Welcome back to debt collection 101, your beginner’s guide to debt collection. In the last article I wrote about two types of debt collectors, third party collection agents and in house debt collectors. I spoke about what skip tracing was and how a skilled debt collector will use it to find new information on a debtor that is difficult to locate.

When the debt collectors do find their debtors they will contact them and inform them of their overdue accounts. If it is necessary, they will go over terms of sale or the credit contracts, and then they will ask for payment. When a debt collector calls, they may probe you for information, or a skilled one may simply use their listening skills to try to determine why the account went delinquent and if you have the means to pay it back.

Typically, a collection agent will have the ability to offer a repayment plan or some other way to make it easier for the debtor to pay their bill. Sometimes, they are capable of finding solutions to debtor’s financial problems that the debtors were not able to think of themselves. As experts in the field of finance, they might even be able to refer debtors in trouble to a good debt counselor or offer some useful advice.

If a debtor agrees to pay, then the job of the debt collector is almost complete. At this point the collections agent will record this commitment and will make a point of checking up on this later to ensure that the payment was made.

If a debtor refuses to pay, the collection agent will then make up a statement about their delinquency for the credit department of whoever they work for. In extreme cases, generally when there is a lot of money being discussed, collection agents may disconnect service, call for repossession, or even hand over the account to the company attorney. To Be Continued In Parts 3,4, 5, and 6.

Mallory Megan works for Rapid Recovery Solution and writes articles on medical collection agencies. Unique version for reprint here: Debt Collectors For Beginners: When A Debt Collector Is On The Phone.

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So the bill collector is contacting you and you can’t make ends meet. You stopped spending, you made and stuck to your budget, but you still are having problems getting the cash flow to pay off your debt. You need to make some more money. Here are a few easy ways you can do this:

Think like a business. When big businesses are trying to lower debt and raise profits, one of their main strategies is to sell their assets. They sell equipment, inventory, and product lines. On a smaller scale, you can do the same. What would you be able to part with if it meant financial security? Your second home? Second car? Boat? Jewelery or art? Time share? If what you are selling is extremely valuable (five thousand dollars or more) you should take it to get appraised for tax purposes and for your own sake. If it’s a household item not worth having an appraisal, you can get a fairly accurate idea of the market value by taking a look through classified advertisements or on eBay.

Hold a really terrific garage sale. If done right these can really pay off! Don’t just throw a pile of junk into a box in the garage and wait for it to fly out. If you take a methodical approach you’ll clean up your garage- and clean up financially. Give yourself a few weeks to get things in order. Saturdays are best for garage sale days. Next, go through your house. If you haven’t used an item in two years, you can go without it.

Now, organize the things you are planning to sell. Put like objects with like objects, so shoppers can find what they are looking for. If you are selling clothing, display it nicely on a rack or a string up clothesline so that people can see. If you are not sure if you have enough to fill your yard, join in with a few families. Keep track of who has earned what by placing different color price tags on each family’s items. And do not forget to advertise by running advertisements in local papers and online.

One last thing to think about is to attempt to earn extra money, which you may be able to do at your current job. If it has been a year or more since you got a raise, ask for one. If you don’t get it, ask your boss what you need to do to increase the size of your paycheck. In today’s day and age, you might just have to get a second job. Approximately four out of ten people have already done so to meet regular household expenses or pay off debt. That’s eight and a half million Americans! Whatever choices you make, good luck, and remember, use that extra cash wisely and always stick to your budget!

Mallory Megan works for Rapid Recovery Solution and writes articles about commercial collection agencies This article, Some Ways To Get Extra Cash To Pay Off Your Debt is available for free reprint.

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• Dallas Clubs

Even though we are in the middle of a recession, and many of you are in debt, there is no reason that you cannot throw a really great Super Bowl Party.

Try to focus on not overdoing it. Make just one extravagant dish and play the rest off of that. A vat of chili, if properly seasoned is able to serve twelve people for twenty dollars. Chicken wings are quite cheap and easy to make. Coils of kielbasa, priced around five bucks are a cheap and delicious snack.

Due to the fact that the Super Bowl is a special occasion, go for hot food. Ordering big trays of Chinese takeout are less expensive and time consuming than cooking your own food.

Children at Superbowl parties can be hard to keep happy. Vegetables, juice, chips, and a carvel football shaped ice cream cake priced at $22.99 will keep them at bay.

