Florida Collection Agencies Read Our Debt Collection Book
Collection agencies in Florida continue to refer their commercial collection accounts to our debt collection lawyers. A Florida collection agency can only utilize making collection phone calls and send demand letters for payment. Florida collection agencies are not licensed to practice law in the State of Florida. Once the Florida commercial collection agency has exhausted its efforts in trying to collect past due accounts, if the creditor wishes to pursue litigation, the Florida collection agencies must refer the account to a Florida collection attorney.
Our Florida debt collection law firm has spent lots of time looking into what do you need to do to publish a book and researching the topic of account receivables, and have finally written an EBook that is available to assist our clients manage their account receivables. We discuss the differences between a Florida collection agency and a Florida commercial collection law firm.
Florida collection agencies sometimes hold onto past due debt collection accounts too long
Many times we find that Florida collection agencies hold onto a collection account for an extended period of time when it is apparent that litigation is required to effectuate collection. We believe a collection account should be with a collection agency no more than thirty (30) days before forwarding the account from the commercial collection agency to a collection attorney if there is not a solid repayment plan put into place by the Florida collection agency.
After reading our EBook, we would be happy to discuss implementing an effective debt collection strategy for your company. We would be happy to also partner with any Florida collection agency that may need our assistance after traditional tactics utilized by Florida collection agencies have not convinced the debtor to enter into a repayment plan. There are many avenues that we may be able to pursue in attempting collection of your past do accounts.
Attorney Demand Letter Service Could Save You Money in Collecting Past Due Accounts
Staying on top of your company’s account receivables is a top priority for most small businesses to ensure there is cash flow to keep your business up and running. Being proactive in collecting past due accounts is important. We recommend before using a collection agency or a series of commercial collection agencies that your company establish internal credit and collection procedures. Simply maintaining a dialogue with your customer will give you a good indication if your company is going to be paid, or if ultimately you will need to refer the past due account to a collection agency. Remember collection agencies are not licensed to practice law and must send accounts to collection attorneys if an account has to be litigated.
The Gebeloff Law Group, a Commercial Collection Law Firm, has started a new program where a company can try sending an attorney demand letter seeking payment of past due debt before committing to paying a collection agency a contingent fee. Collection agencies typically charge twenty-five percent (25%) prior to litigation by a collection lawyer and then twenty-five to forty percent ( 25-40%) if the case is referred to a collection attorney.
Collection Agencies Charge Higher Contingent Fees When They Refer Your Case To Debt Collection Law Firm
AttorneyDemandLetters.com was developed to allow companies to attempt to collect their debt for a reasonable flat fee before committing to paying fees that are contingent upon collection. Sometimes a demand letter from a collection attorney is all that is needed before your customer is motivated to pay its past due receivable.
For more information on why using an attorney demand letter program instead of using collection agencies to collect past due accounts, visit our web site to find out more. Using a commercial collection agency has its purpose but, when significant money can be saved, a creditor should feel free to contact us to see how we may be able to help you collect your past due accounts, without having to pay contingent fees to a collection agency.
Keeping on top of your company’s account receivables is vital to maintain cash flow for most small businesses today. The Gebeloff Law Group has created an e-book to help companies devise and implement a debt collection strategy. The title of the book is “ Collecting Account Receivables/ Don’t Let Your Company’s Money Burn.” We are offering a free copy of this book. We welcome you to click the link below to get a copy of the book. We are sure that there will be many useful strategies from setting up a credit application to choosing between a commercial debt collection agency or hiring a collection attorney to collect on past due debt.
Our commercial collection attorneys devise unique strategies to help clients stay on top of their past due accounts. What our debt collection law firm can offer clients is the ability to look beyond the initial demand for payment. Our collection lawyers can pursue alternative theories of liability when pursuing a debt collection account. Our debt recovery firm will look to see if there has been any apparent fraud. If so, we will discuss with our collection clients the possibility of pursuing officers and directors of the debtor company and any successor company that may have been recently established in an apparent attempt to defraud creditors.
We get many referrals from other law firms and collection agencies when they have been able to collect on a past due account. Commercial collection agencies are not licensed to practice law. A collection agency must refer the case to a collection attorney to proceed once the collection agency has exhausted its debt collection efforts.
