Exactly who is trying to get me to pay up? The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act was unleashed in the 1970s and provided many protections for consumers. There are strict rules and regulations that a debt collector must abide by, and if any of these regulations are violated, there is a good chance that you could sue that agency. But what about that friend of yours who owes you five bucks? Do you have to grant them thirty days to refute the claim? Clearly, you do not.

The point is that the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act is applicable to debt collectors, and only debt collectors. Consider Morency v. Evanston Northwestern Healthcare Corp, a district court case in Illinois from 1999. In an attempt to collect debt, a hospital mailed out pre-collection notices, which is a no-no for third party collectors. But the court ruled that the hospital was only a creditor, not a collection agency, so the FDCPA did not apply to it.

Courts take many factors into consideration to figure out whether the creditor should be deemed the actual debt collector. A collection agency’s participation in the actual debt collection would have to be minute. Is the collection agency a mere mailing service? Do the letters state if the debtor does not pay the debt will be referred for collection? Is the collection agency paid only for sending letters, rather than commission?

If the collection agency does not receive any payments or forwards payments to the creditor, that’s always suspicious. If a debtor fails to respond to the letter and the collection agency has no further contact with the debtor, or if it does not receive the files of the debtors, they probably aren’t going to be considered debt collection agencies.

The lesson you should walk away with is that it is important that you know who you are paying your money to. It’s always wise to be vigilant when it comes to your finances.

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Once you’ve decided on delegating your delinquent accounts to a collection agency, the next question is how to find the best one. In today’s current economy there are so many different kinds it can be confusing. Following are suggestions for finding the best collection agency to suit your needs.

The first question out of your mouth when interviewing a collection agency should be how they structure their fees. While some of them charge monthly fees, there are many who take a percentage of any recovered money. This costs you less cash outlay, obviously, and it also means they’re guaranteeing their ability to perform for you, so this is the kind of agency you want.

Some agencies belong to professional collection associations, while others do not. There are two such groups in the US, the Commercial Law League of America and the American Collectors Association. It’s preferable to hire a member firm for collections because they take their professional standing seriously.

For example, both organizations require perfectly professional conduct from their members. Not only do they conform to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, they are committed to training courses for members to teach the latest collection techniques.

In addition, collection agencies that belong to professional organizations are more likely to do their own work rather than outsourcing it. This is important because you want accountability regarding your accounts. If you don’t know the people who are actually performing the collections you can’t really keep an eye on them.

You also want to pick an agency that uses private investigators or does investigations themselves with skip trace software. (A skip trace is a search for a person based on their previous known addresses.) Collections efforts can’t be successful when you can’t locate the debtor. This is a practice that all good collection agencies follow these days so make sure the one you choose does as well.

Another criteria for picking a collection agency is whether or not they do their own collections or send out files to other agencies. Those who send out files to other agencies often use offshore call centers, which are mentally easier to dismiss to debtors. In addition, whether or not the contracted third parties are offshore, you have no control over their professionalism. For this reason, you should pick an agency that does all their own collections work and you won’t be sorry.

The final thing you should check on when hiring a collection agency is what their business hours are. This may seem like a small thing but with national collections, time zones can be a problem, and with local collections, you still want people working outside of normal business hours. Consumer debtors are more likely to answer the phone before 9 am or after 5 pm, because they’re more likely to be home, and also because they believe collections calls are less likely at those times. A collection agency which spreads out its work hours is beneficial to you.

David P. Montana has thirty years experience as an industry expert, business advisor and published author in collection agencies services. David provides more beneficial tools and resources about nationwide debt collection agencies services.

A Debt consolidation program starts with assessing your financial state of affairs. This formula involves an in depth analysis of your financial bearings. That analysis will assist you to evaluate whether it is best to file for bankruptcy or go for a debt consolidation program. A debt consolidation analysis will approximate the debtor’s potential savings through the program.

When a deal is made with the debt consolidation company and the debtor. The next step is for one of the counselors to get hold of the creditors and figure out a reduction in the interest rates and monthly payments at an amount that will be affordable to the debtor.

Through negotiations with the creditors, the debt consolidation company usually reduces or eliminates the interest charged. The balance owed to-wards the creditors is reduced and they can give the debtor a reduction in even the principal amount.

The Debt consolidation program will also aid the debtors by getting the creditors to halt the legal actions which they were bringing against the debtor which means they can no longer consume the debtor’s income nor can they take the debtor to court. Also this starts bringing up the credit rating of the debtor because now the debtor is repaying the debts under the new agreement.

With this technique of debt easing, the debtor will no longer have to respond to embarrassing phone calls from his creditors. The debtor wont get any bills or pay the creditors directly. The debt consolidation program will directly take charge over the creditors. The debtor will just need to pay the debt consolidation company a single amount each month according to the budget which was agreed upon with the debtors. So there is no need for any interaction with the creditors.

Most of the time these systems are free to the debtor as the fees are paid by the creditors, because they would rather get something reciprocally than lose all the money that the debtor owes them. Also, programs like this work for those with good or bad credit. It is a great solution for debt reduction to use a debt services company or consolidator that uses this method.

Mallory works for a debt collection agency. She also writes articles on business, finance, and collections. .

Learn How to Challenge Your Equifax Credit Report

Are you tired of the bad credit reported on your credit report?

To begin with, you will need to request a copy of your Equifax credit report so you can review its contents for negative and inaccurate entries. Entries that damage your credit include:

third party actions involving charge-offs

judgments

bankruptcy proceedings, such as Chapter 7 or Chapter 13

home foreclosures

repossessions – auto, boat, or other property

payroll garnishment

payment inconsistencies

collections, paid collections, settled accounts

public records/judgments

Your second step is to write an Equifax dispute letter. You will need to include your personal information and reason for the dispute. In other words, you need to say why you believe the information is inaccurate.

The final step is to wait 30-45 days for the results.

What Happens After I Mail my Dispute Letter?

If your dispute is successful, continue the process to attempt to remove all negative entries from your credit report. Once this step is completed, clear up any remaining issues, such as discrepancies involving personal information.

If your dispute is successful, the negative item in question will be removed by Equifax. At times, a credit bureau will revise items on your credit report after they have been contacted by your creditors. This information can be good or bad, depending upon the creditors’ reports. For instance, your credit report might be revised to show that an account went to collection.

If you lose your Equifax dispute, the negative items will stay on your report possibly for the next 7-10 years. If this happens, you still have some options to continue the credit repair process.

At times, a simple dispute is not effective and more advanced methods are necessary. At this point, it is wise to seek the advice of a legal professional who can employ methods such as payment for deletion, debt validation, or possibly even negotiating directly with the creditor.

Keep in mind that credit reporting by a creditor is voluntary, while the seven year limit is imposed only on credit bureaus. As such, a convincing attorney can often persuade a creditor to erase a negative item from your credit report.

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