Debt Recovery

Debt Collection for IT, Computer Hardware, Laptop Repair & Networking Centers

US technology, computer, mobile and service industry is biggest in the world, spanning across product development, networking, consulting, hardware, refurbish & repair, AI, data mining, and the list goes on. Then there are thousands of small to mid-size computer services, mobile & hardware repair centers, cloud and data security services. Millions of Americans are employed in the technology sector.

Even though the issue of accounts receivable in the technology industry is relatively lower than other types of businesses, it is big enough to impact the profit margins of any company. Small business owners who are involved in computer service, mobile repair, virus removal, data backup, restoration and mobile & hardware repair ( like Micro Center, Geek Squad, and laptop/mobile repair franchises like Computer Doctor, CPR, Cellairis and Fast-Teks) often experience a higher number of unpaid bills.

Folks associated with the technology industry are not the best people to recover money on past due accounts. When sending repeated invoices and reminder calls do not work for the first 60-90 days, it’s time to transfer such accounts to a good Debt Collection Agency. An experienced collection agency understands the delicate nature of a technology company and its customers. The collection needs to be done in a diplomatic, polite and emphatic manner.

One of the very well-known facts about debt collections is that the moment a debtor receives a collection reminder in the name of a Collection Agency, their attitude changes. Just like when a person speeding his car over the limit sees a cop car standing at a distance, he will suddenly slow down and attempt to follow the rules.

Debtors are likely to pay off because they know that Collection Agencies are experts in collecting debt, and they will employ every possible legal measure to recover the money.

Collection Letters Service

The upfront cost for 5 Collection Letters is about $15 per account.
Debtors pay directly to you, no other fees. Low cost option.
Good for accounts less than 120 days past due.

Collection Calls Service

Contingency fee only. No upfront or other fees.
Agency gets paid a portion of the money they recover. No recovery-No fees.
Best for accounts over 120 days. A debt collector calls debtor many times.
If everything fails, a possible Legal Suit if recommended by the attorney.

Collection agencies offer three types of services. Collection Letters service is a low cost fixed fees service and for accounts over 120 days past due, we recommend using the contingency-based Collection Calls and Legal Suit services. Normally the Legal Suit service is not a readily available option, a collection agency will recommend after talking to an attorney once all other measures have exhausted.

Instead of writing off the debt, the smart way is to let those people handle your accounts receivable who recover debt every day for various clients. They have many ideas and tricks to make sure the debtor pays if he can.

Mobile repair centers face increasing credit card dispute charges for the work done on cracked screens of popular brands like iPhone, Samsung. etc. Therefore it is crucial to get a written contract signed by the customer before starting the work.

Collection agencies are also able to perform collections in the Spanish language if needed.

Get a Free Quote from Reputable Collection Agencies

Need a Collection Agency?
Has your Collection Agency Closed or Shut Down and need a new one to recover your unpaid bills?

Based on our personal opinion, a mid-sized collection agency is able to provide better individual attention, recovery rates and service. We are not a collection agency, but based on our 18 years of extensive experience in this industry, we have carefully shortlisted a few collection agencies based on their performance, low contingency rates and experience of the management/staff.

Cost of various collection agencies in USA does not vary much, but their recovery rates do. A good agency should be insured, licensed in all 50 states and should handle the personal data of your debtors with utmost safety and security.

Kindly fill the form below so that we can connect you to a good one based on your requirement at no extra cost to you. The last field on the form “Additional Information” is optional, but kindly use it to tell us a bit more about your business, who are these debtors and which billing software do you use. We only recommend those collection agencies which have 100% USA based operations, offer a secure online customer portal will possess experience in your industry.

Tell us your collection requirements:

Nexa has assisted several businesses, institutions and medical professionals to effectively recover money from their past due accounts. If you have any questions contact us at support@nexacollect.com or Call us toll free at 1-844-Nexa-123

Debt Collection Agency for Waste Management Company

Waste management, disposal, and recycling companies extensively use Debt Collection Agencies to recover money from their aging accounts receivable. All these unpaid bills are typically transferred for B2B or B2C collections after 90 days of non-payment. B2C collections are also called “Consumer/Individual” collections and B2B falls under “Commercial/Business” collections. There is a substantial difference in debt collection strategy and the laws applicable to each type of collection.