We invite creditors as well as collection agencies to call us for their debt collection needs. We would be happy to assist any collection agency prior to referring a case to our commercial collection law firm to analyze debtor liability and whether the collection case warrants referral to a collection attorney to litigate.
Pre-litigation demand letters may be an effective way for creditors to save on paying contingent collection fees. The Gebeloff Law Group is about to launch a new division, AttorneyDemandLetters.com. The program will give creditors two options to choose from:
1) A Demand letter would be sent to the debtor urging the debtor to make payment arrangements directly to the creditor. The Demand Letter program is for a flat fee. Gebeloff is looking to save creditors from paying high contingent collection fees to commercial collection agencies when a Demand Letter from a commercial collection attorney may be all that is needed to convince the debtor to pay the creditor.
Collection Demand Letter
2) The second option adds a phone call from our commercial collection law firm. The call would be placed by a commercial collection attorney directly to the debtor. The debt collection letter coupled with a debt collection phone call from a collection lawyer will give the debtor a sense of urgency that they should consider paying the creditor before the possibility of incurring additional legal fees and costs defending a debt collection law suit. The Gebeloff Law Group again would simply charge a flat fee for this debt collection service. If the pre-litigation collection service is not successful, the creditor would then be given the option to pursue the past due collection account in the more traditional manner once the claim is placed in The Gebeloff Law Group’s debt collection litigation cue.
The Gebeloff Law Group has teamed up with ScaleUp Consulting, a Miami based agency to help promote the Attorney Demand Letter program and set up technology so clients as well as potential clients can login and place their accounts for debt collection. The Scale Up Consulting team has been very easy to work with and help our commercial debt collection law firm take their vision and make the vision a reality.
Call the collection attorneys at the Gebeloff Law Group to discuss all your company’s debt collection needs. We are always happy to devise a debt collection strategy that is customized for all our client’s debt recovery needs.
Senior Debt Collector Joins The Gebeloff Law Group
A Commercial Collection Law Firm
The Gebeloff Law Group has added a Senior Debt Collector to its staff. The addition of the debt collector will assist Mr. Gebeloff in securing prelitigation payments from debtors. The philosophy of The Gebeloff Law Group is to provide its clients commercial debt collection services in an effective and cost efficient manner. If voluntary payment is not obtained prior to litigation, the debt collector will help gather valuable information about the debtor, including, but not limited to, the nature of the dispute, assets the debtor may or may not have and/ or if the debtor’s officers may have set up other entities in an effort to defraud creditors.
Collection Attorney Stephen B. Gebeloff
We have discussed in prior blogs the difference between our commercial debt collection law firm and commercial collection agencies. Collection agencies also use debt collectors but, too many times debt collectors are limited in their effectiveness as they are constrained. Collection agencies are not licensed to practice law. A commercial collection agency must eventually send your debt collection case to a collection attorney if the collection agency is unable to collect on your company’s past due account receivable. The collection agency then will charge the creditor a higher contingent collection rate.
Our debt collector will also work on post judgment collections. Too many times after a judgment is obtained, not enough pressure is brought upon a debtor to make payments to satisfy the judgment. Commercial collection agencies cannot bring proceedings supplementary to implead third parties and/or pursue third parties for fraudulent transfers. We are optimistic that the addition of our Senior Debt Collector to our staff will increase the percentage of the recovery of bad debt our clients send to our commercial collection law firm.
Please feel free to call our debt collection law firm and ask to speak to one our experienced debt collection staff. We would be happy to discuss the differences between using a collection agency, collection agencies and/or using a collection attorney with a commercial collection law firm to collect your pre-judgment or post judgment debt.
Collection Agencies Refer Their Debt Collection Files from Their Collection Agency to Our Debt Collection Law Firm
We have been discussing the differences between a debt collection law firm and commercial collection agency in several past articles on our debt collection blog. The first thing that our collection law firm emphasizes to our clients who seek our counsel in how to collect on past due collection accounts is that collection agencies are not licensed to practice law.
Collection agencies are limited in the means and methods available to the collection agency in attempting to recover past due accounts.
A typical collection agency will send out a series of collection letters and then make repeated phone calls. In these tough economic times, that usually is not enough. Most businesses today have very tight cash flow and phone calls and letters from a collection agency may not give the debtor enough incentive to make payments to your company first.
