Firms in the U.S. are losing billions of dollars annually due to non-debt payments, unpaid invoices, and debtors who simply stop responding. Federal Reserve records that once a debt lapses 90 days without repayment, the chances of the debtor repaying are very slim, and the chances of the debtor repaying it again are even less, statistically speaking. This simply underscores the importance of an effective debt collection strategy.
The right choice of hiring an attorney affects recovery rates, adherence levels, bargaining power, and long-term outcomes.
Key considerations include before considering getting a lawyer:
Knowledge of these factors can help decide which collection agency is best suited. Law Offices of Paul A. Humbert, P.L., is your best bet to recover old debt.
Who is a Debt Collection Attorney?Contrary to a collection agency, a debt collection attorney has the capacity to take a case and go through the legal process to offer full representation to the creditor. This is important in situations where a creditor requires more legal power.
A debt collector attorney can:
The Law Offices of Paul A. Humbert, P.L provides creditors with various legal services such as enforcement of judgment, commercial debt collection, collection defense, demand letters, and asset recovery plans.
The lawyers come in particularly handy when the debt is significant, complicated, contentious, or requires legal means that collection agencies are just not able to provide.
A debt collector, usually part of a third-party collection agency, is hired by a creditor to pursue payment on overdue accounts. Their fundamental role is communication. They send reminder letters, call the debtor, negotiate with him, and attempt to settle the debt.
The federal law that regulates how a debt collector may contact a debtor to avoid harassment or deceptive behavior is the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), which governs collection agencies. They also comply, but this is also a limitation on authority.
Collection agencies are able to promote payment, but they lack the authority to enforce lawsuits, get judgments, garnish income, and seek property. The situation is that, due to limited tools, agencies can be helpful to many creditors when dealing with small, recent, or simple delinquencies.
But when the debtor challenges the debt, ceases to respond, emigrates, or has a history of evading payment, the collection agency’s efforts tend to come to a halt.
The difference between a collection agency and an attorney is reduced to power and process. Collection agencies rely on persuasion, whereas attorneys can resort to legal action.
Agencies tend to be cheaper and quicker in the short term. However, their outcomes primarily rely on the cooperation of the debtors. Even if a debtor ignores them, the agency cannot make them more serious without a lawyer anyway.
Conversely, attorneys are more procedural with more power. They are able to deal with litigation, discovery, searches of assets, judgments, as well as garnishments, among others. Attorney intervention yields better, long-term results when there are high, old, or disputable debts for the creditors.
In situations where a considerable sum of money is owed or where the debtor is hard to find, hard to reach or hard to deal with, an attorney is usually the sole means of recovery of a justifiable amount.
A debt collection lawyer should be used when persuasion fails. The legal route becomes stronger if the debtor does not respond to attempts to reach them or has reason to believe litigation is likely.
Debtors with high-value account credits, commercial debt, existing judgments, and assets are easy targets for debt collection attorneys; creditors usually achieve more by enforcing the law promptly than at a later stage. An attorney is able to discover assets, to force a response using discovery, and to recover funds using remedies that are ordered by the court.
Move-out-of-state debtors also need the attorney’s representation, particularly to domesticate judgments or to commence interstate collection processes.
The attorneys are also necessary in cases in which the debtor indicates the creditor’s misconduct, claims that he has been violated by the FDCPA, or otherwise becomes adversarial. Legal advice protects the creditor’s interests and prevents errors.
It is not always easy to decide on the right path to recover the money owed. A debt collection agency is where most creditors like to seek first, since it seems like the easiest or cheapest way out.
Yet the best alternative will depend on the facts of your situation. The conduct of the debtor, the age of the debt, the sum in question, and the possibility of the debt being legally enforced.
In the case where these issues come into play, hiring a debt collection attorney is not just a prudent idea; it is quite possibly the sole means of safeguarding your rights and finding the optimal solution to your situation.
Attorneys can take action, as opposed to collection agencies, enforce judgments, and kick start when the need arises, thus giving you much stronger leverage and a much more likely chance of recovery.
How you choose to recover your debt can seriously influence the result. As much as most creditors tend to believe that they need to start by engaging a collection agency, there are viable and strategic reasons why engaging a debt collection attorney could yield better, quicker, and more effective results.
Significant benefits of hiring a debt collection attorney in the beginning are:
With the goal of successful debt recovery, not just reminders, it is common to begin with a debt collection attorney who has the leverage, plan, and enforcement capability to resolve the issue effectively and on the creditor’s terms.
The Best Ways Our Law Firm Will Help You Recover Debt With No StressCollecting a debt may pose daunting challenges for creditors, particularly when the debtor escapes or the account becomes entangled in legal proceedings. That is why many businesses prefer to deal directly with a debt collection lawyer who can handle the entire process from the demand letter to judgment enforcement.
Our strategy has been developed at The Law Offices of Paul A. Humbert, P.L., where strategy, legal experience, and efficient execution are the foundations that we have established.
This is how our company will be able to help you all the way to the end:
By engaging our firm, you obtain the legal representation that is willing to take decisive action, ensuring that your rights as a creditor are protected until complete recovery.
It may be a demand letter, litigation support, or asset enforcement, and we also do most of the long-term collections of the judgment. We make it as stress-free as possible and as efficient and compliant as that.
Trying to collect a debt? Make it a point to contact us today for a free consultation on delinquent accounts, unpaid invoices, or an unresolved judgment.
Allow our lawyers to assist you in making the best decisions and to win the war of getting back what is due.
