Choosing a credit debt collector is perhaps the most essential and tough task. Some elements you should think about while picking a collection agency are:
- Experience and professionals
- Geographical presence
- Know-how
- Fees and charging model
- Client recommendations
- Debt Collector Provider has covered this topic in depth through various free collections reports and short articles on this website.
Action II - Working With the Debt Collector and Setting Up Processes
Once you select the debt collection agency, the very first two steps you need to take are:
Participate in an agreement with the agency;
Establish procedures on how you are going to interact with the agency.
You are likely to pass sensitive info to the collection agency such as your account receivables, client contacts, product and services prices, etc. to assist in faster debt collection. You desire to be sure that this details does not fall in the wrong hands.
Setting up processes is an extremely important step in dealing with the collection agency. The success or failure of your partnership will depend a lot on how well-defined your processes are and how strictly they are followed. Important processes you have to specify are:
Internal procedures: You need to put in place a clear procedure on specifying bad debt and referring the case to the debt collection agency. You don't want to refer the case to the collection agency before you make a sincere effort to gather the charges internally.
Info transfer: How will you transfer the info to the debt collection agency about your dues and defaulting consumers, and how will you get the info from your debt collection agency? Debt collection software can make the information transfer procedure simple and secured.
Third party dealing: As pointed out previously, it is essential for you to guarantee the security of the information you give to the debt collector. The debt collection agency may utilize several of its associated agencies to obtain info about defaulting customers. Hence you have to set up a clear protocol on what does it cost? info they can share with such 3rd parties.
Communication: You have to set up single point contacts for communication within the collection and the business agency. In debt collection practices, the timing of communication is exceptionally essential and hence it will go a long way in choosing the success of your debt collection procedure. Again, the value of debt collection software can not be overemphasized here.
Action III - Zenith Financial Network 888-591-3861 Performance Tracking
When all processes are set, begin keeping track of the performance of the debt collector. When dealing with a collection agency, this is an ongoing procedure. Important criteria to keep track of are:
Quantitative
- Number of cases described the credit debt collector and percentage of cases effectively resolved by them.
- Percentage of debt recuperated by the collection agency from all cases referred.
- Portion of debt recovered by the debt collector from solved cases.
- Portion of amount paid as fees/commission to the collection agency to the overall bad debt cases described them.
- Average variety of days taken by the collection agency for full/partial credit collection.
Qualitative
* How well do the debt collector professionals handle your customers?
* Has the debt collector followed all legal requirements mentioned in the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act?
* Has the debt collection agency gone beyond the arrangements of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act?
* Has the collection agency followed all processes and standards set by you?
Step IV - Agreement Closure
Ideally, the chosen debt collector will work best for you. If it doesn't, then you require to transfer all your debt collection processes from the agency. You need to remember the following essential points when you are ending the agreement:
Confidentiality and non-disclosure provisions apply even after completion of the agreement with the collection agency in addition to its staff members. The collection agency returns all documents associated with your business and damages all information related to your service from their information storage.
You are likely to pass delicate details to the collection agency such as your account receivables, customer contacts, product and services prices, and so on to facilitate faster debt collection. Setting up processes is a really important step in dealing with the collection agency. The collection agency might utilize one or more of its associated companies to get details about defaulting consumers. In debt collection practices, the timing of communication is very crucial and hence it will go a long way in choosing the success of your debt collection procedure. If it does not, then you need to transfer all your debt collection processes from the agency.
