"The Journal of Collections Psychology" Analyze the debt collection schedule

With the state of our current economy, many people have gone into debt and acquired debtors. This creates a different scenario in life that many people before the last year or two have had no experience with. The Journal of Collection Psychology would like to do our part to inform consumers about the debt collection schedule.

The debt collection schedule begins with a creditor. This creditor can be a company with an unpaid invoice for a particular good or service. Thus begins the creditor / debtor relationship. Some companies try their own attempts to raise money for the unpaid obligation, however, some do not and companies that do are often unsuccessful.

Later, many companies send their invoices to collection agencies. Within the next week or two, the collection agency should send debt collection letters. Letters that are sent to verify the debt and that often have a settlement offer. Also, at the same time these letters are being sent, most collection agencies begin to telephone these debtors to try to get the money back from the original creditor. While the job of most collection agencies is not to mediate, collectors often collect information about your debts.

If efforts to reach debtors are unsuccessful or not enough information was provided to the collection agency, jump tracking should be used. Some collection agencies charge extra for these services; however, top-tier collection agencies, like the ones I mentioned above and several others, don’t charge extra for jump tracking efforts.

Now some debtors just ignore the phone calls and ignore the letters. Therefore, this process of sending letters and attempting to contact by phone can take several months. Many collection agencies will continue to collect on your behalf for as long as necessary; however, sometimes standard collection methods will not suffice. Typically the average term at this time is approximately two to three months.

If standard collection efforts fail to show results, more aggressive methods may be necessary. Typically, collection agencies at this point will send debtors to litigation. Most companies do not want their own attorneys to send debtors to civil claims court because this can be a lengthy and lengthy process that can be extremely costly. Generally, litigation begins with the presentation of documents. Filing the paperwork is not quick or cheap, there are usually costs and court fees. The court can take 30 days, 60 days, possibly even longer to process these documents. The debtor must be served by court, which is often not an easy task to notify debtors. Then the court proceedings are carried out, if it is a quick case, it can be done in one day. However, most debtors will involve their attorney or company attorney, then court dates are often delayed and actual trials can take several months.

Many people believe that collecting a debt is as simple as picking up a phone and receiving money; however, since the Journal of Collection Psychology has shown that debt collection in any given or particular case can take a year or more to collect the debt.