Choosing A Debt Collection Agency
Deciding on your debt collection agency is a task which is crucial for your business
. You cannot afford to get it wrong. Keeping a few points in mind while choosing your agency would help.
Debt Collection Agencies (DCAs) offer third-party assistance when your best efforts to collect debt are thwarted. They are a pre-legal course you could take for debt collection. Services of a reputable DCA are designed to protect your reputation, retain your customer base and maximize your cash flow. However, you should examine all DCAs on the table against some basic criteria. Decide on a DCA that ticks all of your boxes.
How to Choose Your Collection Agency
Following a well thought out procedure while selecting a Debt Recovery Agency will always help.
Search
Searching the database of the Credit Services Association (CSA) is the best place to look for a Debt Collection Agency (DCA). The CSA is the umbrella body for the collection industry, which bounds its members with its Code of Practice. This ensures legal and ethical practices, high business standards , and fairness in dealing with your customers.
However, before you visit CSA website, you should determine whether you need B2B or B2C competent debt collectors. Every agency has its core competency in B2B or B2C debt collections. Both the streams require different skills sets and working practices are also different. So look at this aspect before taking the final call.
Shortlist
When you have readied a shortlist of DCAs, begin testing their openness, integrity and customer service skills. For determining their level of competency, ask them following questions:
* Do you have customers in my particular business stream?
* Can you offer me references that I can contact?
* Do you operate on a no-collection-no-commission basis?
* What are your remittance rules?
* Do you provide online performance reporting?
If the DCA provides satisfactory answers to your questions, you can move ahead.
Satisfy
Now is the time to take a final call on appointing the DCA. Make an appointment with the DCAs you have finalized and put up all the queries you have. You could ask them whether they have in-house tracing system to locate absconded debtors, their skills regarding overseas collection, and in-house legal assistance.
Legal Angle
In Canada, debt collection is governed by the Collection Agencies Act, which could differ from state to state. Objective of the law is to get away with abusive practices in the collection of consumer debts and to promote fair debt collection. It provides debtors with an avenue for disputing and obtaining validation of debt information. Debt collectors may conduct their business under the guidelines laid down by the Act.
Basic Debt Collection Skills
A debt collector must have some certain basic skills to succeed in his job:
Negotiation: He has to be a good negotiator. He will be required to convince debtors about repaying their debts and secure their acceptance of cash settlement plan.
Firm but Fair: A debt collector has to be firm but should make unreasonable demands.
Investigation: To investigate is a part of debt collector's job. He might be required to trace an absconding debtor or find out details of a persons' finance.
Fair Debt Collection Practices: Collectors should be well-versed with the fair debt collection practices. An aberration could land them and the agency in legal trouble.
DCAs operating in various regions of Canada can be found online. Do proper research to single out one for you among collection agencies Ontario.
by: Stephen Macculloch
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