Username: Save?
Password:
Home Forum Links Search Login Register*
    News: Welcome to the TechnoWorldInc! Community!
Recent Updates
[August 11, 2025, 02:03:44 PM]

[August 11, 2025, 02:03:44 PM]

[August 11, 2025, 02:03:44 PM]

[August 11, 2025, 02:03:44 PM]

[May 13, 2025, 02:04:25 PM]

[May 13, 2025, 02:04:25 PM]

[May 13, 2025, 02:04:25 PM]

[April 12, 2025, 01:54:20 PM]

[April 12, 2025, 01:54:20 PM]

[April 12, 2025, 01:54:20 PM]

[April 12, 2025, 01:54:20 PM]

[March 12, 2025, 03:05:30 PM]

[March 12, 2025, 03:05:30 PM]
Subscriptions
Get Latest Tech Updates For Free!
Resources
   Travelikers
   Funistan
   PrettyGalz
   Techlap
   FreeThemes
   Videsta
   Glamistan
   BachatMela
   GlamGalz
   Techzug
   Vidsage
   Funzug
   WorldHostInc
   Funfani
   FilmyMama
   Uploaded.Tech
   Netens
   Funotic
   FreeJobsInc
   FilesPark
Participate in the fastest growing Technical Encyclopedia! This website is 100% Free. Please register or login using the login box above if you have already registered. You will need to be logged in to reply, make new topics and to access all the areas. Registration is free! Click Here To Register.
+ Techno World Inc - The Best Technical Encyclopedia Online! » Forum » THE TECHNO CLUB [ TECHNOWORLDINC.COM ] » Techno Articles » Small Business
 Tips and Tricks for Legal Debt Collections
Pages: [1]   Go Down
  Print  
Author Topic: Tips and Tricks for Legal Debt Collections  (Read 755 times)
Daniel Franklin
TWI Hero
**********


Karma: 3
Offline Offline

Posts: 16647


View Profile Email
Tips and Tricks for Legal Debt Collections
« Posted: September 08, 2007, 03:11:09 PM »


Tips and Tricks for Legal Debt Collections


If a customer owes your local business money, it's hard not to feel angry, like you want to do anything possible to get your money back. But the days of going all out to collect on a debt over. The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, designed to protect consumers from harassment or intimidation, sets firm limits on what you can do to collect a debt from a consumer. The federal debt collections law even prohibits practices that were once standard, and that you might not consider harassment at all.

Besides, as a local business, you have an even more powerful reason to be especially careful about legal debt collection issues. You have something much more valuable at stake than a lawsuit: your business's reputation in the community.

Legal Debt Collection Best Practices

There are plenty of articles on the web that lay out in plain English what the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act says you can and cannot do. Just to give you some idea of the law's requirements, here are some of the biggest:

* No telling any third party about the debt (except collection bureaus, collection agencies, or the debtor's attorney).

* No calling on the telephone 9 pm - 8 am, or calling repeatedly in a way that is annoying.

* No postcards or envelopes that mention the debt.

* No threats to take actions you cannot or will not really take, such as seizing property, in the case of an unsecured debt.

* No misrepresenting yourself (e.g., "Hi! This is the Publisher's Clearinghouse Sweepstakes. May I speak to John?").

* No paying down the debt with payments the customer has directed be applied to other debts

Tips and Tricks for Legal Debt Collections

With all these limits on what you can do to collect a debt, what can you do legally?

* Speak with the debtor personally on the telephone; most likely he or she wants to pay but is in over his or her head. Begin by asking what circumstance has kept him or her from paying. Offer to set up a repayment plan.

* You should both send letters and make telephone calls. Many people will only respond to one or the other.

Document every part of the collections process. Take notes for each call and keep a copy of each letter. If the debt does ever go to court, you will have proof you acted legally.

* Look into reporting the debt to credit bureaus. If you can, and are willing to do it, you can tell the debtor that not paying will impact his credit rating.

* Best tip of all: hand over the job to a dedicated collection agency. Small business debt collection services start at as little as $20 per debt. The fight to get paid is a fight no business should have to involve itself in.

Unfortunately, debt collections are a part of business. Just make sure that for your local business debt collection law is followed to the letter, or legal proceedings may become part of your business, too.

If you want to learn Collection Laws, then visit http://www.debt-collection-laws.com for the latest information on debt collection laws and collection agency regulation.

Logged

Pages: [1]   Go Up
  Print  
 
Jump to:  

Copyright © 2006-2023 TechnoWorldInc.com. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy | Disclaimer
Page created in 0.059 seconds with 24 queries.