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Citation Details
Title: Choosing a professional collection agency.
Author: Michael Barrist
Publication: Association Management (Magazine/Journal)
Date: December 1, 2003
Publisher: American Society of Association Executives
Volume: 55 Issue: 13 Page: S18(2)

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Choosing a professional collection agency.: An article from: Association Management

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BUFFALO, NY - New York Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo today announced his office has sued a Western New York lawyer who sold debt collectors the use of his name, which the debt collectors then used to intimidate consumers by threatening bogus legal action. The action is the latest in Attorney General Cuomo’s ongoing probe into unlawful debt collection practices.

Cuomo’s office sued Williamsville-based attorney John P. Nicolia after an investigation determined that he collected $141,000 in fees in return for allowing debt collectors to threaten consumers across the country by using his name and his law firm’s name. In reality, Nicolia never provided any actual legal services for the debt collection company, Eastern Asset Management.

“The lawsuit alleges that this attorney knowingly allowed a debt collection firm to use his name to threaten, intimidate, and harass consumers, while he sat back and profited without having to do any actual work,” said Attorney General Cuomo. “Our investigation into illegal debt collection practices has uncovered layer upon layer of abusive acts, and we will continue to root out the bad players in this industry.”

An investigation by Attorney General Cuomo’s Office determined that Nicolia, despite being paid $69,000 in 2008 and $72,000 in 2009, has no records to show that he provided any legal services to the debt collection companies. However, the collectors employed his name repeatedly - with Nicolia’s knowledge - in attempts to collect debts:

• Collectors who called the consumers to collect on the debts claimed that they were calling from, or working with, “the Law Office of John Nicolia.”
• Collectors sent standardized “settlement” letters citing non-existent judgments to consumers believed to owe debts, claiming “…our legal counsel, John Nicolia, Esq. may review the status of your particular case at anytime.”

The debt collection company, after invoking Nicolia’s name, often falsely stated that the consumers:

• Had lawsuits filed against them
• Would have their driver’s licenses suspended
• Would be charged with a crime
• Would be imprisoned or lose their property if they didn’t pay

Attorney General Cuomo’s lawsuit seeks a court order barring Nicolia from allowing debt collection companies to use his name, as well as imposing significant civil penalties against Nicolia for the violations.

The federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and the New York State debt collection and consumer protection laws prohibit the following conduct: posing as an attorney, threatening lawsuits or other legal action which cannot be taken, saying a consumer committed a crime or will be arrested, and talking with third parties except to get location information. The law further requires collection agencies to send a written notice within five days of initial communication with the consumer explaining how he or she can dispute the debt. If properly disputed, the collection agency must stop all collection attempts and send verification.

Since commencing the statewide initiative in May 2009, Cuomo has shut down 14 debt collection and affiliated process serving companies and required others to reform their deceptive practices. His office has also garnered criminal convictions against 10 collectors who engaged in especially egregious and threatening actions against consumers. The investigation is ongoing and lawsuits against several other collection companies are pending.

Cuomo urges consumers to visit www.NYDebtHelp.com to learn their rights. The site allows victims of debt collection and debt settlement companies quick access to the Attorney General’s office to file complaints, and outlines the stages of the Attorney General’s investigation.

The matters are being handled by Assistant Attorney General James Morrissey under the supervision of Deputy Attorney General for Regional Affairs J. David Sampson and Special Deputy Chief of Staff Mitra Hormozi.

View full post on Collection News

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There are a lot of different ways to digest insideARM content. If you’re a subscriber, you are most likely reading this story via the daily ARM Insider email newsletter. But did you know that you can access insideARM content in a few other ways? Check out our Social page and you can choose new ways to keep up with our news and blogs. You can also connect, befriend and follow the insideARM personalities of your choice.

To make sure you’re getting the most out of insideARM, I’ve prepared this walkthrough of how to get started with social feeds. For some of you, this may be very basic. For others, it’s a good way to learn about why social media is playing a bigger role online and how to quickly get started. Plus, you’ll know what a “tweet” is.

Note that you can quickly add our social feeds to your accounts by going to the Social page. This page will let you add insideARM via RSS, Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin.  You can use it as a main “hub” to choose which insideARM personalities you wish to follow.

