subject: Debt Collection 101 [print this page] Debt collectors, or account and bill collectors' purpose in life is to attempt to collect payment on bills that are delinquent. Many debt collectors work for third party collection companies. The creditor, or the company or business that is owed the money, will often hire outside of the business; this is especially if their accounts receivable department is small.
Other collection agents work directly for the original creditors; these workers are called in house collectors. Generally these are financially based businesses such as credit card and mortgage companies, healthcare providers or utility companies.
No matter what business that they work for, the job of bill collectors are similar. First, they are called upon to find businesses or consumers that are in debt, and let them know that they are delinquent. Usually this will be over the phone, but sometimes they send letters.
When debtors (people in debt) move without leaving a forwarding address, bill collectors may check with telephone companies, the post office, credit bureaus and former neighbors to get the new address. This practice is called "skip tracing." Collectors who do skip tracing will use computer systems to automatically track when people or companies change their addresses or contact information on any of their open accounts.
When the debt collectors find debtors they inform them that there are overdue accounts and request payment. If it's necessary they'll go over the terms of sale, or credit contracts. A good bill collector is a sneaky one. They'll probably utilize their listening skills to try to figure out the reason why you are delinquent.
Generally they will have the authority to offer a repayment plan or some other assistance to make it easier for people to pay their bills. Most of the time they have the capacity to find solutions to the financial problem. They may even offer useful advice or refer debtors to debt counselors.
by: Mallory Megan
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