumer Debt: Here the debtor is an individual. Collection agencies are able to provide cheaper flat fees services in form of diplomatic “Collection Letters”. But a 40% fees is charged if the account is handled by a “Debt Collector”.

From the debt collections point of view, commercial and individual accounts treated very differently because of the federal and state guidelines. The last resort of collections is to file a legal suit.

It is recommended that a winery should transfer the debt to a collection agency once it is about 90 days past due. Earlier you transfer your past due accounts to a collection agency, chances of an amicable are higher.

Do not burden on your untrained winery staff to engage into debt collections. Collection agencies are experts in collecting money. While you focus on the daily running and expansion of your winery, let the collection agency handle your accounts receivable.

If you need a collections agency to recover money from past due accounts: Contact us

Unpaid tuition fees can cause lot of financial burden on Child Daycare centers, Kindergarten preschools and even K-12 schools. Many child care centers attempt switching to a pre-paid model but it results in loss of enrollment as most parents prefer a post-paid model.

To recover their money, some child care centers try taking the matter to a Small Claims court, but of course that requires significant preparation, fees, stress and time. Time, which could have rather utilized on the daycare and getting new clients. Even if you win a small claims court judgment, it does not guarantee a payment as many parents are either fall into the low income bracket category or they are experiencing a temporary financial problem ( like loss of job, medical emergency bills, etc.).

Low cost Collection Letters offered by collection agencies is an excellent way to collect money from your past due accounts. There is a huge difference between parents getting a letter from a child care center verses getting it from a collection agency. Communication from a collection agency means this is just the starting of collection process, a lot more is still to come. Parents will dig their pockets deeper to get rid of the collection agency from their back. 

Check this: Cost of hiring a collection agency

There are some unbeatable advantages when using a collection agency:

1. Five diplomatic collection letters are sent out at an average cost of $15 per case. In this price they also perform scrubs like “USPS Change of Address” and “Bankruptcy”. This enables the agency to send letters to the latest address of the parent. If a parent has filed for bankruptcy and is exempted from paying debts, you will be informed.

2. If the amount remains uncollected even after the Collection Letters service,  with your permission these accounts will be forwarded for Collection calls or to file a Legal Suit to recover your money. These services are contingency based.

3. Collection agencies allow a parent to make payments in installments, online or over the phone. Installments approach facilitates parents of lower income group and those having temporary financial issues, to get more inclined into making payments.

4. An online portal provided by good collection agency allows you to submit debts easily and quickly. It is recommended to submit an account for the Collection Letters service after the debt has been 60 to 120 days past due.

5. It is also recommend that you should add in your initial “Childcare Center-Parent” contractual agreement that the parent is responsible for any and all costs of collection on an unpaid bill, not limited to late fees, court fees and the collection agency fees. Even if you do not attempt to recover the amount spent on collections, still a large portion of money coming back, which otherwise would have been a 100% loss.

6. Ask the collection agency if they have a diplomatic and an empathetic approach for collections, it helps to maintain your positive reputation. There will be always be some parents who will get very upset the moment they get a letter from you or the collection agency, but it does not mean you should write off that debt fearing a negative reaction. You have the right to recover your money to help run your own business.

7. A collection agency ensures that they comply with collection laws like FDCPA, TCPA and all state collection rules and regulations.

Forwarding a case to the collection agency, means you can keep your 100% attention running your Child Care center and let the collection agency experts work as an extension to your business to recover the bad debt.

If you need a collections agency to take care of your account receivables: Contact us

Higher education is expensive in United States. Student loans are rising and so are the defaults. It is certainly an unfortunate scenario for students, but also for the lenders as they are taking a big financial hit and in some cases, are forced to write-off these loans. Private student loans are primarily issued by the Banks and Credit Unions. After 2008 recession many lenders have cut back on their student loan programs. 

Unlike other loans, student loan obligations do not go away even if the borrower files for bankruptcy. A private student loan is considered to be in default after three months of non-payment. After reaching the default, this debt is usually forwarded to a professional Collection Agency.

A Collection Agency will seek repayment from the borrower and even from the cosigner (or the guarantor). This results in frequent collection letters and collection calls from the agency to the borrower and the cosigner. A collection agency has to follow the norms specified in the “Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA)”. Upon lender’s request a collection agency may report this debt to the Credit Bureaus, damaging the borrower’s ability to take further loans like mortgage, credit cards etc.

Check this: Cost of hiring a debt collection agency

The amount of collection fees can be added to the borrower’s private student loans is set by the promissory note which is signed during the initial processing of the student loan. Sometimes the state law sets a lower limit. The borrower is still responsible for any unpaid interest and principal, which keeps getting bigger as the time passes by.

It is extremely important to involve a Collection Agency ASAP because as the interest adds up, the amount becomes too big. In such a scenario, the borrower often gives up completely on repaying the loan, ready to face whatever consequences that may follow.

Even if the lender/collection agency gets a court judgment against the borrower or cosigner for wage garnishment, for the private student loans can be only up to 25% of disposable pay. With the court order, sometimes a lender/collection agency is able seize assets, bank accounts and place liens against property owned by the borrower or cosigner. Laws vary a lot from state to state and of course getting a “highly favorable” judgment is understandably hard because the lender, the big guy, is often seen as the bad guy and borrower is sometimes seen as the victim of circumstances.

Collection agencies are experts in collecting debt. They do a far superior job provided the account is transferred early. Another huge disadvantage of waiting in the case of private student loans is that the “Statute of limitations” applies here, and could shield the borrower eventually. Statute of limitations does not apply to Federal loans.

Looking for a collection agency: Contact us