How To Get Back Up From A Bankruptcy

Bankruptcies can stay on your credit report for up to 10 years and can annihilate your credit score by hundreds of points. But by utilizing these plans of action, you could increase your credit score and become creditworthy several years before the bankruptcy drops off your credit report.

Fixing your credit score after a bankruptcy is far from being simple. “Filing bankruptcy is supposed to be a fresh start,” says Stephen Snyder, credit expert and author of “Credit after Bankruptcy.”

After a bankruptcy discharge, make sure your credit report is precise. After all, your goal is to gain your credit score fast, and inaccurate information will only lengthen the time it takes to score high enough for conventional credit. You are entitled to one free credit report every 12 months from each of the three national credit bureaus. Credit bureaus generally have 30 to 45 days to investigate your claim.

One of the most efficient ways to boost your credit score after bankruptcy is to acquire a secured credit card, she says. Secured cards are credit cards secured by a deposit account (usually a savings account) owned by the cardholder.”Those cards were designed for people with bad credit to remain in very low-credit-limit situations for a long period of time at a high interest rate,” says Stephen Snyder, author of “Credit after Bankruptcy.”Having more than one type of credit line will help boost your credit score.

“The point is most people with great credit scores probably have two credit cards from well-known, well-respected banks, a house payment, maybe a boat payment, and they keep those balances below 15 percent [of available credit] every month.”About 10 percent of your credit score is calculated based on the types of credit you use (i.e., credit cards, mortgages, installment loans and retail accounts), according to MyFICO.com.

Another 10 percent is based on new credit accounts ” which can include credit lines established after your bankruptcy. Although the FHA program does not officially use credit scores to qualify a loan, individual lenders may. Some credit-repair and credit “doctor” companies make grandiose claims that they can clean the slate and repair your credit file, often for a substantial fee. Only time will cause those entries to drop off your credit reports.

Rapid Recovery Solution is a credit collection agency.

Three Ways To Collect On An Outstanding Debt.

No matter what you do to try and weed out potential deadbeat customers, sooner or later one or more accounts will become past due. When you find yourself with a past due account on your hands, the worst thing you can do is ignore the problem. The more time that passes between the payment due date and the time that the customer is contacted, the less likely you are to receive the full payment. After 6 months, you statistically collect just 50% of the amount due and after a year that amount drops to only 25% of the original debt. If you are serious about turning a profit, there are three ways to handle the collection on past due accounts; in house efforts, hiring a collection agency, or taking legal action.

Collecting the debt yourself: If the debt is relatively fresh or small, you will most likely start by trying to collect the debt yourself before hiring a collection agency or a lawyer. The most effective way to start the process of collecting an outstanding debt is by calling the debtor. Be firm, yet polite when you call. Always keep records of the time, date, and outcome of the phone call. You’ll need this information later when you decide to hire a collection agency or a lawyer.

Many deadbeat customers can talk a great talk on the phone, but then never deliver. If you get the “I have the check right here and will send it in the mail” line from a business customer more than once, tell them you’ll send a courier service or someone from your office over to pick it up. If the business is local, try making an appointment with their finance manager to talk face to face.

Another effective way to motivate customers to make a payment is with a 10 day demand letter. Some debt collection agencies offer a free 10 day demand letter service that includes postage and mailing of a demand letter sent on official debt collection agency letterhead. Many times, this is enough to get your customer to part with their payment.

Hire a Collection Agency: Many small businesses do not initially think of hiring a debt collection agency to collect on past due accounts, but of the outsourced solutions, a debt collection agency is usually the most cost effective and will generate the best results. When you consider the in-house time spent trying to keep on top of delinquent customers, a debt collection agency is often more cost effective than trying to handle it with your own staff.

With a debt collection agency, you won’t pay a dime until they collect the debt, meaning that the debt collection agency is highly motivated to find a way to get the deadbeat to pay. Because they don’t get paid unless you do, a debt collection agency tends to work fast, They tend to “work at odd hours”, and use all of it’s professional resources to locate skipped debtors.

Today’s breed of debt collectors no longer use scare tactics or bully customers. That type of behavior has been outdated since the 70′s. Besides, not all customers who are behind on payments are deadbeats. It’s never wise in business to make enemies and gain a reputation as a brute force knee breaker for any customer who has a tough month. When you choose a debt collection agency, make sure one of its goals is to maintain extreme professionalism.

Taking legal action: Another option to collecting a debt is to take legal action whether by taking the debtor to small claims court or by hiring a lawyer to pursue the debtor. This is by far the most costly of your options.

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What Is A Collection Company Pt. 2

Depending on how the person who owes money reacts to the demand will have a large effect on what additional notices (if any) the collections company will pick from its library. Voluntary resolution (e.g. making payment arrangements and/or partial payments) might result in letters with a gentler tone. Deceptive or belligerent reactions from the debtor might result in a more threatening tone.

Debt collectors attempt to create a sense of urgency, to try and collect the debt within the shortest amount of time. This hopefully will encourage the debtor to prioritize that particular obligation. Deadlines may be set, an example of this is “pay this amount within 10 days”. Also, there may be threats, such as, …Or we will proceed with further collection attempts. But most of the time, if a debtor fails to meet the deadline, all that will happen is that yet another dunning letter will come, making the same basic demand. The & further collection action usually just means more dunning letters.

