Nexa Collections

Bad Debt

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Client won’t pay: How to collect money without ruining relationship

Collecting unpaid bills from your regular customers, vendors or clients can be very tricky. Demanding for unpaid bills and yet continuing to maintain a business-friendly relationship requires a well thought out approach.

Soft approach vs. a firm approach, which works better? There is no single good answer, it all depends from person to person.  A general rule is – Do not try to be extremely personal or soft with the client only to be taken for granted. Similarly do not interact too firmly or appear indifferent to their problems, this may irritate the client and he may intentionally delay your payment even further.

To avoid ruining business relationship, talk to your client with great respect, yet carry out your conversations in a very professional manner. Be slight firm, its your money, they must pay it, but do not sound too authoritative and never hurt their ego or self respect.

1. Has this happened for the first time:

There is a fair amount of possibility that the delay is due to an oversight, glitch or temporary circumstances. For example, an officer who issues check could be on leave, a non-serious cash flow crunch in the client’s company that is temporary in nature or may be the client never received your invoice or lost it by mistake. Politely send another “reminder” invoice by “certified” mail, keep a copy for your records. You should also make a phone call the day after the client receives your “reminder” invoice. Say something like this .. “Sir, may be you did not get our invoice last time, therefore we have re-sent it.“, then carefully listen to what the client has to say.

Client will likely give you the reason of non-payment without you even asking for an explanation, or they may simply tell you that the payment will be issued today or tomorrow. If the client appears to be deferring the payment or giving false excuses, take it as a big red flag. Keep this account under watch. If the payment does not get issued soon, you will need to take this to the next level.

Your staff should also be informed in advance to be extremely careful while communicating with those clients who you want to keep long term business relationship. They cannot treat these clients in the same way as they treat other non-paying debtors.

2. Has the client started to repeatedly delay payments?

There is likely a bigger problem brewing at your client side. May be the clients own business is not doing too well. Politely ask “Sir, we have been doing business with you for X number of years and getting payments was never much of a concern earlier, would you mind sharing with us what has changed recently?“.

I always believe that apart from insisting clients, do tell them that you are also facing problems because of non-payment. It could be even as simple as this “Sir, since your payments have been delayed, it has created some cash flow problems for us as well. We run our business on thin margins. I request you to clear our bills at the earliest“. Showing your problem will convey client that its not just your willingness to get the funds transferred fast, but there is a compelling business need too.

3. Do you have a better alternative

If getting paid for your products or services has become an ongoing problem, start looking out for other business partner / suppliers who do not have a cash flow problem. If doing business with them has become too risky, may be its the time to cut the cord.

4. Do you know the reason behind these non-payments

Ask politely “Sir, may I know the reason for delay in making payments?”. Although you can never be sure if the reason given by your client is true or not. Keep notes of what client says during each call. Be mentally prepared for all kinds of excuses. Next ask when they will pay, and wait for an answer. Be patient and listen to your client.

5. Show faith in your client. It helps.

“Sir, we have been doing business together for a while, we have great trust in their organization“. Call it “moral faith” or “moral pressure“, but it works. Create a good relationship so they will want to pay you first because there may be other parties like you who are also waiting to get paid.

6. Control your anger

Speak less and to the point. Be a good listener. Regardless of the circumstances, never sound harassing, never try to threat your client or lose your temper. It can result in a counter legal action against you.

7. Give them option to pay in installments

Has it been over 3-4 weeks past the payment due date and the reminder invoices have not worked? Now try giving your client an option to pay in installments.

**** Facing serious issues collecting your money .. now what ? ***

7. Can the situation still be resolved amicably

Lets say, the Client has failed to make payment on the recommitted date too. He is avoiding taking your phone calls, needs even more time to clear your payment, has started to unreasonably dispute your services or other excuses which clearly indicates that you are not going to recover your money easily. These things indicate that the line of an amicable solution has likely been crossed.

8. Have you waited too long?

Approach a collection agency or a collections law firm if it has been between 50 days to 60 days since your payment was due. They will likely take an action after 60 days. Statistics prove that longer you wait, harder it becomes to recover that amount. Involvement of a professional collection agency automatically puts additional pressure on the client, plus good agencies have many legal ways to collect money which you may not know. Most commercial collection agencies will not charge you anything till your money is collected. Depending on the amount owed and circumstances, collection agencies charge typically between 20% to 50% of the amount they are able to collect. Fully understand the fee structure before selecting your collection agency / law firm.