The methods I’ll be covering in this post include:

1.    RSS
2.    Google Alerts
3.    Twitter
4.    Facebook
5.    Linkedin

1. RSS

SET-UP TIME: SHORT // DIFFICULTY:  EASY

RSS stands for “Real Simple Syndication.” It’s a way for sites to deliver content to users without requiring them to navigate to the site.  As a user, you can also receive notifications of new content. The most popular RSS reader is Google Reader. To add a site to your reader, you may see the RSS symbol on a site:

Clicking on it will usually allow you to “subscribe” to the feed via a reader (such as Google Reader), as illustrated below.

After you’ve subscribed, you can get notified whenever new content is delivered to your feed via Google Reader.

Adding insideARM to your Google Reader subscriptions

1. Go to http://www.insidearm.com/go/social
2. Select Google as your subscription method
3. Select Add to Google Reader or Google Home Page
4. Now you can go to http://www.google.com/reader and see all new articles

How to use it?
If you set up the RSS feed as instructed, you’ll be able to see a list of insideARM stories in your Google Reader. This will allow you to quickly scan the day’s stories and share them with others.

2. Google Alerts

SET-UP TIME: VERY SHORT // DIFFICULTY: VERY EASY

Google Alerts will allow you to receive an automatic notification whenever content has been published on a particular topic. This is a simpler way to get notified of new content from insideARM bloggers, and is probably better for the average user.

Signing up with Google Alerts

• Go to http://www.google.com/alerts
• Fill out the form as follows.

• Enter your email address and click on Create Alert.
• You will now receive email alerts whenever insideARM.com content is updated.

How to use it?
Did you follow the instructions? Great! You don’t have to do anything else – now you’ll automatically get email updates that tell you when insideARM has updated content. If you don’t want to receive them, check the email for a “Remove Alert” link.

3. Twitter

SET-UP TIME: MODERATE // DIFFICULTY: MODERATE

Twitter is a relatively new “microblogging” service that allows for real time posts to be distributed to a wide audience. Due to its 140 character limit on posts, Twitter is perfect for sharing that you’re stuck in traffic or at the ball game, but not for posting an entire story. What you’ll typically see sites do is post a promotional link (a shortened version) to their content.

The big draw of Twitter is being able to send and receive updates via SMS text messaging.  This can be a very easy way to receive quick updates from insideARM to your mobile phone, so here’s what you’ll have to do get started on Twitter.

1. Go to http://www.insidearm.com/go/social and click on the Twitter feed you wish to follow
2. When you arrive on Twitter, you will click on the “Give it a try” button
3. Fill out the form as directed
4. You may connect your Twitter account to your mobile phone at this point – you’ll need to reply to a text message as instructed if you wish to do this.

Once your account is created, you should see your personal profile page. Add the personalities you want to follow and you’ll be tweeting in no time.

Remember, you can always use the Social page as a hub for choosing which insideARM personalities you wish to follow on Twitter. You can also view their Twitter feed directly on insideARM. Give it a try – check out Michael Klozotsky’s social page. You’ll be able to read his Twitter while on insideARM, or go to his Twitter profile for more.

How to use it?
Twitter has a lot of options, so it’s really up to you how you want to use it.  I will say that if your mobile plan allows for unlimited texting, connecting your phone is a great idea. This way you’ll be able to get text updates whenever someone you’re following (like insideARM) makes a post. If text updates are not an option for you, you can always use your web browser to check Twitter.com.

4. Facebook

SET-UP TIME: MODERATE // DIFFICULTY: VERY EASY

Facebook is the de facto leader in social media. Chances are, you probably are already on Facebook. If that’s the case, go to the Social page and click on the Facebook button to connect with us. If you’re not already a Facebook user, you can quickly sign up here:  http://www.facebook.com/insideARM

The signup process is fairly typical – just some fields to fill out. Once you’re done, you’ll be connected with insideARM and can view our content from your Facebook feed. There isn’t much else to configure in terms of how you see the content, unless you want to remove it.

How to use it?
Whenever you log in to check your Facebook feed and see what your friends are up to, you can now see insideARM content as it’s posted. Just another easy way to get the stories you want without any hassle.

