Accounts Retrievable Systems – Debt Collection Laws
A collection agency representative must not communicate with the consumer at any unusual time or place or at a time or place which the collector should know would be inconvenient to the consumer. Unless the collector has knowledge of circumstances to the contrary, he should assume that the most convenient time for contacting the consumer is between the hours of 8 am and 9 pm. If the collector calls the consumer before 8am or after 9pm, the debt collector is violating the Fair Debt Collection Act.
A debt collector should not contact the consumer at their place of employment if he knows or has reason to know that the consumer’s employer prohibits such calls, according to the fair debt collection laws.
As a matter of fair debt collection practices, a debt collection agency representative must not use any written communication which appears to be a legal document or which gives the appearance of being authorized, issued or approved by a government, governmental agency, or attorney at law, when it is not-and must not misrepresent that documents are not legal or don’t require a response from the consumer when in fact they do. An agency is prohibited from using any form of communication that may appear as though it came from an attorney’s office, a governmental agency, or the police. This includes any document that looks like a court order, judgment, or a subpoena.
According to the Fair Debt Collection Act, a debt collection agency representative should not communicate with the consumer under the guise of any attorney by using the stationery of an attorney or forms or instruments which only attorneys are authorized to prepare. A debt collector cannot send a debt collection letter from a “legal department” when no such department exists.
Accounts Retrievable Systems - Excuses Debtors Make
The more questions you ask, the quicker you will get to the truth of the matter. When debtors lie about why they are not paying, they are hoping that you will accept what they are saying and drop the subject. The more questions you ask, the more uncomfortable debtors become. Eventually, sending the creditor a check becomes much more appealing than answering all of your questions and having to come up with one excuse after another. The advantage you have is that most people in debt collecting will accept excuses at face value and will call back at anther time. Here are some of the most common excuses you are apt to hear. Think about how you will respond to these excuses before making those necessary phone calls with your consumers.
1) The computers are down and we are unable to print checks right now.
2) I never received a bill for the product or service. I lost the bill.
3) The check is in the mail.
4) I don’t have any money.
5) Hardship (lost my job, illness) and can’t afford to pay you right now.
6) Our computer prints all checks at the end of the month.
7) We are having serious cash flow problems.
8) We are expecting a big check in a month, and then we can pay you in full.
9) When I get paid, you’ll get paid.
10) The boss is out of town and will not be able to sign the check for two weeks.
11) I’m the controller and I handle the payables.
12) I have a dispute with the invoice.
13) I have a dispute with the product or service.
14) We need proof of delivery before we can pay.
15) We can only pay from original invoices, not faxed copies.
16) Our accounts payable person quit.
17) Our company pays net 90.
18) We’re still waiting for approval.
19) My spouse pays the bills.
20) I don’t owe anything.
Accounts Retrievable Systems - Collecting Old Debts
Collecting debt can be an overwhelming process. Here at Accounts Retrievable we have gathered a few tips on how to make this process go as smoothly as possible.
PREPARE: Review the paperwork on the debtor before making the call. Know the history of the account, credit record, the promises kept/broken. Have all records in front of you, ready for reference.
ATTITUDE: Adopt a straight, professional business-like attitude. You have a contract, you delivered the goods, money is owed, and you have a right to expect payment. Never let collecting debt become personal. Don’t yell or raise your voice; and NEVER swear. Don’t threaten; legal action is your recourse.
CONTACT: Make sure you’re talking to the right person. Don’t let the individual brush you off with “You’ll have to talk to the bookkeeper.” Identify the person who will pay the bill. If you can’t get through after several calls, tell the secretary that you know your calls are being screened. Indicate the purpose of your call and if necessary give deadlines.
CONTROL: Control the conversation. Keep it focused on the debt and on the repayment schedule. Don’t let the customer sidetrack you with personal history, excuses, etc. Remember, the object of your call is to collect money, or get a commitment, not to become buddies with the customer or win arguments.
FLEXIBLE: Be ready to adjust to the situation. Think about the kind of customer you’re dealing with and adapt to meet the circumstances. Be prepared to accept a reasonable payment schedule, and a willingness to deal with a customer’s circumstances.
NOTES: Keep detailed, accurate notes of every contact with the customer. Probe for further information on the customer. Notes of these contacts will help you in subsequent phone calls, and may be invaluable in litigation. Good notes will also help in further credit decisions, or in cases where skip tracing may be needed.
