Communicating With Your Customers – Do you know the guidelines and rules when it comes to communicating with your late-paying customers? The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act protects and regulates the kinds of communications allowed between creditors and debtors.

For example, there are limitations placed on the times during the day, as well as weekend, when you can contact debtors. There are also limits governing where you can and cannot contact delinquent customers about their past due accounts. Make sure you understand and operate within these legal prescriptions.

When contacting a third party to try and reach the debtor, you’re also restricted in only asking the third party for information about reaching the actual debtor.

Ownership Of Debt Disputes – There may be instances when a debtor will deny owning the debt, or that they owe your business any money. When this occurs, you are required to send written proof of this outstanding debt

Accurate and Truthful Information – It is imperative that you provide your debtor with accurate information. For instance, it is against the law for you to threaten or insinuate that you’ll have debtors arrested. You also can’t falsely represent that you have legal representation, when in fact, you do not. Nor can you imply that you have some governmental entity chasing after them.

You’re only able to give real information about the debt and your collection methods must abide by the debt collection agency laws at all times. Did you know that for violating the debt collection laws, your debtors could sue you for violation and potentially collect as much as 1 percent of the collector’s net worth.

It is very important that your business clearly understand the debt collection laws as related to your collection methods. Collection agency laws extend beyond simply getting customers to pay their delinquent debts.

You may also need to learn how the changes to the Fair Debt Collection Act may relate to customer access to credit reporting information. They may wish to verify the information listed on their credit report, so you need to be sure the information you provide is always accurate. Business owners that don’t adhere to these laws may face some steep fines and they may even find that the debt owed to them could be discharged.

Sometimes debt collection can be a difficult process, but as long as you understand the debt collection laws or the collection agency laws and how they can affect which actions you need to take to recoup money owed to you then you may find it’s not as difficult as it sounds.

Knowing what legal actions you can take can also help you with creating and building successful debt collection strategies, wherein you are able to properly communicate with your debtor and recover the debts owed to you.

David P. Montana has been a distinguished enterprise coach, business consultant in addition to publisher when it comes to collection agency options for thirty years. He gives further valuable tips and knowledge on debt collection laws.

Many business owners would rather use the “gentle” approach by first sending a friendly reminder. The idea is this may serve to help “jog” the customer’s memory of the past due bill.

These are often effective, but they can be improved by learning some tips to help you write a better demand letter. This can help make customers want to pay you sooner, as opposed to later.

1. Careful Professional Wording

Your demand letter should never contain any kind of threatening language or terms that can imply threats. People can become very defensive if they feel they are being attacked, whether it’s rightful or not. This defensiveness can often become retaliation and prompt them to become even more stubborn about not paying your unpaid bills.

Your demand or collection letters should stay on point, and clearly communicate that the customer owes an unpaid debt, and encourage them to pay. This is often incentive enough to get your customer to pay.

2. Be Accurate

Demand letters should clearly state the exact amount that is late and past due, as well as when payment was due. It can be good to also remind them of the products or services originally purchased. These letters should be succinct and brief.

3. Payment Plan

Some customers may avoid all contact with you, possibly out of embarrassment to admit they’re going through financial straits. A payment plan offered to them might be more financially feasible, with smaller payments.

They could become more cooperative after being offered payment arrangements, because smaller payments are less financially stressful.

4. Late Fees

Mentioning the possibility of late fees or penalties might be a further incentive for some customers to pay. Your demand letters could mention tacking on additional late fees if the account continues to remain delinquent. Faced with the possibilities of still more fees, some customers will find the money needed to pay the debt.

These suggestions can increase the cash flow to your business, by receiving smaller payments over a period of time. They will also encourage your late-paying customers to pay their past due accounts.

If you’re dealing with your debt collection procedures in-house and writing your demand letters yourself, you must not imply that a debt collection agency is involved in the collecting.

You should also be careful not to use wording that can imply a threat of any form, nor can you use any form of deception in your letters. This means you may not imply that the customer could be facing legal action or that you’re working with a government department to recover debt. You’re also not allowed to imply the threat of garnishing a customer’s wages to recover debt.

It’s also a violation of federal statutes to try to make your demand letter look like it’s been written and sent by a state or federal agency or from a court.

Use a professional tone in your writing, using your own regular business stationary. Generally, you should send two demand letters, spaced about 30 days apart. If these aren’t proving to be successful, perhaps it may be time to think of alternative debt collection methods, including hiring outside collection agencies to help you with your collections.