The waste management industry constantly faces several business challenges. These include recruiting skilled employees, waste collection, sorting, adherence to laws, overcoming poor-quality recyclables and intensive safety compliance. Non-payment of money from customers/clients/vendors is a major concern and requires well-planned collection efforts to recover bills and maintain a good cash flow for your business.

Their in-house staff is poorly skilled in recovering money from past-due accounts as compared to professional Collection Agencies.

Serving Waste Management Companies Nationwide

Need a Collection Agency? Contact Us

Collection Agencies follow the three-step recovery process, advanced skip tracing tools, profiling and risk analysis. All these steps ensure maximum return while attempting to preserve your relationship with the debtor.

A collection agency should be well equipped with multilingual staff, experienced collectors, a track record of high collection rates, pan-American presence and the ability to perform both B2B & B2C collections. Their staff should be constantly trained on debt collection laws. All these should be a part of your selection criteria.

Before you assign accounts to a collection agency, review these steps:

There is no mismatch between the services rendered and the services billed. For instance, if a customer requested extra pick-ups or a particular type of waste disposal, but these are not accurately reflected on the bill.
One of the most common billing issues is incorrect rates being applied to customers’ bills. This could be a result of manual entry errors, miscommunication, or outdated rate information in the billing system.

A good collection agency should be able to work as an extension to your accounts department, so while your staff focuses on expanding business, a Collection Agency should work hard to keep your overdue accounts receivable to a minimum.

Matching a collection agency’s low cost and recovery rate is nearly impossible. Contact us if you need one.

Should a Business Charge Late Fees or Interest Charges?

Extending credit is a way to give a few extra days/weeks to your clients to make payment after the service has been provided or a product is delivered. Everyone likes to get paid right away, but for small businesses, this is often a necessity.

The next big challenge is what to do if the payment has not been released by the client after the due date. Should you impose Late Fees, Interest Charges, something similar to what credit card companies do.

FEAR: Late fine may aggravate the client, potentially resulting in loss of business is the greatest fear. Late fees must be implemented with proper care and planning.

Imposing a late fine is a legitimate approach; it is a powerful way to show you mean business. It imposes a small well deserved fine for being irresponsible or not keeping their promise to pay on time. After all, money does not come for free. If you were to take a loan from your bank, they would have charged interest on it. Similarly, if you have a Credit Card and do not pay on time, they charge a Late Fee after the due date.

There are several genuine benefits of imposing late fees

1. Late Fees is a Fairly Standard Policy in Contracts

Having a proper well-written credit policy in place enhances the reputation of your business because it indicates that the commitment to making timely payments must be taken quite seriously. When the contract is signed initially no one anticipates that there will be occurrences when the payment is overdue. This is the best time to slip in your Late Fees in your credit policy. Late Fee is a minor clause when business contracts are being signed, and is a universally accepted procedure.

However, if it not included during the initial signing of the contract, it is nearly impossible to slip in your credit policy later. For Example: If your credit card company includes a Late Fees clause in their contract, you are already prepared for it.

2. Get Paid on time

Everyone hates paying late fees. It pressurizes your customer to make a payment on time. They will mark the payment due date on their calendars, and try their best to avoid paying any late fees.

3. Be the first to get paid

If your client has to make payments to several businesses like yours, whose bill do you think they will clear first – The one who charges late fees OR the one who does not?

If your client is struggling with making promised payments, you never know how bad their current financial is now and how much worse it can get soon. It is better to be in front of the line.

4. Late fee is well-deserved compensation

Once payment is not made on time, your staff has to take additional measures to recover money. This could be in the form of reminder calls or sending invoices again. Extra work by your staff means additional expense for you.

You are simply charging the client for the extra effort and cost that you have to incur to recover your money. Any extra time spent by your staff is overhead, this time could have been utilized in a more productive way.

5. Waiving off Late Fee has benefits too

If a client is unhappy that you have imposed late fees, it is completely fine to waive it off a few times. You are doing a favor on the client, which he will remember and will take it very positively. Next time he will remember the due date, to avoid the shame of asking you again for the waiver of late fees.

