Collection agencies how sucessfull are they?

JOCCO · Oct 25, 2010

Bill collectors: if you hire them how sucessfull are they and how much do they charge? Is the court system a better bet?

tlak · Oct 25, 2010

I would think not too.. If a person doesn't have funds or knows the parameters that the collection agencies work in I would doubt that they are effective. The no money is obvious, the other is that they have to take a person to small claims court to actually have a legal debt. So they play the game of harassment and intimidation. And if somebody doesn't reset the clock by acknowledging the debt it goes away by statue of limitations. The problem with collection agencies is they take a $50 debt and and add $150 to it and then try to get that amount out of somebody that didn't have the original $50.
The only company I saw, with helping family members, that I thought had any luck was a phone company that said send us $30 of the $50 debt and we'll call it good.

flying belgian · Oct 25, 2010

No the court is not better. All you get from court is a judgement in your favor and it costs you $38.00 to file so now you are out another 38.00. I have a whole file full of judgements from when I had a garbage collection buisiness and the judgements will not buy groceries. Started using collection agency near end. They took half of anything collected. But the half they send to you is better then a judgement because it is real money. Give them as much info as you can so they have something to work with. I am real satisfied with there success. As far as success rate I don;t know, maybe 50% of all I submit to them.

ericlb · Oct 25, 2010

around here not too effective, they harrass and intimidate people to no end, had one send a "official" to serve me about 10 years ago for a debt i didnt owe, the gent was not reasonable or willing to hear my side, big mistake on his part i ran him off with a .44, pumped 2 rounds into his car fender just to get his attention, never heard from him since or the company either, maybe not the leagle way to do things but its my way

gitrib · Oct 25, 2010

Court worked for me. Was in construction business. One we had a draw coming for work done. It was sizable & I got sick and was in hospital wife sent invoice. He would not pay so she told him she needed the check the next day and if she did not get it she was going to file a lien. He quized the men on which hospital I was in and called up mad. Shouting at me about what she had said. I told him that what she had said was a promise. Check was in the mail next day. We had another that would not pay and she did file a lien. We owned part of a appartment complex for a year. They kept trying to settle off for a small percentage. She held out and the day before we were going forclose they paid the full amount plus interest. She is a great gal.
gitrib

Traditional Farmer · Oct 26, 2010

Independent servers are offically officers of the court you could have been sitting in prison for many years if the server filed charges.Also most servers have concealed weapons permits.

Traditional Farmer · Oct 26, 2010

Getting a judgement is the easy part collecting on it is the hard part.Collection agencies can put the judgement on their credit report which usually gets the person's attention since no lender will let them have money to buy a house,car etc with an outstanding judgement.Also their credit rating goes down which means credit card companies will charge them a higher interest rate.

Dieselrider · Oct 26, 2010

My own experience with the court (magistrate) in getting money for a debt. Another company owed for some machine work we did and after no payment for several months we filed with the local magistrate for an additional $75.00.

They notified the other company of a court date in 30 days. The other side called the night before the court date wanting to settle for the original amount. I did not bite and it went to court.

They never showed and the judgment went against them.(They would have to provide a reason they feel the invoice was in error or not owed.). The court then informed them that a sheriffs sale would be conducted at their facility to cover the costs of the invoice, the court costs of $75.00 and any costs for the Sheriff's sale. The check arrived in a couple days for the full invoice plus the court filing fee. They paid to avoid the sheriff sale.

This is central PA. Might work different where you are.

Collection agencies can bother the heck out of someone but, other than effecting the credit report and harassment, I don't think they have much authority. JMHO

Dieselrider · Oct 26, 2010

Also forgot to mention. There are limits as to how much debt can be handled this way. I think if the debt is over $8 thousand (not sure of exact amount), it has to go through different court. Civil maybe?

JOCCO · Oct 26, 2010

Around here i surmise would get you in jail for criminal use of firearm or whatever they call it now.

ericlb · Oct 26, 2010

in a city or town your probably right, out here the law enforcement is well, scarce, we have 2 deputies to patrol a county that is larger than most eastern states, so we dont see much of them, while what i did was not right, the debt he was trying to serve me on was not owed, i had spent extended time trying to explain that to probably some 20 something with a earing in their nose, when people wont listen, a attention getter seems to work better

paul · Oct 26, 2010

Are you saying you got about 50% of about 50% of the money owed you, or about 25 cents on the dollar of what you were owed into your pocket?

Thanks, interesting topic.

--->Paul

Brian Jasper co. Ia · Oct 26, 2010

The debt only goes away when it's paid. There is a statute of limitations on how long you can be sued for it, 5 years in Iowa, and it can't be reported on your credit report after 7 years from the last activity on the account. (payment or acknowledgement of the debt) From time to time I get calls on bills my ex wife skipped out on 10 years ago. My answer is always, "Not my debt. Not going to pay you. Never contact me again. Report it on my credit and I'll sue you for slander. Don't like any of these answers? Take me to court." If they do file a legal action, be sure to show up and point out to the judge they are time barred from taking any action.
There are also laws that collectors must abide by. They cannot threaten to have you arrested, show up at your employer, or call outside certain hours of the day. If they break any of the laws under the "Fair Debt Collection Act", you can sue them and win.

flying belgian · Oct 26, 2010

Yes, that's what i'm saying. But it is real money instead of a piece of paper for the file cabinate. Note that most of the money owed was $500.00 or less so saving the court costs was a big percentage of bill.

Mark - IN. · Oct 26, 2010

Rocco, Benny, and Antony. That's not their real names anymore exactly, but you got something or someone that you need collected or worked out? We can maybe work a side job out for old times sake probably for a small but fair fee. Who knows, maybe even free just to be able to take the old Sedan Deville out for a cruise like in the old days, just the four of us again. You want maybe we oughta come see you and talk it over?

Mark

cadet trooper · Oct 26, 2010

Okay let's say I want something done by you the contractor and I'm running on a shoestring with little or bubble collateral and you need the money and agree to do it because you need to make payroll and ask for some start cash and that happens then jobs done then you try to collect the final payment make several phone calls to meet and nobody's home even though they said they'd be there and you know they're hiding behind the curtains and then it's give me some time to collect my accounts recievables and then we're good so on and so on. Contractor beware! Been there done that!

Collection agencies how sucessfull are they?

JOCCO

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tlak

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flying belgian

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ericlb

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gitrib

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Traditional Farmer

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Traditional Farmer

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Dieselrider

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JOCCO

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ericlb

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paul

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Brian Jasper co. Ia

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