5. Linkedin

SET-UP TIME: MODERATE // DIFFICULTY: VERY EASY

Linkedin is a professional networking site. insideARM hosts a Credit & Collections Executive Peer Group with over 1,400 members. Linkedin’s signup process is simple and you should be up and running in no time. Once you’ve registered, make sure to apply to join the group to connect with over 1,400 of your industry peers.

Remember to go to the Social page in order to add specific insideARM personalities to your Linkedin contacts list.

How to use it?
Use Linkedin to keep in touch with your professional contacts and colleagues. It’s great for sharing ideas or asking questions of your peers, especially in professional groups like insideARM’s Credit & Collections Group. You can also get insideARM news delivered directly to your Linkedin account feed, which helps save you time.

In closing

So there you have it – you now can access insideARM in more ways than ever before. If you’ve been thinking about creating an account on any of these sites, I hope this post has helped ease any fears about difficult signup processes or user interfaces. If you have any specific questions, feel free to post comments here and I’ll do my best to help answer them.

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Collecting money is harder than it looks. It takes more than a couple of ledgers, calculators and assistants to get this kind of task over and done with. This is especially the case if you have a running business which also calls for a significant amount of your attention. If ever you find collecting too much work - then you better turn to the services of commercial collection agencies. They are your helping hands when it comes to efficient monetary transactions in a blink of an eye.

Through them you will be able to achieve monetary gain without any hassles or stress. To get closer to your goal's accomplishment, you just have to pick the right commercial collections agency. These are companies which have made a name by properly, ethically and efficiently collecting other people's money. Of course, it will also be helpful if you get to know their track record when it comes to delivering collected money to clients. Once you properly assess all these, you will be able to pick a pro worthy of trust in no time.

Once you have a trusty collector by your side, it's time for you to lay down the cards. Just give them orderly lists of all your collectibles. After that, they will decisively and systematically recover all debts in no time. This will spare you from irresponsible customers who forget their end of the deal after you've delivered goods and services. They will bear the burden of dealing with swindlers and scoundrels while you sit pretty in your offices, just thinking of ways to expand your business.

Commercial collections agencies will also bring you much relief when it comes to legal battles and all those kinds of concerns. As your collection representatives, they will monitor payment performances by your customers and debtors. As such, you won't have to spend as much effort recovering payment - moreover suing people who do not deliver.

What makes these services handy is the no collection equals no payment policies most agencies offer. This equal status relationship places you and the collector on equal ground when it comes to the fulfillment of your goals. When they fail collecting the sums you asked them to, they won't pay you. As such, you are never in any risk of being ripped off. Never will you have to shell a single penny, unless it came from the collections they deliver straight to your doorstep.

Now that you know all these and more, the decision should be clear. All you've got to do is exercise it. Make sure that you go straight to a reliable collections agency which can give you all these and more - if ever you are having trouble with your collections. You can never go wrong once you take note of all the things you just read. Remember, this is a no risk, no payment deal. All that it can do is lead you and your business to financial growth.

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Finally, a book of letters and forms specific to Collection Agencies! When you buy The First Book of Effective Collection Agency LETTERS & FORMS, you will have the tools you need to create and use debt collection letters effectively for your agency. Included in this book are collection agency letters and forms that you can use as is or modify to suit your needs, information on letter compliance for collection agencies, samples of forms, information on FDCPA and more. 

This book was created as a companion to How to Make Money Collecting Money, Starting a Collection Agency 

I have had so many people ask me where they can find such letters and forms that I had to provide you with this information. There are many books written with letters, forms and contracts but they are for creditors and do not focus on Collection Agencies. I created this book so you could have some examples of letters agencies successfully use. This books is a guide for you to create or modify your debt collection letters to be more effective and help you collect more money. This book was not written or designed to provide legal advice, but as a guide to help you collect more money using letters and forms.

My advice to you is to create your debt collection letters using this book as a guide and then have them reviewed by a collection attorney. Only then would I incorporate them into your debt collection efforts.

Some exciting information included in this book:

How to use Debt Collection Letters Effectively
Letter Compliance for Collection Agencies
Collection Agency Letters
Investigation Letters
Easy Credit Forms
FDCPA
Mini-Miranda 
and more!

Order your copy today of this great e-book and start collecting more money today!