Won’t you feel very positive about a credit card company that waives off late fees after listening to your genuine explanation?

6. Every bit counts

Late fees can improve your cash flow, bottom line and profitability. This also reduces your number of overdue accounts receivable.

7. It puts a number out there

If you have a late fee policy in your contract, it clarifies your expectation. The client would exactly know how much extra money they need to allocate to cover the late fees. You may not even have to talk to them about it. Maybe the client does not have any cash flow problem, and they just forgot to make the payment on time because their account was out on vacation.

So look beyond just the core late fees aspect, there are so many other business benefits of it.

Additionally, add to your contract that if a payment is over 90 days overdue the account can be forwarded to a Collections Agency.

Check with your attorney before setting your late fees. Rules and regulations around these change from state to state.

Managing Stress when Running a Small Business

Learn to let go of things you cannot control

Running a Small Business can be quite overwhelming, often causing stress, burnout and anxiety for the owners. Although employees may also experience stress, the pressure on the owner can be brutal.

American Psychological Association estimates that the U.S. economy loses more than $500 billion due to workplace stress and also increases the health insurance costs, impacting Small Businesses dearly. Managing stress is important for making the right business decisions and maintaining good personal health.

Even I have personally gone through the whole start-up business cycle (still very much into it) and I often face the complications of managing a small business. After being in relatively stable and well-paying jobs for about 20 years, I quit my last job and ventured on my own. This portal is a part of that same Small Business. Burning through my savings during the startup mode, then taking new initiatives/risks to further grow the business, hiring and retaining the right talent; then carefully planning every financial decision, brutal competition, extensively researching and partnering with good collection agencies to serve businesses like yours, all this takes time and exciting, but takes a personal toll. But self-motivation, ability to controlling the stress and reminding myself that success takes its own sweet time has kept me going fairly good. Receivicomplimentsnts from satisfied customers is personally the biggest stress buster for me.

Managing the stress while running a Small Business requires positive thinking, financial planning and lifestyle changes.

Positive Thinking

Having a bad week or complications regarding fulfillment of an order? These issues often push frustrations and negative thoughts in our brain. It happens with everyone, but it also prepares us for the tough times.

Simply recollect those ambitious thoughts when you had started this business and all the nice changes it can bring to your life. We need to constantly harness the power that comes out of positive thinking. Maintain a healthy environment, like keeping your desk clean and organized. Are you surrounded by negative and lazy people, then take appropriate action?

Managing Finances / Budgeting

Growth and expenses are like two ends of a rope with your brain in the center. Each of them pulling your brain towards itself. Faster growth could erode finances too fast; being too conservative could halt your growth.

Managing finances is by far the biggest challenge for all Small Businesses and one of the biggest causes of stress. To balance your growth trajectory, have a well-written plan and stick to it. Have a fairly good reason to alter your plan. Do not take adhoc financial decisions. Before you take a crucial decision, give your sufficient brain time to rethink it. Often an idea that sounds too good at the moment, seems to be “so-so” after a day.

Keeping your Head Cool

Outbursts can only do harm, they cannot undo what has already happened. Not meeting a target does not mean you need to get terribly upset with an employee, client, vendor, or even with yourself. Think practically, we all are humans and mistakes do happen. Why was the target not achieved, it’s possible that you are extremely bullish for a task that needs more time and resources. When things go wrong, keep your head cool and see how things could have been done differently.

Success takes time

It’s completely normal to become restless even though you may have been putting your entire energy and time into your small business. Success takes its own sweet time. May be you are missing out on introducing a feature that would make you stand apart from your competitors.

Keep Watching your Accomplishments too

Constantly focusing on things that are going wrong will obviously increase your stress by many folds. Regardless its “Big or Small”, list all your accomplishments and milestones that you have achieved success and place them on your wall. It will give you motivation, positivity and satisfaction.