Florida Collection Attorney Gebeloff
When you engage a debt collection law firm instead of utilizing commercial collection agencies, you know put the power of the imminent threat of legal action behind your demand for payment on the past due account. It is true that the cash flow of a business presented to a collection agency when they are attempting to collect a debt will be the same as presented to the debt collection law firm but, once a debtor is served with a summons and complaint from a collection attorney, the timetables for payment change.
Contact Us Now
In our next blog post we will discuss what some of the scenarios your company may expect from a debtor after being served with a debt collection lawsuit. A debt collection lawyer backed by a commercial debt collection law firm can provide several different debt collection strategies for your company to consider. We will make clear why using a commercial debt collection law firm over a commercial collection agency may be the better alternative for your company when implementing a debt collection strategy.
In previous articles, we have been discussing why collection agencies may not be the best alternative when your company is trying to collect an account receivable. A collection agency is not licensed to practice law and cannot give your company legal advice about debt collection in Florida. Many Florida collection agencies retain our Florida debt collection law firm once traditional collection practices employed by a Florida collection agency have been exhausted.
A Florida Collection Agency Cannot Practice Law
There are basic steps every Collection Attorney should undertake when representing a judgment creditor in order to assess the likelihood of recovering from a judgment debtor. In addition, a Florida Attorney undertaking to collect on a Judgment should be versed in the various rights and remedies that are available to Judgment creditors afforded by Florida Law, that when used correctly, may lead to recovery of money towards satisfaction of the Judgment.
Below are steps that a collection attorney should perform when analyzing a collection matter and making an assessment as to the viability of collection:
Speak to the creditor client to determine if the client has any knowledge if the Judgment debtors may be associated with any business entities and officers, directors, partners, members. This information is useful as Florida law permits a charging lien to be issued and served on an entity against a Judgment debtor’s interest in an entity.
Perform their own search of the Florida Department of State Division of Corporations to see if the Judgment debtor is listed as an officer or managing member or partner in any business.
Use public record search programs made available to collection attorneys such as Accurint or Lexisnexis to get a broad profile on the debtor including, but not limited to, addresses the debtor has lived at, corporations the debtor was and/or is an officer, properties that are and/or were owned by the debtor, automobiles that were and/or are owned by the debtor.
Try and ascertain a place of employment
Ask the client about their knowledge of what assets the debtor may own that may satisfy the judgment, including, but not limited to household furnishings, automobiles, jewelry and/or other personal property of value
Ask the client if they have copies of any checks from the debtor or know where the debtor does bank to possibly attempt garnishment.
Ascertain if a Judgment Lien was recorded with the Division of Corporations. If not advise the Client of the effect of filing a Judgment Lien and discuss whether it would be prudent to file a Judgment Lien even if it is decided by the client they do not want to spend any more time or money pursuing collection of the Judgment.
Florida Debt Collection Agency
Florida Collection Agencies Hire Our Collection Law Firm
Once an analysis of the information is obtained from the non-inclusive list above, a discussion with the client should be undertaken explaining possible costs involved, strategies that can be put in place to attempt collection and a reasonable timeline provided as to how post judgment collection proceedings may play out depending on how a debtor may or may not respond to post judgment collection efforts.
Once it is decided that the client wishes to proceed with collection efforts below are several, non-inclusive steps, that an attorney may utilize to attempt collection
Writ of Execution
Writ of Garnishment
Pursuant to Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.560 obtain Post Judgment Discovery in Aid of Execution, including, a Fact Information Sheet directed to the debtor ( Pursuant to Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.977), and/or any other form of discovery including request for documents, interrogatories and/or depositions of the debtor or third parties.
Commence proceedings supplementary pursuant to Florida Statutes Section 56.29
Feel free to contact our Florida debt collection law firm. We will discuss how we differ from Florida collection agencies. A Florida collection agency can only provide limited debt collection services in Florida.
Our collection law firm was recently contacted by a Florida collection agency to assist in attempting collection of a commercial collection case. We have been writing many articles setting forth the difference between Florida commercial collection agencies and Florida collection law firms. A Florida collection agency cannot practice law. The collection case forwarded to our collection lawyer involved fraudulent transfer of funds. A Florida commercial collection agency may have some debt collectors familiar with the Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act but, cannot legally file a lawsuit. Florida collection agencies must send their cases that need to be litigated to a Florida collection attorney.
