The Collections Run Around
Have you ever paid off a bill to a creditor, or to a collections agency, only to have two or three or for or more collections agencies call you demanding payment for the same bill? Even worse, have you ever truthfully insisted that you already paid the bill, but you never saved the canceled checks, or proof of payment?
When you owe money to a creditor or business, and you send in the money just before the last deadline date, it’s often too late. It can take the business up to ten days to record your payment, and by then your account has been referred out to a collections agency. That’s where your problems begin. The original creditor quite often, fails to notify the collections agency of the payment, and when you contact the original creditor, they will tell you it is now out of their hands, and that you must talk to the collections agency. The collections agency will tell you that they will contact the original creditor for verification, but they don’t really bother.
If the first collections company can’t collect on a bill you have already paid, it will eventually get sent to a second agency, and the paid bill just keeps moving further down the line. Now, because of the failure of the original creditor to do their job responsibly and collections agencies that won’t lift the phone or fax to help you because there is no money involved, your credit is slipping further down the credit score hill to the mud puddle at the bottom.
I can’t emphasize enough how important it is for you to keep copies of all of your payments, for several years. This includes all of your money order receipts and bank checks. You should also demand a letter from the original creditor, or collections agency showing that the account has been paid off and is now closed.
Don’t trust the creditor or collections agency to notify the credit bureaus that you have paid off the account. Contact the credit agencies yourself, and send them each a copy of the letter. At www.directcomplaint.com you can do this for free by going to our free services link to each of the credit bureaus.
If a collections agency takes you to court over the payment that you have made, and you have proof, let them. This might give you grounds to sue them for damages later.
If you are not the assertive type, or if you just need help, visit www.directcomplaint.com or call 877-969-3463 for assistance.
How Bill Collectors Get Paid
In most collections companies, the collectors are paid in several different ways. The collector usually receives a base salary, between $9.00 and $20 dollars per hour. Then the collector usually receives a commission of one to three percent of all or part of the money they bring in on a monthly basis. Some companies will even offer their employees a bonus if the collector reaches a pre-set goal, or the entire office reaches their minimum monthly quota set by management.
Most collectors, are required to make at least 125 to as many as 200 calls out a day. Most collection agencies now use an automated dialer system that calls the debtor, and brings up the file on the computer screen. Usually, before the “debtor” is sent a letter or called, the collection agency has already pulled the credit report, employment history, and validated the most up to date address and phone numbers available via their national data bases, and industry designed search engines. The pre verification process, or “skip tracing” is designed to give the collector all the information available about you before they make that first call to your home or place of work.
Some collections agencies only service accounts in their own state, and have their own in-house legal department for the cases that end up going to court. Interstate collections agencies often retain attorneys licensed in each state where collections are taking place. Unfortunately, many of the attorneys who work for, or represent collections agencies show up in court with very little or in-accurate information provided to them from the collections agency. Often, the attorney doesn’t even have the authorization to offer you a settlement or workable payment plan. It’s really a big game, the attorneys get paid from $20 to $50 for each case called before the court, but they usually can’t even help resolve the collection complaint. This is more a tactic designed to scare the debtor because they are in a legal environment surrounded by people in suits. Most debtors stand a better chance of getting a settlement or low payment plan if they go before the judge or magistrate, so don’t be scared.
There are generally two types of collectors, and two types of collections agencies. There are agencies and collectors who believe in aggressively attacking and verbally abusing the debtors into a state of fear in order to get the money as quickly as possible. If you are ever faced with a collector like this, report them and their company to your states Attorney Generals office, or to the Federal Trade Commission. If you can, record the conversations. Most agencies are however beginning to use a more gentle kinder softer approach to get you to agree to pay off your “bad debt”. This is partly because states and the federal government are both clamping down on agencies who conduct bad practices and because collections agencies are finely realizing that being nice and more understanding actually does pay off.
No one wants to ever get a call or letter from a collections agency, but it will inevitably happen to most of us at least once. Collections agencies are slowly realizing that just like any other call center or internet based form of business, friendly responsible reliable customer service is what brings in the big bucks.
As a consumer, even faced with a collections company sending you nasty letters, or making friendly courtesy calls to your home or work, you do have options, and the power is still in your hands. Use it.
For more information, www.directcomplaint.com or call 877-969-3463, or e-mail us at support@directcomplaint.com
Rising Airline Baggage Fees.
I don’t know about the rest of you out there, but I am sick and tired of airlines continuously finding ways to increase the cost of flying by adding on to user fees, or finding ways to come up with new ones.
It was only a few short years ago that checking in bags was a service, and free. Now, most airlines charge at least $25.00 to check a bag, and even more for international flights. Instead of giving us a discount for checking more then one bag, the charge us even more for a second or third bag. The airlines have decided that this is just one more way they can increase their profits, just like the sir charges for fuel increases.
As for the fuel sir charges, the airlines added them when prices were hovering around $4.00 a gallon, and now that fuel is about $3.00 a gallon, they are raising the fuel sir charges again. I don’t understand the logic.
The silent giant in all of this baggage stuff is the federal government, and the TSA. Since more people have been carrying on bags to avoid the baggage sir charges, the security lines have gotten much longer. It takes more time for the screeners to check all of those big heavy stuffed role on bags then ever before.
The TSA might find it time and cost effective to subsidize the baggage sir charges charged by the airlines. This would also eliminate much of the confusion about what can, and can not be taken on the plane.
Travelers would be able to put questionable items into their checked bags, and not have to give up the perfume, toothpaste, or baby bottles.
Taxes, and sir charges, when does it all stop?
In Store Credit Cards
It sounds inviting, advertisements that offer you free interest for six, twelve, or eighteen months on purchases over x amount of dollars. It sounds good, but here’s what you may not know.
The devil is in the details, and it’s easy to get burnt. It’s true, you will pay zero percent for x amount of time, but if you don’t pay off the entire purchase in that amount of time, then, once the zero interest period expires, you will be charged the full amount of interest from the day of your purchase. Stores are counting on you to pay only the minimum amount due on your monthly statement. The minimum is not based on the zero percent agreement, but it is based on the maximum life of the charge. This is usually calculated at three percent of the out standing balance. At that rate you would be making payments for several years, and instead of the savings you thought you were getting, it can cost you two or three times the purchase amount in the end.
Not only will you end up paying the interest back to your purchase date, the interest rate you pay will most probably be quite high. As high as twenty nine percent. Store charge cards are almost always higher then rates found and offered by nationally recognized major credit cards.
Now that you know the facts, shop smarter, and have fun.
Share your in store credit card stories with us, we would love to see them.