9. Maintain proper proof of the services/products delivered and communications thereafter.

Keep all invoices, proof of goods or services delivered and copy of reminder invoices sent by you to the client. Also keep a copy of communications done via email and date/time of phone calls made by you to your client and what they told you.

10. Take legal action.
Depending on your situation your collection agency or law firm will advice you if filing a lawsuit is advisable or if they want to try to solve the situation amicably in their own way..

Obviously, there is no guarantee that your business relationship with the client will remain intact, but a step by step approach will increase the chances of resolving things in a nice way.

VIDEO:

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What is a Collection Agency?

Collection agency is an organization that attempts to collect money from individuals (or businesses) who have not paid their bills on time. They will normally accept this account for collections only when its 60 days past due.

Watch this video:

https://youtu.be/iO4oCpF0C24

 

What kind of a debt can be assigned to a debt collection agency?

1. Unpaid medical bills to a doctor or hospital.
2. Services or products which were sold but were not fully paid.
3. Past due mortgage installments, credit cards bill or other forms of loans.
4. Non payment of phone bills, gym charges or other recurring membership fees.
5. Unpaid installments of car loan, student loan or bank loans.
6. Other interest and penalties.

Overall, you can initiate collection activity for almost any past due account for which you are legally entitled to get paid for and have sufficient proof to back your claim.

Example

Lets assume, you are a ‘dentist’ and your patient agreed to pay for your services in 5 installments. But the patient has stopped paying after the 2nd installment. Your gentle reminders to the patient have not resulted in any success. Would you write off the unpaid amount or would you go after the patient by trying harsher measures? It is advisable to avoid both. Taking intensive measures could even result in counterproductive action against you.

Now you approach a Collection Agency and tell them to collect your past due amount from your patient (or say Debtor). Depending on the type of service you select, a Collection agency will attempt to collect the outstanding debt and charge you a fixed fees or the percentage of debt collected. (Read: Services that Collection Agencies offer).

Should I try to collect the debt myself?

Sure, if your staff has time to do a few polite reminder calls or send bills to the debtor, and then time to do the followup for the same, try it out. But be extremely careful, respectful, polite and patient during your communication with the debtor. Most likely you will realize that too many man-hours are being spent and your staff is probably trained adequately to handle these situations.

Collection agencies are not only experts in collecting debt, the moment your debtors gets to know that a professional debt collection agency is involved, they are more inclined to pay off the outstanding debt at the earliest.

Documents to prove you legally own the debt:

There are thousands of collection agencies in United States, big and small, and each have a different way of working and the services they offer. In most cases, the collection agency will not ask you to submit all proof (or paperwork) of the outstanding debt initially, they will ask you to provide that if and when needed. For ex: If the debtor disputes the charges. A collection agency will normally start the collection activity by asking only the basic information like Debtor Name, address, phone, amount due, bill/reference number, date of debt and sometimes debtor’s SSN. At all times you should maintain sufficient proof of the outstanding debt.

Additional information:

As mentioned earlier, collection agencies are experts in collecting debt, that’s what they do all year long. They ensure that the demand notices being send out with maximum impact (letters or phone calls or legal notices), and that proper legal procedures are followed. This is extremely important “Proper legal procedures”, it includes “Fair debt collection practices act” specified by each state.

Before a collection agency signs you up as a client or starts accepting your past due accounts for collections, they will ask you to sign a legal agreement (on paper or an online contract). This agreement authorizes them to start collection activity on your behalf. Their agreement also includes important disclaimers and some standard legal stuff.

It is normally advisable to start collection activity after its been over 60 days from the date of debt, or that date when the payment was due. The sooner you submit an account for collections, the chances of recovering your money are significantly higher.

Defaulted debts are often placed on the debtor’s credit history, and usually remain for several years.

 

Image source:
http://www.creative-commons-images.com/clipboard/collection-agency.html
Creator attribution: Nick Youngson – link to – http://nyphotographic.com/

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How Debt Collection Agencies work?

Collection agencies attempt to recover past due debt from individuals and businesses. Their role in the financial ecosystem is extremely important. Without them a very high percentage of the outstanding debts will never get paid off, leading to heavy losses for the businesses and individuals.

Watch this Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKKvwD2YixA


Debt collection agencies are broadly divided into two categories:

1. Agencies which act as a middlemen between the creditor and debtor.
2. Agencies which buy debt by paying pennies on the dollar.

