If you have been considering the possibility of starting a home based business then you may want to consider a collection agency. These are companies that collect on debts for companies and organizations that could not do so through their own efforts. When an organization is not able to collect on past due accounts through the efforts of their in-house collection system they will farm the work out to collection agencies who are more knowledgeable in the area of debt collections.
To be a debt collector you must have great communication skills which include verbal and written. You should also be a good negotiator. There will be times when you have to negotiate with past due to debtors to get them to start paying on an account. Sometimes you will be called upon to be tactful when speaking with debtors.
Today you are going to find that debtors are more knowledgeable than at any time in the past about collection laws. It would be in your best interest to gain a complete understanding of the Fair Debt Collection Practice Act, which states what debt collectors can and cannot do.
If you can get to the root of the problem you will have a better chance of having a past due debtor pay you. Your rate of success will be five to ten times better if you adopt the idea that you are helping a debtor and they sincerely believe that you have their best interest in mind. The strong arm tactics of the past no longer work except for a rare few that don’t understand how the collection process works.
To get business you may want to write a dissertation, contact banks, credit unions, retail stores, medical providers, day care facilities and even electronic stores and let them know you are available. A good way to get your foot in the door is to offer to do second placements. These are accounts that have already been presented to another collection agency that the client has contracted with and that agency was unable to secure any money from that debtor. The agency has now closed the account and determined that it is uncollectible. Since the previous collection agency was unable to get any results you may offer to take a stab at those same accounts. This will prove to be very difficult but if you are able to extract any money from those accounts that client will be more likely to turn over more of their uncollectible receivables to you.
Sometimes before you can collect from a debtor you have to locate them. This process is called skip tracing. The internet provides a number of avenues for you to pursue when it comes to looking for debtors. Getting started can be hard work but once you get established this can turn out to be quite a lucrative business that you can work from the privacy of your home.
A collection agency is one business that there will likely be a lot of demand for. With the economy slowing down and more and more people losing their job more and more companies are turning to collection agencies to help them collect from past due to debtors.