PRODUCTIVE: Keep contact brief and to the point. This is a business call, not a social one. View your efforts on a ratio of time expended to results achieved. Long conversations probably mean the customer is stalling you, or trapping you in the buddy syndrome.
PRECISE: Never leave a contact open ended, such as “We’ll talk next week,” or “I’ll send what I can.” Every contact should result in a commitment to payment, of a specific amount, by a specific date, even the check number the customer is using to pay the pledge.
TIME: The longer an account is held, the less likely it is that it will be recovered. If payment or a payout is not arranged within 90 days, place the claim with a collection agency or start legal proceedings.
PLACEMENT: Use only an agency that is a member of the American Collectors Association OR the Commercial Collection Agency Section of the Commercial Law League of America. This will insure that you’re dealing with ethical professionals who are fully bonded to guarantee your remittance.
Accounts Retrievable Systems - What A Collection Agency Does
A Collection Agency is a business that collects debts for a fee or percentage of the total amount owed on behalf of the original creditor.
While some collection agencies offer flat fee services, most operate on a contingency fee basis. The fee the collection agency charges is based on how old the debts are and how much business a creditor has to offer. The less amount of time the debt has been outstanding and the more outstanding accounts receivable a business has, the lower the percentage the collection agency will charge for collections.
The standard rate in the collections industry for business-to-business accounts is 30 percent. The rate for collecting consumer accounts is higher. The typical collection agency fee is in the 20 to 40% range.
This may seem like a lot, but collection agencies have experience with and knowledge about debt collection that individual business owners don’t have and hiring one can be well worth it if the amount of outstanding accounts receivable warrants it.
If you do hire a collection agency to collect your business’s debts, note that in Canada collection agencies are regulated by the province in which they operate. That doesn’t mean that you have to hire a local collections agency; just that you need to be sure that the collections agency you hire is fully licensed and bonded in your province.
From a consumer’s point of view, the fact that collection agencies are provincially regulated means that what a collection agency is allowed to do when pursuing collections also varies from province to province, although there are commonalities.
Accounts Retrievable Systems – Factors Affecting Alimony
When alimony is being determined, the factors vary greatly from state to state within the U.S. Some state statutes, including Texas, Montana, Kansas, Utah, Kentucky and Maine, give explicit guidelines to judges on the amount and/or duration of alimony.
In Texas, Mississippi and Tennessee for example, alimony is granted only in cases of marriage or civil union of ten years or longer and the payments are limited to three years unless there are special, extenuating circumstances. Furthermore, the amount of spousal support is limited to the lesser of $2,500 per month or 40% of the payee’s gross income.
Other states, including Massachusetts, California, Nevada and New York have relatively vague statutes. These simply list “factors” a judge should consider when determining the alimony payments. In these states, the determination of duration and amount of alimony is left to the discretion of the family court judges who must consider case law in each state.
In general, there are four types of spousal maintenance:
Temporary Alimony: The is where support is ordered when the parties are separated prior to divorce. This type of alimony is also called alimony pendente lite which is Latin meaning “pending the suit”.
Rehabilitative Alimony: This is the support given to a lesser earning spouse for a period of time necessary to acquire work outside the home and become self-sufficient.
Permanent Alimony: Support paid to the lesser earning spouse until the death of the payor, the death of the recipient, or the remarriage of the recipient.
Reimbursement Alimony: Support given as a reimbursement for expenses incurred by a spouse during the marriage (like educational expenses).
Accounts Retrievable Systems - Enforcement Of Child Support
In respect to child support obligations, a dead-beat parent is one who has refused to provide child support payments or expenses. As an informal term, this is often extended to obligors who are willing but unable to pay; governmental child support agencies typically refer to clients as being in compliance, not in compliance or criminally non-compliant. Compliance is judged by the paying party’s performance in meeting the terms of the legal child support court order. In some circumstances, obligors found “not in compliance” or “criminally non-compliant” have even had their professional (e.g. doctors, lawyers, dentists, etc.) and driver’s licenses suspended or revoked in an effort to collect monies for support and shared expenses.
Enforcement of Child Support Payments
Regulations and laws on the enforcement of child support orders vary by country and state. In some jurisdictions, such as Australia, enforcement is overseen by a national office. In others, such as Canada, the responsibility to enforce child support orders rests with individual provinces, with financial and logistical assistance from the federal government. In the United States child support enforcement is also handled largely at the state level, but non compliant parents who meet certain criteria, such as traveling across state lines to circumvent orders or owing more than two years of support payments, may be subjected to federal prosecution under the Federal Deadbeat Punishment Act.
