Dealing With A Collection Agency

Step I - Selecting A Collection Agency

Selecting a credit collection agency is perhaps the most important and difficult task. Some factors you must consider while selecting a collection agency are:

- Experience and professionals
- Geographical presence
- Expertise
- Fees and charging model
- Customer references
- Collection Agency Services has covered this topic in depth through various free collections reports and articles on this site.

Step II - Hiring the Collection Agency and Setting Up Processes

Once you select the collection agency, the first two steps you have to take are:

Enter into a contract with the agency;

Set up processes on how you are going to communicate with the agency.

A contract is the legal document and your legal experts will, of course, prepare it correctly. Just make sure that you include important clauses such as confidentiality and non-disclosure. You are likely to pass sensitive information to the collection agency such as your account receivables, customer contacts, product and services pricing, etc. to facilitate faster debt collection. You want to be sure that this information does not fall in the wrong hands.

Setting up processes is a very 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 need to define are:

Internal processes: You have to put in place a clear process on defining bad debt and referring the case to the collection agency. You don’t want to refer the case to the collection agency before you make a sincere effort to collect the dues internally.

Information transfer: How will you transfer the information to the collection agency about your dues and defaulting customers, and how will you receive the information from your collection agency? Debt collection software can make the information transfer process easy and secured.

Third party dealing: As mentioned earlier, it is very important for you to ensure the security of the information you give to the collection agency. The collection agency may use one or more of its associated agencies to get information about defaulting customers. Hence you need to set up a clear protocol on how much information they can share with such third parties.

Communication: You need to set up single point contacts for communication within the company and the collection agency. In debt collection practices, the timing of communication is extremely important and hence it will go a long way in deciding the success of your debt collection process. Again, the importance of debt collection software cannot be overemphasized here.

Step III - Performance Monitoring

Once all processes are set, start monitoring the performance of the collection agency. This is an ongoing process when dealing with a collection agency. Important parameters to monitor are:

Quantitative

- Number of cases referred to the credit collection agency and percentage of cases successfully solved by them.

- Percentage of debt recovered by the collection agency from all cases referred.

- Percentage of debt recovered by the collection agency from solved cases.

- Percentage of amount paid as fees/commission to the collection agency to the total bad debt cases referred to them.

- Average number of days taken by the collection agency for full/partial credit collection.

Qualitative

* How well do the collection agency professionals deal with your customers?

* Has the collection agency followed all legal requirements mentioned in the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act?

* Has the collection agency gone beyond the provisions of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act?

* Has the collection agency followed all processes and guidelines set by you?

Step IV - Contract Closure

Hopefully, the selected collection agency will work best for you. But if it doesn’t, then you need to transfer all your debt collection processes from the agency. You should remember the following important points when you are ending the contract:

Confidentiality and non-disclosure clauses are applicable even after the end of the contract with the collection agency as well as its employees. The collection agency returns all documents related to your business and destroys all information related to your business from their data storage.

Following these simple guidelines will ensure that when dealing with a collection agency that it works best for you and your bad debts are minimized.

Collection Agency Services offers you a wealth of information on how to select the best collection agency for your business.

http://www.collectionagencyservices.net

Low Fixed Interest Credit Cards

Credit cards charge annual interest percentage rates (or APRs) on credit balances carried forward, and also on cash withdrawals. Transferring a balance from one credit card to another is also subject to APRs. The two kinds of APRs applicable to credit card users are variable and fixed. The variable kind means that the APR is subject to fluctuation according to factors that have nothing to do with your balance, withdrawals and credit rating. In other words, these factors are beyond your control and may be favorable or unfavorable in any given period of time.

Credit cards that charge low fixed interest on credit balances and cash withdrawals are far more manageable options for some customers. They may be the best bet when financial planning and periodic reviews of your balance statements is not your strong point, if you prefer a high degree of predictability in your credit-card-related financial status, or you have a consistent history of carrying forward balances from one month to the next.

Especially in the last instance, a fixed APR makes a lot of sense. One of the most common pitfalls of a variable APR is that users are often not aware of when and by how much the variations in interest take place. No matters how high the providing bank’s level of transparency is, it is simply not possible to keep track of these fluctuations for long periods of time. The problem is that even minute hikes in APR can accrue to significant amounts of interest debt towards the end of the year.

While a fixed APR on low interest credit cards definitely makes for increased oversight, it is not entirely free of fluctuations, either. In this case, however, the providing bank is obliged to keep users current on such changes in the interest rate before they are actually enforced.