Collection letters might usually attempt to coax the debtor to call the collection company directly on the phone If the debtor doesn’t call within thirty days, then a collector will usually attempt to contact the debtor again.

What are the phone calls like? Individual telephone collectors might be assigned a group of accounts, and spend their entire workday, every day, calling them. Their rigorous follow up can be attributed to performance evaluations and personal commission payments. The amount of a collector’s own paycheck is dependent upon how much money s/he extracts from debtors. Between that factor, and the relentless confrontations, this is a very high-stress job, with high employee turnover.

If a debt collector calls and reaches someone other than the debtor (e.g. a friend), s/he is legally prohibited from disclosing That this is an attempt to collect a debt. Every state is different but this may or may not include the debtor’s spouse. If the collector reaches an answering machine or voice mail, s/he will often leave a FDCPA approved message, but is prohibited from giving details for the call, since someone besides the debtor might hear it. The basic message goes something like, “I am calling for Jane Doe. It is extremely important that you call me back. My name is JR Rooney, and my number is 1-631-999-9999.” S/he will generally sound rather unemotional and stiff. Debt collection agencies might be required to provide a phone number which is free for the debtor to call. They also may attach their toll free numbers to caller ID equipment which instantly identifies and logs the phone number the debtor is calling from, in order to call the debtor at that number at a later date.

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Cali Collection Company Attempts To Get Healthy And Fit

A debt collection company based in California initiated a ploy to educate and motivate employees to live healthier lifestyles in early January. There are twenty eight employees at the agency; more than half are currently participating in the implementation.

All of the parties that are involved have made a goal to lose ten percent of their total body weight by the end of June. Every Monday morning weigh-ins are scheduled and employees have a chance to win two cash rewards for losing five percent of their body weight by the end of March, and then another five percent by the end of June.

The Agency’s executive stated he had been considering the initiative for quite some time. He deems it perfect for the stereotypical office setting that is fraught with unhealthy eating, and employees taking breaks to get fast food. He made note of the fact that trying to make employees lose weight was more cost efficient than actually getting health insurance for his workers.

In a ploy to get employees to live healthier, the agency has sporadic lunches and “education track meetings” once a week. The meetings are supposed to assist employees target and plan for their weight loss goal. So far the program has been a success. The collection company has collectively lost 72 pounds to date. That’s the size of a small child.

The program works to produce a better all around worker. It follows that a worker that is less stressed will be more efficient and motivated. While a really relaxed debt collector does not seem like they would be the most efficient worker, it all seems like a good idea. As the government tries to sort out the health care system, perhaps it is time that more companies like this take this route. If employees cannot get health insurance, health initiatives and goals at work could be the next best solution.

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Federal Agents Arrest Two In Buffalo For Debt Collection Scam

The U.S. Attorney’s office forwarded a criminal complaint Friday in U.S. District Court charging Timothy E. Arent and Neil G. Wieczkowski, both of Buffalo, N.Y., with mail fraud and conspiracy to commit mail fraud. Arent is also charged with bankruptcy fraud. The charge of mail fraud has a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The bankruptcy and conspiracy fraud charges each carry a maximum penalty of five years in prison and fine of $250,000.

Assistant U.S. Attorney MaryEllen Kresse aforementioned the complaint asserts that, from September 2005 through the present, Arent and Wieczkowski were engaged in a deceptive debt collection scheme in which they intimidated monetary payments from their victims by means of false pretenses, false impersonation and false representations. The complaint states that the victims were individuals who at one time or another owed some type of debt that had gone into collection status.

According to the office, Arent and Wieczkowski crookedly told their victims that the victims had failed to respond to summonses, which would result in their imminent arrest. It is further alleged that Arent and Wieczkowski told the victims that the only way they could avoid apprehension and detention by law enforcement was to make substantial monetary payments, usually in a matter of hours. The complaint also charges that the defendants tried to avoid detection by modifying the names of their businesses up to 18 times, and by using mail drops and “virtual offices.” Deposits into accounts used by the defendants’ businesses during the scheme were more than $8 million.

The complaint also alleges that Arent filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy relief in 2005, and that, during the proceedings, Arent fraudulently withheld information from the Bankruptcy Court. The complaint alleges that Arent failed to disclose to the Bankruptcy Court that he had bought a 4,700 square-foot residence in Buffalo worth $500,000 before the bankruptcy, and that, after filing for bankruptcy, he was actively engaged in debt collection work through two corporate entities. Arent’s debts, as well as two civil judgments that had been filed against him concerning his pre-bankruptcy debt collection practices, were discharged by the bankruptcy court in 2006.

Arent and Wieczkowski appeared before Judge Scott Friday afternoon. Ms. Kresse moved for pretrial detention. Judge Scott granted the motion pending a detention hearing scheduled for October 6, 2009 at 2:00 pm EST.

Mallory Megan works for a collections agency that works with a debt collection lawyer. Also, she does stories on business and finance, consumer spending and collections agencies.