Drinks? The best choice for shoppers on a budget is beer and wine. A keg will save you about 40% according to experts. The wine doesn’t have to be fancy – a five liter boxed wine will be more than acceptable. If you encounter the troublesome guest who insists on liquor, get discount vodka, a half gallon for just fourteen dollars. Its cheap, and blends with about anything.

Even in tough times, it is essential to make the most of your game-viewing experience. A medium to large flatscreen is completely necessary. But if you don’t own one, rent one. Websites list 42 inch TVs for as low as $26.99 a week.

And then those pesky people who don’t watch football. A pool for small gifts like a store certificate or CD might inspire people who aren’t the least bit interested in football at all if a prize is awarded at the end of every quarter. Try to have experienced fans explain what is going on. Then, sit back, and enjoy your game.

Mallory Megan is employed by a debt collection agency. Also she composes stories on business, finance, consumer spending and collection agencies.

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Commissioners on Monday postponed a decision to hire a collection agency because of unsettled ambulance bills acquired in unincorporated districts of Flagler County. Instead, county staff will do more research and the item will be returned to commissioners for review sometime in July.

Commissioner Alan Peterson announced during the meeting that he wasn’t ready to sign at the dotted line in the piggyback contract alongside officials in Orange County because he wanted to be informed on how the collection agency does its business.

He wanted to know how commonly the agency calls residents about their delinquent accounts and what times of the day those calls were made. He also wished to know how many written notices would be sent to residents in arrears for their emergency medical care during an ambulance ride.

“My overriding concern on this whole issue is that unlike most bills people incur, this is an involuntary expense,” Peterson said. “People don’t normally choose to take an ambulance for medical care.”

Commissioner Barbara Revels said she also wanted to guarantee that the county wasn’t getting into business with a “heavy-handed” collection agency that could result in consumer retaliation, like some that’s now being seen around the country.

Under the county’s current billing routines, insurance companies are billed for a patient who receives medical care and transport. If the patient is not insured or the insurance does not cover the full balance due, a third-party billing company steps in and attempts to collect the debt through written notices with the help of information verification from Tax Collector Suzanne Johnston’s office. The account is kept open and debt collection attempts continue for up to a year, at which time the debt is moved to a “bad debt” list and charged off by commissioners.

The debts are not placed on residents’ credit reports and quarrelsome telephone tactics are not used for collection.

Peterson also said if the board decides to move forward in hiring a collection agency, he’d like to see county officials add a new level of regular review to the accounts on its “bad debt” list before they’re turned over for collection.

“There should be a review of each and every account to see if it makes sense to turn it over to the collection agency,” Peterson said.

He requested county staff acquire the proposed collection agency’s procedures and has asked them to present an outline of the policy they will use for reviewing accounts before they’re turned over to the agency sometime before the end of July.

“We haven’t had a collection agency up to this point, so I don’t think it would hurt to delay the decision two weeks,” said County Administrator Craig Coffey.

Rapid Recovery Solution is a third party debt collection company.

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Sometimes in life people can fall into debt and often it is not because of anything that they have done to cause the debt problem.

There are times when this falling in to debt is caused by our own stupidity such as when we blindly over commit ourselves with too many loans, credit cards, etc.

Each time that we apply for credit card we reckon that we can easily afford the repayments without taking our other debts into account.

The important thing to be considered is that once too many debts exist they cannot simply disappear into thin air and something has to be done to resolve the position.

Once debt looks like getting completely out of control action to sort out the debt problem becomes imperative, as the debt problem will not sort itself out.

When payments start to be missed this is recorded at a Credit Reference Agency and this will badly affect your credit rating and make it difficult to obtain finance in the future.

As there are all different sorts of debt help out there it is important to obtain the correct debt advice and in time an expert debt expert should be consulted.

For homeowners who are simply paying out too much every month but still have a good credit rating debt consolidation can be arranged via a consolidation loan which rolls all the different pieces of debt in to the one much lower monthly payment, saving money while at the same time simplifying finances.

Not every one is eligible to be considered for debt consolidation loans and for these people debt management could offer the debt solution that they require.

Trust Deeds and can give debt relief when the applicant has not sought debt help quickly enough.

What is important to remember when feeling the financial pinch is to get the correct debt advice before the debts spiral out of control.

Champion Finance can help with debt advice

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