David P. Montana has been a distinguished business professional, business consultant plus author when it comes to collection agencies providers for thirty years. He offers additional important recommendations and details about Creating an effective demand letter.

I described what sort of data a collection company will collect and use in their efforts, and also that third party collection agencies are governed by federal and state laws and are overseen by the FTC.

A minority of collection companies will utilize deceptive, strong arm and illegal methods to confuse and scare debtors that include pretending that they are one of their creditors and asking them to verify information, pretending to be an old friend or neighbor to catch a debtor off guard, repetitively calling or mailing a debtor to the point where it gets to be a nuisance, or sending threatening letters or leaving threatening voicemail messages.

Legal but manipulative practices include pressing the debtor, preying on their emotions, and using vague threats like “respond within ten days or further collections attempts will follow.” Other illegal methods include idly threatening lawsuits or pursuing lawsuits when the collection agent has no intention to, threatening to throw a debtor in jail, threatening to garnish wages or seize bank accounts when they have no authority to, lying about the amount that is owed, or asking for more than what is owed are used as well.

For the debt collection industry, time is the enemy and a good debt collector is fully aware of this. Their goal is specifically to obtain money as soon as possible.If you are talking to a debt collector, keep in mind that at any time you have the legal right to tell them you are busy and will call them back if you are flustered, hang up, cool off, develop a game plan, and contact them later. An aggressive debt collector will ask you why you can’t make payment arrangements today.

Rapid Recovery Solution is a commercial collection agency that writes stories on medical collection agencies.

Focus on not overdoing it. Make just one extravagant dish and play the rest off of that. A vat of chili, if seasoned correctly can serve twelve people for twenty dollars. Chicken wings are very inexpensive and easy to make. Coils of kielbasa, priced around five bucks are a cheap and delicious snack.

Because the Super Bowl is a special occasion, opt for hot food. Ordering large trays of Chinese takeout are less expensive and time consuming than cooking your own food.

Children at Superbowl parties can be tough to please. Vegetables, juice, chips, and a carvel football shaped ice cream cake priced at $22.99 will keep them at bay.

Drinks? The best choice for shoppers on a budget is beer and wine. A keg will save you about 40% according to experts. The wine doesn’t have to be fancy – a five liter boxed wine will be more than acceptable. If you encounter the troublesome guest who insists on liquor, get discount vodka, a half gallon for just fourteen dollars. Its cheap, and blends with about anything.

Even in tough times, it is neccessary to make the most of your game-viewing experience. A medium to large flatscreen is completely necessary. But if you don’t own one, rent one. Websites list 42 inch TVs for as low as $26.99 a week.

And then those irritating people who won’t watch football. A pool for small gifts like a store certificate or CD might inspire people who aren’t the least bit interested in football at all if a prize is awarded at the end of every quarter. Try to have experienced fans explain what is going on. Then, sit back, and enjoy your game.

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

That’s a twenty one percent increase in properties from numbers in data collected in 2008, and a one hundred and twenty percent increase in total properties from 2007. The report also revealed that one in forty five housing units, 2.21 percent, received at least one foreclosure filing during 2009, up from 2008′s 1.48 percent and 2007′s 1.03 percent.

In the month of December alone, foreclosure filings have been reported on 349,519 properties in December. This a fourteen percent jump from the previous month of November and a fifteen percent increase from 2008. But despite the fact that there was an increase in December, foreclosure actions in the fourth quarter of 2008 has decreased by seven percent.

Of all of the states in America, Nevada took the nation’s highest state foreclosure rate; more than ten percent of housing units received at least one foreclosure filing in 2009. This is Nevada’s third consecutive year at the top of the foreclosure list. Nevada’s foreclosure activity in the month of December increased twenty seven percent from the previous month, however it still was down by twenty two percent from December of 08.

Arizona claimed the nation’s second highest state foreclosure rate in 2009 with more than six percent of properties receiving at least one foreclosure filing during 2009, and Florida claimed the nation’s third highest foreclosure rate at 5.93 percent of its properties getting at least one foreclosure during the filing year.

This raises things to think about in the debt collection industry. Trends that have recently been noted that debtors are maxing out their credit debt and low balling their assets to receive lower payment plans. The fact that they are maxing out their credit cards to receive lower payment plans does not look promising.

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