Include Debt Collection Attorneys on Your Team

Include Debt Collection Attorneys on Your Team

Forbes magazine predicts artificial intelligence is the key to success in 2018. Automation, effective social media campaigns and reduced human intervention predict success in 2018 as wages, interest rates, and health care costs increase. Ultimately, computers don’t incur debts: people do.

Small Businesses
Ever tried collecting payments from your friends who love your artwork, the business associates you just met who invited you back again, or need more money when the costs exceed the payment you received? “Collecting from customers that can’t or won’t pay” is part of owning your own business. You need your money. You can’t be too easy or too strict. Consumers complain when you try to collect their payments. State and federal agencies pursue complaints of illegal debt collection. You don’t want a complaint by your state’s attorney general or the United States Department of Justice.

State Laws Vary
Your state law may consider you a debt-collection company when you try to collect money that is owed to your corporation. You must know your state laws. California, Florida, Maryland, and New York are a few states with a business “collecting on [it’s] own behalf” clause in their state laws. In these states, small businesses calling customers hoping to collect payments due to their products or services are held to the same legal standards as official debt collection firms.

Deceptive Business Practices
Beware of deceptive unfair business practices. Be careful not to add unadvertised fees to purchases. If your online class costs $10 and your book costs $20, your customer pays sales tax on the book. You don’t have the right to charge an additional $5 processing fee for the class unless you clearly state the class costs $10 plus a $5 registration fee.

Dunning
Dunning is the process of calling customers until you finally get their payment. Your customer has a valid complaint if you use any name other than your incorporated business name when you call to inquire about his or her past due payment.

If your business is Hometown Catering and you call customers listed on your delinquent accounts saying Hometown Catering Collections, the consumer wins the complaint. Third-party collection agencies send a reminder letter followed by a more aggressive letter a month later to collect money owed to your company.

Illegal Debt Collection
You need a reputable third-party debt collector on high-dollar debts or if a significant number of your customers don’t pay. While debt collectors who are paid on a contingency basis strive to collect maximum interest on your past due accounts, it’s illegal to call the consumer at unreasonable hours, add unexpected fees or interest that weren’t originally stated, or delay the posting of payments to collect additional fees and interest on the account.

Problem Solving
Delinquent consumers have a problem to solve. Your earliest collection efforts begin with an offer to help your customer or client meet their obligations. It’s also prudent to remind your debtors of their need for your products or services or point out the benefits of doing business with you. A little sympathy during hard times increases customer loyalty. Debt collection is best left to expert Massachusetts commercial collection lawyers. Our debt collection attorneys can help you with the complex:

• Breached contracts
• Real estate sales and leases
• Equipment sales and leases
• Bankruptcy
• Commercial liquidations

Artificial Collection Intelligence
ECollect.com promises invoices to cash for a 3% collection fee. ECollect.com creates individualized invoices and contracts. ECollect.com stores the names, addresses, phone numbers, bank account information, and credit card numbers for each customer. ECollect.com claims to be fully compliant with all state and federal laws and offers templates for the pre-legal and legal collection of debts. The online service tracks and records all communications with your customers through email, texts, or telephone conversations. ECollect.com even monitors your customers for changes in bankruptcies, hospitalizations, unemployment, and insufficient funds. It initiates the legal collection process when it is likely that you can collect on your debt. The automated collection process initiates installment payment plans for customers in arrears allowing them to begin repaying their past due balance.

Debt Policy
You need a debt policy to avoid paying interest on loaned operating expenses. You need to make sure you collect the money that is due to you in a timely fashion. Inner organizational conflicts between department supervisors and managers focused on competitive advantage occur in response to budget cuts and insufficient cash flow. If production, sales, and marketing dominate your business, greater debt is required to keep the company operating. The impact of debt on the company’s return on investment shifts the company’s break-even point upward. Sales and profits are lower. Reliance on debt increases corporate sales and profit.

Goldberg and Oriel
Call today for a free consultation and valuation of your collection cases. We’re always available to you, our local, national, and international clients to answer all your questions and to advise you to make sound business decisions. We are practicing business attorneys, not a collection agency. Our law firm is paid a percentage of the money we collect for you. Our law firm will strive for the maximum possible recovery on your accounts with past due balances. Our debt collection attorney will collect maximum interest payments from your slow paying customers.

Nationwide Debt Collections
Our services are nationwide. You don’t need an attorney in each state. Our law firm offers uniform collection services in all 50 states saving our clients considerable time and effort. As nationwide debt collection lawyers, we can pursue your customers wherever they relocated.

Great accomplishments of American businesses are accomplished by teams of people. Our lawyer files small claims lawsuits and identifies assets to leverage liens on business or personal property. Our Massachusetts debt collection lawyer can garnish wages pursuant to federal, state, and local laws. Our contingency fees are usually 30%, but we charge more depending on the type of legal services rendered. Our commercial collection law firm negotiates a fixed percentage for services to clients with numerous delinquent accounts.