1. Agencies which act as a middlemen between the creditor and debtor.

When a creditor approaches a collection agency to assist him in collecting past due bills, he is typically offered 3 types of services:

a) Collection letters (Fixed Fees) – A collection agency sends 4-6 collection letters to a debtor and typically charges between $10 to $25 upfront per account for this service. They normally do a skip-trace on these accounts (to ensure the letters are mailed on the latest address of the debtor or if they are legally prohibited from collecting a debt. For example cases like debtor bankruptcy or if the debtor has deceased. Collection letters are sent every 10 days or so. All amounts paid by the debtor goes directly to the creditor, collection agency keeps nothing from this amount. Creditor must report all payments made to the collection agency so that the collection activity can print the lower outstanding amount on future collection letters or completely stop sending letters in case the amount has been paid in full. This service is usually recomended for debts which are within 60-120 days past due date and are not very hard to collect.

b) Collection Calls (Percent based) – This is where an actual human being (debt collector) picks up the phone and starts making phone calls to the debtor. This contingency collections service is usually recommended for debts older than 90 days or if they are hard to collect. A collection agency would usually not accept an account for collections if the debt is older that 18 or 24 months. They also specify the minimum amount of debt that can be assigned for this service, usually $100 to $200 is the cutoff limit. Whatever amount is collected, the collection agency keeps 33% to 50% cut and passes the remaining money to the creditor.

c) Attorney/Legal collections (Percent based) – This is where a debt collection agency’s attorney sends legal notices to the debtor. The attorney may even try to collect amount against the assets of a debtor. This could be debtor’s bank accounts, brokerage account, garnishing wages and even against certain types of real estate that the debtor may own. Collection agency usually takes a cut of around 50% for these kind of cases. These accounts should also be high value debts to justify attorney costs to the collection agency.

Collection fee can sometimes be negotiated with the collection agency in case of commercial/business debt, if the total amount past due is higher than $2,000 per account. This can be even as low as 20% at times if the collection amount is much higher, say above $50,000. This discount completely depends on agency to agency and the amount of effort they plan to put in. In case of individual/consumer debt, there is usually no room for negotiation. The reason is that individual debt is harder to collect and is subjected to more stringent FDCPA rules than the commercial debt.

2. Agencies which buy debt by paying pennies on the dollar.

Some collection agencies purchase bad debt and pay a small money to the creditor for it, even before the collection activity starts. For example, if the outstanding amount is $1000, a collection agency may pay $50 for it. These accounts generally have no or little collection activity done on them in the past. All amount collected now belongs 100% to the collection agency itself. Depend on the probability of debt recovery, a collection agency may pay slightly more or less to buy these accounts.

Collection Law Firms
Collection activity is not always done by a collection agency, many lawyers are in this industry as well. In this case a debtor will receive a legal notice or a phone call from a Law office of that attorney directly. If there is a co-signer on the debt, the collection activity can be made on the co-signer as well if recovery efforts on the primary debtor have failed.

Fair debt collection:
There are “Consumer protection laws” and the “Fair Debt Collection Practices” that all debt collection agencies and lawyers are suppose to follow. A fair debt collection agency should be respectful, law abiding and truthful. They should not discriminate people based upon gender, race, age etc. They should not contact you in odd hours, like late evenings to early mornings. They cannot try to threat you by passing statements like “If you do not pay, the police will arrest you“. If the collection agency determines that the debtor cannot pay the debt in full, they can settle an account for a slightly lesser payment if the creditor allows to do so. A debt collection agency may also allow the debt to be paid in monthly installments. There are also some statute of limitations when a collection agency is not allowed to collect a debt. For example many states U.S.A. have a rule that a debt older than 10 years cannot be collected upon.

Credit History
Non-payment of debt can be reported to credit bureaus ( Transunion, Experian and Equifax) by the collection agency. This type of record on debtor’s credit history report can be quite damaging, because chances of getting new loan goes down for the years to come.

Importance of collection agencies
Due to the nature of their business, debt collection companies have a bad reputation. FTC gets highest number of complaints from this industry. But see the flip side, there are thousands of collection agencies in USA, giving employment to hundreds of thousands of individuals. They also help many other businesses to avoid going out of business due to unpaid bills, saving those jobs as well.

Terms used:
Creditor: A person (or business) who gave loan to a debtor or provided service or sold a product but has not been paid in full for it.
Debtor: A person (or business) who has not paid the amount past due to the creditor.

Image source: https://pixabay.com/en/stamp-note-memory-reminders-330341/