Posts Tagged ‘professional debt collection’

Collections Agencies Look Into Work-At-Home Programs

Friday, April 23rd, 2010

Even though it is always a good idea to hire more workers to add to your ranks, keeping the best employees in a collections agency is key. It has become a recent trend that tenured collectors are now requesting to work at home.

It might be a smart move to accommodate for them considering that their commissions have been lower as of late, and the stress of the commute or a need to spend more time with family may drive your best collectors away.

While work at home programs haven’t become common yet, there are a few debt collection agencies that make exceptions for particular bill collectors. Typically these collectors are the best at what they do and may work from home a few days a week.

The way that work at home jobs work is simplistic. Typically, the collector is set up with a computer that can access the computers at the office and they are given designated phone equipment to use. The great thing about it is that everything the collector does can be monitored still, as if he or she was working in the call center itself.

Before sending employees to work at home, it is crucial to consider both the good and bad qualities of each collector. But studies have indicated that if a collector is a good candidate to work from home, they will be more productive, take fewer breaks, and without social interaction with other collectors they can focus on the job itself.

Still, there are many issues that should to be addressed when one considers sending employees to work at home. First, there are potential data security performance control and data security issues. Also, in light of all of the recent legislation impacting the collection industry, it is not probable that we will know of many formal work at home programs anytime soon. Yet experts believe it is not good to alienate the best workers who are inquiring about work at home. They predict that we will see more collection agencies allowing collectors to work from home within the next five years.

Mallory Megan is employed by a debt collection agency. She also composes articles on business, finance, consumer spending and collection agencies.

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Politicians Say To Collection Industry: Enough Is Enough

Thursday, April 15th, 2010

Almost everyone who has been in debt has received the dreaded phone call from a collections agency. But sometimes one phone call turns into twenty, and even worse, an agent may be aggressive and threatening on the phone.

While it might be true that collections agents are attempting to collect a legitimate debt, more and more negative attention is being focused on unfair and aggressive policies that some companies have been using.

Some of the more aggressive tactics caught the eyes of James Caldwell, Louisiana attorney general and Washington attorney general Ron McKenna who have both pledged to make accounts receivable management firms and their owners clean up after their acts.

In fact, Caldwell has already obtained injunctions on January 8th against two collection agencies that were not complying with the standards that have been set for obtaining debt.

On the same day McKenna stated that his office had just come to an agreement with a collection agency that agreed to comply with new restrictions that have been established.

Some of the new boundaries that these collection agencies must comply with include more effective communication. This means that any harassment, intimidation, threats, profanity, or attempts to embarrass the debtor are now out of the question.

With these new settlements, these collection agencies under scrutiny will no longer be able to intimidate debtors through implications such as failing to pay a debt will result in a suspension of the debtor’s driver’s license.

Finally, although these collection companies are lawfully able to report debts to credit reporting agencies, they are no longer allowed to threaten debtors with impairment of their credit rating.

Although collections agencies are justifiably trying to collect a legitimate debt, there are two issues to consider. People who owe money are just thatpeople, who deserve to be treated with respect and dignity. More importantly, if a debtor is terrified of an aggressive collections agent who calls them constantly they very well may just stop picking up the calls, leaving themselves in debt, and the collection agencies with nothing.

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

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Which Financial Issue Do You Tackle First? Mortgage Or Credit?

Monday, February 8th, 2010

What happens if your income decreases? You have less money, but the amount of debt you owe remains the same. What\’s the best way to prioritize payments? If you have credit cards chances are you might also have personal loans and a mortgage.

Over the past few years, more consumers in a bind due to dwindling income have decided that credit cards should be higher than their mortgage payments on the prioritization list. As 2009 ended it was determined that twice as many consumers were delinquent with their mortgage payments while paying credit card payments than the other way around.

Even though some of this might be a result of the credit crunch and lower balances on cards generally, this might be due to the general tendency for people to lose faith in the value of their homes as they see the real estate market erode. A lot of homeowners are giving up and simply walking away from their homes with mortgages that they cannot afford. They figure that if the only punishment is a bad credit score, there isn\’t much incentive for them to keep paying money if they are not building equity.

For families struggling with issues of financial trouble, the bare necessities are still neccessary: food, water and shelter. Credit cards are the typical financing strategy in times of need. There is an understandable set of reasoning for prioritizing these bills. If a credit card is revoked, someone will lose the chance to pay for the bare necessities.

Nevertheless, a mortgage should be a higher priority than credit cards because the mortgage is secured debt. The bank that holds your mortgage can take your house away if you don\’t pay because your house is collateral. While some people have no problem abandoning a house whose value has gone down, it\’s not considered a very smart choice. There is a real chance real estate value eventually will come around, so sitting tight might pay off.

Mallory Megan is employed by a debt collection company. Also, she composes articles on consumer spending, business and finance, and debt collection Get a totally unique version of this article from our article submission service

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Posted in Mortgages | No Comments »