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This package contains New York Times bestseller, Zero Debt: The Ultimate Guide to Financial Freedom and How to Deal with Collection Agencies, a 1 hour audio CD based on Lynnette's financial boot camp. About the CD: For anyone in debt, one of the most gut-wrenching parts of the whole ordeal is dealing with collection agents. They re often rude, obnoxious and totally uncaring. Some even break the law, harassing people at all hours of the day and night, and calling your friends, relatives and even your boss in an attempt to embarrass you into paying your debts. Thankfully, you don t have to be at the mercy of an unfeeling debt collector. In fact, you have many rights under the law to protect you from abusive collection agencies. But you have to know what those rights are and how to assert them. Moreover, in order to reduce your debt and improve your credit rating, you must learn how to get collection agents to give you what you want not just the other way around. In this session you ll learn: * What to say and what not to reveal to collection agents that call you * How to write a cease and desist letter that stops collection agents in their tracks * How the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act protects you from collection harassment * When your debts are no longer collectible, under your state s statute of limitations * The power of having a debt-verification letter * The dangers of sending post-dated checks to bill collectors * How to dispute debts that are inaccurate, incomplete, or not yours * How to properly negotiate debt settlements * How to make sure your credit isn t ruined by bill collectors * When to consider bankruptcy ... and MORE!

Zero Debt: The Ultimate Guide to Financial Freedeom (Includes "How to Deal with Collection Agencies" Audio CD)

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Collection agencies have become more of a nuisance than the damn IRS, a carpet bagger, and those damn telemarketing calls you get at dinner time combined.

* I was sick and tired of the harassing phone calls at home & work, threaten letters in the mail frequently.

* Getting turned down for credit to get a stinking gas card.

* Eating off the value menu at fast food restaurants with loose change from the couch.

* I even had to sell my paid off SUV to cover some fucking medical bills!

* Pawning my tv, ipod, jewelry, computer, and my damn car every once in a while to pay my rent! All my valuables I worked so hard to get.

* Shopping at the consignment stores with coupons from the news paper for clothes for my family.

* My beautiful wife was forced to take a job at Walmart just to get some extra cash for gas money and a little discount to buy much needed household items.

Even had to take money out of my shitty IRA to pay a stupid tax bill.

The stress for money was so overwhelming I had to sell my mothers funeral plot to cover an unexpected family members jail bond.

* Family life at home began suffering me and wife was always arguing over money. couldn't even afford to take her out on our anniversary...

* To make matters even more worse I had just started a small business and I was in desperate need of start up money, and I knew if I filed bankruptcy my dream of being a small business owner would have been over if I filed....

The last day I was able to deal with this bullshit is when a collection agent called me at work after dealing with the king of all asshole customers! I snapped in front of my boss, and several customers. My face turned blood red and I ripped the damn phone from the wall, and pushed my boss to the floor.

I was suspended without pay and immediately sent home. I sat in my car in the drive way upset thinking how in the hell I was going to tell my wife I may lose my job! I was so damn mad I wanted to drive to that damn collection agents office and blow off some steam!

while sitting in the car I decided to take action since I couldn’t march into the collection agency’s office, and beat those arrogant cock suckers to a pulp I would beat them at their own game. Since I had free time being suspended I did a massive amount of research, and I got my family to help too.

In this how to guide I will teach you how to kick their ass, and get out of debt with medical bills, and other debts they have against you without filing bankruptcy!

I show you how I was able to even remove judgments I had on public records.
Get free and discount health care.

The correct way of writing a dispute letter to the credit reporting agencies. So you wont get those stupid letters back they send.

How to never receive a damn bill from the hospitals.

While I was doing all this tedious research I stumbled upon a way of making $300 a day on the internet. I am giving you that free along with several other surprise gifts!

* Dont let these rich bastards put you in the poor house.

Buy the ebook now before its too late!

kick the collection agencies ass, and beat them at their own game.

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How to make money collecting money, Starting a Collection Agency Michelle Dunn, Never Dunn Publishing, LLC, $29.

Starting a business is a daunting task, and starting a debt collection business is even harder. Between licensing, bonding, Fair Debt Collection Practices and so many more qualifications a debt collector starting his or her own agency must face, where do they begin? In her instructional guidebook, How to make money collecting money, Starting a Collection Agency, debt collection expert Michelle Dunn explains the critical steps to take when starting your own agency.

