Even though debt collection is one of the oldest industries in the world (it’s true, think about it) there remains an element of mystery as to what we can actually do to get your money. Many people think we have a magic wand that we wave and money appears, but unfortunately it just doesn’t work that way and the outcome often depends entirely on how collectable the debt is and whether there is any dispute that the money is owed. To satisfy your curiosity, we:
Can:
-Contact your customers on your behalf by phone, email, letter, SMS and in person asking them to pay your debt.
-Have your customer pay the money to us, provided we have a trust account which has been approved for us and is audited once per year by an independent auditor.
-Serve court summons’, subpoenas, bankruptcy notices, garnishees however the agent serving them must be a Licensed Commercial Agent.
-Call and speak with family, friends, work colleagues etc, in an attempt to speak with your customer, however we cannot disclose anything and must always say it is a “personal business matter”. A third party however is not obliged to help us and if they ask us not to contact them again, we must abide by this.
Can’t:
-Force your customer to pay. There literally is only so much we can do and expecting miracles is a surefire way to be disappointed.
-Contact your customer more than 3 times per week. The ACCC rules are very strict on this and a contact is an SMS, email, phone call, voicemail, PM on Facebook. Back and forth contact between us and your customer doesn’t count however.
-Swear, threaten, belittle, patronise, disclose sensitive information to someone else. Whilst this is common sense, there are many cowboy debt collectors out there that still do this.
-List a black mark against your customer. The debt is your money, not ours and as we aren’t a credit provider, we cannot access your customer’s credit file.
-Sue your customer. Again, it isn’t our money, so we cannot sue them. Only you can, however we can perform the process on your behalf.