One focus of Article 27 of the Declaration of the Rights of the Child is the establishment and strengthening of international treaties to further aid in child support order enforcement across national and international boundaries. Under these agreements, orders established in one country are considered valid and enforceable in another country, and may be pursued through local court processes. The goal of such conventions is to ensure that noncompliant parents will not be able to evade support payments by crossing an international border.
To this end, various international conventions regarding inter-jurisdictional enforcement of maintenance orders have been created, including the Hague Conference’s 1973 Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Decisions relating to Maintenance Obligations and the 1956 United Nations Convention on the Recovery Abroad of Maintenance.
More than 100 nations currently have reciprocal arrangements for child support orders. Examples of reciprocal agreements include the UK Reciprocal Enforcement of Maintenance Orders (REMO)and those of Canada, Australia and New Zealand, the United States and the European Union.
Consequences of non-payment vary by jurisdiction, the length of time the parent has been noncompliant, and the amount owed. Typical penalties include wage garnishment and denial or suspension of drivers, hunting and professional licenses. In the United States, noncompliant parents who are more than $2500 in arrears may be denied passports under the Passport Denial Program. Australia, Austria, and Finland do not imprison persons for failure to pay child-support arrears. In the U.S., in contrast, non-payment of child support may be treated as a criminal offense or a civil offense, and it can result in a prison or jail term. On a typically day, roughly 50,000 persons are incarcerated in U.S. jails and prisons as a result of child-support debts. In addition, child-support debtors are subject to fines and property seizure.
The enforcement provisions affecting US passports have thus far survived Constitutional challenges in Weinstein v Albright (2001), Eunique v Powell (2002), In re James K. Walker (2002), Dept of Revenue v Nesbitt (2008), Risenhoover v Washington (2008), and Borracchini v Jones (2009).
Accounts Retrievable Systems - Pay Your Debt Collection
Giving money to a collection agency can feel like handing your lunch money over to a schoolyard bully. But it’s different when you legitimately owe what the collection agency is asking you to pay. Paying a debt collection is often painful because the product or service associated with the debt has long been consumed. If you’re debating on whether you should pay a collection you owe, here are 5 benefits of getting rid of those collections for good.
1. Stop collection calls for good.
As long as you have outstanding debt collections, you’ll probably be getting calls from debt collectors. A cease and desist letter may end calls from one particular debt collector. However, since collection accounts often change hands, you’ll keep being contacted about the debt until it’s taken care of.
2. Get approved for credit cards and loans.
Many banks won’t approve your credit card or loan application as long as you have outstanding collection accounts on your credit report. This means no mortgage, no car loan, and no American Express. Even employers won’t hire you for certain jobs if you have unpaid debts on your credit report. Paying the collection won’t remove it from your credit report, but a $0 balance is far better than one that’s still delinquent.
3. Improve your credit score.
As collections get older, they affect your credit score less. Of course, collection accounts will disappear from your credit report after seven years. As long as the accounts are still within the credit reporting time limit, a paid collection is better for your credit score than an unpaid one.
4. Eliminate the risk of being sued.
People assume that debt collectors won’t waste their time or money suing over a small collection. This assumption isn’t always true. As long as you have an outstanding collection that’s still within the statute of limitations, you run the risk of being sued for what you owe. A lawsuit could lead to a court judgment, a public record that will also tarnish your credit report for seven years. And if you still don’t pay up, the collector may get court permission to garnish your wages.
5. You’re closer to being debt-free.
Paying off a debt collection means there’s one less company you owe money to. You may feel like you’ve lost the battle if you pay a debt collection after resisting for months or years. In the long run, paying off a debt collection is better for your credit and your finances. Taking care of debt collections is a good thing, when you can afford to do it.
Accounts Retrievable Systems – Collecting On A Judgment
If the judge in small claims court rules in your favor, or if a default judgment is issued because the defendant fails to appear or defend the case, the court will issue a judgment for a specific amount of money. This amount will include court costs as well as the amount the court has stipulated you be paid.
If the other party appeals the Court’s decision, he or she is required to put up an Appeal Bond, guaranteeing payment if the appeal is denied. This may help you get your money, but you will have to wait until the appeal is heard.