Dunn begins by helping Entrepreneurs gather all the information they need to start their own collection agency. She then goes on to explain how she started, set up and ran her own successful collection agency for over 8 years. This book acts as a guidebook to anyone on how to get your business up and running, she says, and if you follow the steps outlined you will have your own successful agency.

Dunn’s easy to read format takes the "scare" out of everything that is required when starting a collection agency. With chapters such as What is a collection agency, Should I start my own agency, and explanations of the business plan, legal requirements, state licensing information and helpful tips, Dunn successfully answers questions anyone might have when starting their own agency.

In How to make money collecting money, Starting a collection Agency, readers learn how to find clients, whom to contact to obtain a collection agency license in your state, information on business plans, marketing, The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, and many other things you will want to be aware of when starting your agency.

Sharing her knowledge and experience from starting and running her own agency, Dunn teaches readers how to get a successful agency up and running. With the tips and information provided in this book, Entrepreneurs can confidently start their own debt collection business. Armed with the knowledge of who to contact, what associations to join and how the debt collection industry works, they will be able to be the owner of a collection agency with resounding success.

Michelle Dunn, founder and president of Never Dunn Publishing, LLC, is a writer, publisher, consultant and the Editorial Advisor for Eli Financial Debt Collection Compliance Alert Newsletter. Michelle started M.A.D. Collection Agency in January 1998 and ran it successfully until December 2004, when she sold it. She still owns and runs Credit & Collections.com an online community for credit and business professionals. She has been featured in Ladies Home Journal, PC World, Home Business Magazine, Home Business Journal, Entrepreneur, The Internet Web Source, Professional Collector, and in Home Based Business for Dummies, Shameless Marketing for Brazen Hussies, From the Home-Front The Simple guide to starting and Running a Home based business, on (NPR) National Public Radio and many newspapers nationwide. She has many published articles and 3 published books to add to her list of accomplishments. She is now publishing two more titles in her Collecting Money Series as well! as a boxed set.

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In a letter addressing 176 collection agencies in Ontario the Registrar of Collection Agencies appears to be making a change in the way Collection Agencies in Ontario can do business.

In the past collection agencies in Ontario and their lawyers have been successful at collecting money from debtors with “draft” statement of claims.  This tactic was effective because it is inexpensive and scary to most people that don’t know any better.  

A statement of claim is a court document you must complete and register with the court to start a legal proceeding against someone.

Usually the drafted claim is accompanied by a letter typed on a lawyer’s letterhead and signed by the lawyer.  The covering letter will often suggest that the debtor has 10 days to pay their debt by certified funds otherwise a Sheriff may serve the claim upon them.  The consequences of a judgement are usually spelled out and it often includes wages being garnished, bank accounts seized and your other property being seized or sold.

“Draft” statement of claims are frightening to people in debt because they look like an official court document suggesting the debtor is about to be sued; but in reality they aren’t worth the paper they are written on because they aren’t registered with the court and in draft form only.  It’s basically an empty threat.

At Total Debt Freedom we negotiate a reduction in our client’s debt by 40-70% so we often deal with collection agencies and their attorneys when settling a debt.  Draft statement of claims have been a huge concern for many of our clients and we have seen every possible version used.  In our experience, only a very small portion of statement of claims sent to debtors are ever actually registered with a court, the majority are in draft form only.

Brian Pitkin, the registrar of the Collection Agencies Act in Ontario states “the practice trades on the expectation that debtors will be unknowledgeable about court processes, and interpret the “draft” statement of claim as a greater commitment to pursuing the matter in court then actually exists; it relies on the debtors not recognizing that the document enclosed with the demand letter is little more than a boiler plate with little investment in time and thought”.

Pitkin finds this collection tactic objectionable and stated that “the practice of enclosing a draft statement of claim is both deceitful and misleading”

This issue is clearly on his radar screen and he warns that further complaints on the matter could result in an order to the collection agency to stop under subsection 2 of section 21 of the Collection Agencies Act by the Registrar himself.

Will the practice of draft statement of claims stop?  Maybe; collection agencies are crafty and may find a way to continue using a modified version of these effective collection tactics.

Dealing with collection agencies can be quite stressful if you are unfamiliar with their collection tactics.  If you are using a debt help company be sure they are competent enough to differentiate misleading and deceptive collection tactics from the real threats.    

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