Make a list and Prioritize your tasks

Getting overwhelmed with too many tasks? The best way is to write all them in the order of priority, along with an expected date of completion. Many people have a whiteboard marker in their office labeled as “Tasks to do“. I personally prefer using a “Notepad” App on my cell-phone. That “Work-to-do” list is always with me, and I can make alterations pretty much anytime-anywhere. If I need to share it with a team member, I simply “Email/WhatsApp” them.

I even have “New-Ideas” list, that I keep evaluating every now and then, but I land up deleting 95% of those newly added ideas a few days later after thinking them through.

Take a Short Refreshing Break

To minimize burnout, it is important to take short breaks. This could be as simple as going for a short walk, taking a coffee break, checking the weather outside, calling a friend, watching a video, quick stretches, a quick meditation session or even going to a nearby 7-11 store to buy a $1 lottery ticket. These short breaks are really refreshing and energizing. Force yourself not to think about your work. Your burnout level will drop significantly.

Take Care of the Most Important Asset – You!

Yes, you are the biggest asset of your business. A Small Business owner has to take critical decisions, perform or supervise tasks, pretty much everything.

Eat on time, exercise regularly, release your anxieties and frustrations. Money is often too expensive; it can take away your health. If you feel lonely, party over the weekend with your friends. Hit the gym, or swim, have a life beyond work. Productivity increases if the stress decreases.

You don’t have to say “Yes” to everything

Small Business owners are often over-used by their clients. Those never-ending small requests eating up too much of your time? Can’t say “No” due to the fear of losing them? Indeed, we do need to fulfill several of these extra demands, but if those list of demands never end or become quite unreasonable, have the courage to say “No”, backed by a solid reason. Well, unless they are ready to pay for the extra cost involved.

Outsource your aging AR to a Collection Agency

Recovering money from clients who refuse to pay on time can be really frustrating. It can eventually lead you to write those off as a complete loss in the accounting books.

Creating well-planned policies for common tasks such as recovering money from accounts over 60-90 days past due by involving a professional Debt Collection Agency. It will not only help you to recover some of that lost money but drastically reduce your stress and of your employees.

Developing systems also means you don’t have to reinvent the wheel every time you get a new client or launch a new product.

A low amount of stress is probably fine and may even motivate us to work hard, but an elevated level of stress can actually hurt you. If you do not know how to do something, get in touch with somebody who does.

Money is not everything. Success can sometimes prove to be too costly.

Collection Agency with Nationwide License: Need one?

There are thousands of collection agencies in America, but most consumer collection agencies do not provide nationwide service. Licenses are required in almost 33 states for consumer collections, and some cities like New York City even have their own licensing standards for agencies operating within the city limits. Each state has its own licensing requirements and procedure. Some states require a physical office or a key employee in their state to be registered.

Need a cost-effective Collection Agency licensed in all 50 states? Contact Us

Broadly speaking, when this article was written, these states did not require consumer debt collectors to be licensed – Kansas, Louisiana, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, California, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New York, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Vermont and Virginia.

Since the license requirements vary significantly, debt collectors need to carefully understand the laws in the state in which they are attempting to collect.

Several collection agencies take licenses in 49 states except for Massachusetts, because Massachusetts’ compliance system is complex and costly, and they partner with a local collection to still provide nationwide coverage.

A nationwide collection agency must

Have a thorough understanding of the Statute of Limitations for each state. Once a debt becomes older than that time frame, they may lose the right to pursue the collection activity on the debtor (consumer).
Should ideally perform collection activities in both English and Spanish.
Should have a secure client portal to handle debtors online.
Be fully aware of the local time zone where a debtor is located and call accordingly, or else they risk violating the FDCPA guidelines.
Not all states allow recording the call without informing the debtor first.

A nationwide collection agency will be familiar with all the laws and ensure that all collection activities are compliant, reducing the risk of legal complications. Agencies with a nationwide license often have a larger network and more resources, which can make them more effective at collecting debts. Reputable nationwide collection agencies will handle debt recovery professionally, which can help maintain the business’s reputation and relationship with customers.

If you need a good nationwide Collection Agency, contact us, and we can refer you to a few good ones based on our knowledge and experience at no cost to you.

Based on our experience, a medium-sized collection can provide better collection rates, lower fees and superior customer service than its peers.