If the other party does not voluntarily offer to pay you, you must decide how to proceed to get your payment. You have several options:
• You can request the Court to require that the other party make installment payments.
• You can do nothing and wait. The judgment will be entered as a lien against real estate or other real property owned by the other party. The lien must be paid off when the property is sold. If you wait long enough, you will get your money when the property is sold.
• You can contact the other party and discuss payment, including payment terms.
• If the other party does not agree to voluntary payments, or has stopped making payments on an installment agreement, you can file an Affidavit of Default with the Court showing the unpaid balance and requesting action.
• You may ask the Court to garnish the person’s wages or seize property owned (personal bank accounts) to pay off your debt.
In some cases, none of these options works, especially if the party has no assets, no wages, no savings, and no hope of getting the money to pay you. In this case, you maybe should have checked to make sure this person had money before you started the process.
Accounts Retrievable Systems - Collecting The Judgment
After you have provided the enforcement officer with information on the judgment debtor’s assets, he or she can serve a restraining notice on the bank, or on some other person or business that owes money to the judgment debtor, and eventually take the money. If the judgment debtor is employed, the enforcement officer can garnish (take) a portion of his or her salary to satisfy the judgment.
You may also check with the Department of Motor vehicles to find out if the judgment debtor owns a car. Visit the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles website for more information. If the judgment debtor owns a car, the enforcement officer can take the car and sell it to pay your judgment. You must give the enforcement officer the model, year, license plate and location of the car. If the judgment debtor borrowed money to buy the car, that loan must be paid out of the proceeds of the sale before you can get any money. Also, you will have to pay towing and storage fees in advance to the enforcement officer. These fees can typically be $150.00 or more.
You may also be entitled to suspend a judgment debtor’s driver’s license. If your small claims case was based on the judgment debtor’s ownership or operation of car, the Department of Motor Vehicles may suspend the judgment debtor’s driver’s license and registration privileges until the judgment is paid. The amount of the judgment must be more than $1000.00 and must be unpaid for more than 15 days. The clerk can give you more information on this method or you may visit the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles website.
If your small claim relates to the judgment debtor’s business, and the business is licensed or certified by a state or local authority, you can notify that authority if your judgment is not paid within 35 days after the judgment debtor received notice of the judgment. Failure to pay a judgment may be considered by the licensing agency as grounds for revoking, suspending, or refusing to grant or renew a license to operate a business. To find a list of some licensing agencies in new York City go to the Department of Consumer Affairs.
If the judgment debtor is a business that the court finds to be engaged in fraudulent or illegal conduct, you have the right to notify the attorney General, and, if the business is licensed, the appropriate licensing authority as well. Refer to the Attorney General to visit the website.
If the judgment debtor fails to pay three or more recorded judgments despite having sufficient resources to pay them, you may be able to sue the judgment debtor for triple damages. Check with the small claims clerk to find out if the judgment debtor is listed in the index of unsatisfied judgments maintained by the court. To find out where to go in your county, go to Locations.
Accounts Retrievable Systems – Collecting On A Civil Judgment
A civil judgment is the result of a civil court case. When you are owed money for services or a product, you can take a debtor to civil court and receive a civil judgment. At this point, the civil judgment allows you to collect payments, garnish wages, or seek other ways of reimbursement.
Being awarded a civil judgment is not the end of the line, unfortunately. It will take some effort on your part to collect the judgment from a debtor. The most widely used practice is to garnish a person’s wages. In order to garnish wages you will need:
– information on the debtor’s place of employment
– banking information
– information on other assets help by the debtor
At this point, you will then need to pass this information along to a lawyer, the court where the judgment was issued, or to a third party agency.
Sometimes the debtor is willing to negotiate so that you do not have to forcefully take it by garnishing wages. While you may want all your money now, it will be more realistic to arrange a payment plan that is manageable with the judgment debtor. It is better to get several installments of a little money over time rather than none at all. Ask the court to order the debtor to repay the judgment in installments. If the court does not order the installment agreement, ask the debtor to voluntarily enter into such an arrangement.
Tips & Warnings
Most states limit the percentage of a person’s wages that are subject to garnishment.
Some property can be transferred even if a lien has been placed upon it, if the person acquiring the property is willing to assume the property without receiving clear title to the property. This may be the case with a family member.