Florida Collection Attorney Gebeloff
We accept many cases from Florida commercial collection agencies simply because traditional collection methods have not procured payment. Many commercial credit managers are realizing that it makes sense to consider simply forwarding their past due account receivables to a debt collection law firm rather than a Florida commercial collection agency. Notwithstanding not having to pay a higher contingent collection rate to Florida commercial collection agencies, the credit managers realize the limitations of a Florida collection agency.
If you call our Florida debt collection law firm one of our collection lawyers will discuss your debt collection matter with you. There are some instances in which forwarding your case to a Florida commercial collection may make sense. When you have a high volume of small balance claims for collection a Florida debt collection agency may be a good alternative.
Contact Us Now
If litigation is required a Florida collection agency will not be able to litigate the case. The case would have to be sent to a Florida debt collection lawyer. We support Florida commercial collection agencies but, savvy commercial credit managers already know that it more cost effective to send the case directly to a Florida debt collection law firm. It should also be considered that if litigation is required, if you forward a case to Florida collection agencies first, there will be a delay in that once the Florida collection agency determines it cannot collect it must then send the debt collection case to a Florida collection attorney.
Using a Florida Collection Agency or Florida Collection Agencies
Florida collection agencies continue to collect debt in Florida. A collection agency in Florida needs to register with the State of Florida to have a collection agency license. A Florida collection agency may be a good fit for company that has a high volume of low balance claims for collection that are too small to justify filing a debt collection law suit. Florida collection agencies typically send our collection letters and then use debt collectors to make debt collection phone calls from their Florida collection agency office.
Even though a Florida collection agency may hold a license to collect debt in Florida, there really is no oversight over the Florida collection agencies over what tactics they may employ or how effective they may be at collecting debt in Florida. More credit managers are recognizing that they no longer need to place their debt collection claims with Florida collection agencies. A Florida debt collection law firm offers the same services as a Florida collection agency. However, what is important to recognize is that Florida collection agencies do not hold a license to practice law.
Florida Debt Collection Agency
If a Florida collection agency want to suggest that a collection case needs to go to an attorney, the Florida collection agencies have to outsource the collection matter to a Florida collection attorney. The end result is the Florida collection agency has to charge you a higher contingent fee as the Florida collection agencies now have to act as a middle man and will charge a premium on top of what the Florida collection law firm charges.
Our Florida collection lawyers will be happy to discuss the difference between Florida collection agencies and Florida collection law firms. In some instances utilizing a Florida collection agency may be a good option. However, in most cases using a Florida debt collection law firm will prove to get better results as the debtor recognizes that using a Florida collection law firm over a Florida collection agency means that your company intends to use the Florida courts to help your company recover its money.
Our Florida collection attorneys will assist your company collect past due commercial accounts
Florida collection agencies have been collecting commercial debt in Florida for many years. When your company choices to engage a Florida collection agency it has become apparent that your customer who is located in Florida has stopped paying invoices in a timely fashion. Florida collection agencies typically hire debt collectors to make collection calls from their Florida collection agency. Florida collection agencies then will send a series of collection letters to the debtor located in Florida.
Florida Collection Attorney Gebeloff
Our Florida commercial debt collection law firm has been receiving debt collection cases from Florida commercial collection agencies when the Florida collection agency has been unsuccessful in collecting on the past due date. In that instance the Florida commercial collection agencies are obliged to increase the contingent collection rate that they charge so that they may then forward the debt collection matter to our Florida commercial debt collection law firm for further handling. Florida collection agencies are not licensed to practice law.
Our Florida commercial collection law firm just like a Florida collection agency will send our collection letters and place collection calls. The huge difference is the customer is now receiving a collection letter from a Florida collection attorney. Collection phone calls are made by a Florida debt collection law firm. There is a greater sense of urgency for your customer to make payment to your company when demand for payment is coming from a Commercial Collection firm rather than a Florida collection agency. Lastly, there is no middleman. Our firm will charge a flat contingent fee on collection. Again Florida collection agencies raise your company’s contingent collection rate upon collection when they forward the claim to a debt collection lawyer.
Please contact our Florida debt collection law firm and speak to one of our debt collection professionals. We would be happy to discuss a debt collection strategy that is best suited to help your company recover money that is justly owed.