Car loan with bad credit score - Is this possible

Are you considering buying a car but afraid just because you have a bad credit score? Bad credit score does not mean end of the world. It’s true that having a good credit score is very much important. But a person with bad credit score can also get his loan approved.

There are number of money lender who offer loan to individual who have a bad credit record. The only drawback of borrowing loan with a bad credit score is paying high interest rate than what you would have actually paid if you had a good credit score.

How can you get car loan with a bad credit score?

1. Don’t rely on the money lender: You might come across many money lenders who will agree to pay you credit. It’s very important that you do not haste in getting your car loan approved. Money lenders may try to rip you off just because you have a bad credit history. You must compare the rates of different money lenders but actually arriving at a decision. A good search can help you fund lenders who are willing to provide you loan at a much lower interest rate.
2. Check your credit report: It’s very important that you check your credit report but applying for a loan. Checking your credit score can only help you improve your credit score. The reason for this check is that there might be certain errors in your credit report. It’s quite possible you might have paid your dues but they are not recorded in the credit report. You have to notice all these errors and inform the credit agencies to do the necessary corrections. Remember a credit score repair can help you improve your credit score by quite a margin. This in turn will directly affect your loan gaining capacity.
3. Repair your credit score: If you find any errors or flaws in your credit report it would be advisable to contact the credit agency as quickly as possible. Get the error rectified and find improvement in your credit score.

Isabella Rodrigues writes for free-instant-credit-report.info,
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Business Credit Cards Can Make You Money

Small business owners, more than any other credit card users, are in the best position to profit from their use of credit cards. Profit from credit cards? The idea may seem foreign, if not preposterous. However, the truth of the matter is simple: if you use your business credit card wisely and open a high yield savings account, your credit card can easily make you a few hundred dollars a month.

Let’s begin by discussing the types of small business credit cards on the market. The first and often easiest for new businesses to attain are charge cards. There are a wide variety of these available from American Express’ OPEN, the small business network. The first benefit of a business charge card is the zero percent interest you pay. Yes, you must pay your balance in full in each month. However, we’ll soon see how borrowing money interest free is a great thing.

OPEN credit cards, like other American Express business credit cards, allow you to earn Amex rewards points with every purchase. In general, you earn 1 point for every dollar spent. In general, a point is worth between 1/2 to 1% of purchases, depending if you want to redeem your rewards for cash (1/2% value) or retail gift certificates and travel rewards (1%).

Now let’s assume your small business spends $10,000 a month. You will earn $100 in rewards from American Express. Plus, if you place that $10,000 into a high yield savings account with an interest rate of 4% or higher, you will earn over $30 a month in interest. Thus, the net earnings you will accrue by using an American Express small business credit card can easily equal $130 a month on $10,000 spending. Over the course of a year, that can add up to over $1500.

Small business credit cards with rewards provide similar profit opportunities, and fantastic short term profit opportunities, as many offer 0% interest rates for up to 6 months on purchases. For example, if you spend $10,000 the first month you have a 0% small business card, you can earn $100 in rewards, plus a very nice $200 in interest over the course of the introductory offer. When the 0% expires, you simply pay your bill in full and avoid all interest charges. You’ll find your business $300 richer.

Once the 0% APR expires on a small business credit card, you will have a “grace period” of around 25 days to pay off your new purchases before interest is charged. Thus, you simply treat your credit card like a charge card, and pay your balance in full each month, allowing you to earn rewards points on every purchase you make while earning interest on the money you already spent.

Over the course of a year, a small business that uses an American Express OPEN card and spends $10,000 per month can earn the equivalent of $1200 in Amex cash, travel, or retail rewards, plus over $400 in interest. That frees up over $1600 in capital that can be used to offset the cost of travel, purchase new equipment, or simply enhance your company’s cash flow.

Using small business credit cards strategically can positively affect your company’s bottom line, free up cash, and generate income through interest and rewards. With the wide range of cards on the market, it is important for each business owner to examine the interest rates, types of rewards, and fine print of small business credit cards before making a final choice. Personally, I’ve been a proud American Express OPEN Gold and Platinum small business cardholder for nearly two years and have nothing but praise for the company.

©2006, Credit Card Depot Inc. This article may be reprinted as long as the author’s bio and a live link to http://www.credit-card-depot.com remains intact.

The author is president and CEO of Credit Card Depot Inc. The company’s primary website, Credit Card Depot, features over 15 small business credit cards including American Express Open Credit Cards.