Understaning the Collection Agency2

What Motivates the 3PDC

Since most 3PDCâ??s are paid by commission, they are obviously motivated by the â??quick killâ? â?? a debtor they can scare the pants off who will immediately go out and do whatever the 3PDC wants to make the 3PDC go away. This is the Collectorâ??s dream â?? a quick, easy commission. There are people just like that. I hope, by now, you are not one of them. A second motivation is the psychological one â?? a motivation that is so contrary to our psyche that it explains the high employee turnover in the Collection industry. That motivation is the desire to get others to do what the Collector wants them to do â?? regardless of the hardship it places on the other person. I call this â??anti-mercyâ?. A successful collector relishes the â??satisfactionâ? of scaring a debtor witless. I have heard many 3PDCâ??s joke and boast about how much they scared a debtor, showing off the money sent by western Union or Courier like one would show off a Super Bowl Ring.

Many 3PDCâ??s encourage this mentality by rewarding and promoting the most â??productiveâ? collectors. Production, of course, measured by commissions, measured by dollars collected. The human cost of this activity is ignored. Competition among the collectors within a company is encouraged. The most common cutoff time is the end of the month, so many collectors get even more aggressive in the second half of the month. This competitiveness is a breeding ground for FDCPA violations, so be especially aware of the potential for violations in the second half of the month.

Tools of the 3PDC

The 3PDC relies on YOU to collect his debt. Strange as it seems, it is YOUR fears, YOUR fantasies, YOUR misinformation and YOUR partial understanding of the truth that empowers the 3PDC, and each of these is a weapon to be used against you. By carefully stating half-truths and letting your imagination run away, the 3PDC can bend your mind so that it sees what truths the 3PDC wants it to see, and pictures a future that the 3PDC wishes was the truth, but you believe it to be truth.

Letâ??s explore a couple of common half-truths, and see where the 3PDC wants your mind to wander.

1: â??If you donâ??t pay $X now, we will take Legal Action.â? Sound familiar? Thatâ??s the most common threat â?? Legal Action. Did the 3PDC say â??Sueâ?? No, he said â??Legal Actionâ?. Just what IS â??Legal Actionâ?? Simple - itâ??s any action that is not ILLEGAL. So, all he said was â??we will do something the law allows us to do.â? That could be any or all of the following: Send another letter, make another phone call, discuss it with the collector at the next desk, discuss it with the Collectorâ??s supervisor, do nothing at all, move on to the next debtor, go out for lunch, do a crossword puzzleâ?¦.. you get the idea now. In part with this threat is to turn it over to the â??Legal Departmentâ? (as opposed to the ILLEGAL Department).

2: â??Your Credit will be trash if you donâ??t pay $X now.â? Letâ??s get real â?? if you are talking with a 3PDC, the account has already been charged off and whatever damage they can do to your credit has already been done. No amount you can pay right now will un-do that, and the 3PDC will resist you tooth and nail in your efforts to trade payment for Trade Line removal. The reason (they will tell you) is that they are required to report it. That is half of the truth. The truth is IF they report it, they are required to report it ACCURATELY. There is no law requiring any lender to report to any credit bureau.

3: â??Paying this bill will help your creditâ?. Saying that is like telling the passengers on the Titanic that, while the Ocean underneath them is 10,000 feet deep, if they just swim 100 yards away the ocean is only 9800 feet deep. The boat sank anyway and they drowned. The depth of the ocean meant nothing at THAT depth. Same thing with your Credit Report. A Paid Charge Off is better than an UNPAID Charge Off, but not enough to convince a lender to approve a loan. Time is what heals this wound, not payment.

4: â??Are you going to pay this debt or not. I need an answer right now.â? A similar statement is â??we must reach resolution on this account now.â? The only problem is â?? if you knew how you were going to pay, wouldnâ??t you already be doing it? Obviously, you cannot â??resolveâ? the matter on HIS timetable. He will twist any statement other than a promise to pay immediately into â??So you refuse to pay this debt.â? To this kind of aggressiveness I would merely say something like â??I will know how I will resolve this and other matters when I can see a comprehensive resolutionâ? and stick to it.

I will not get into the personal attacks the 3PDC will launch against you â?? statements like â??What kind of example are you giving your children â?? youâ??re not mature enough to pay your billsâ? or â??If you had any self-respect you would honor your obligationsâ?. To these stupid statements you need not remain civil.

The 3PDC will keep you on the phone until he wears down your resistance. The longer you are on the phone, the more time he has to launch every psychological attack against you he can until he finds your â??hot buttonâ?. Donâ??t let him. Stay on the phone no more than 3 minutes unless you see REAL progress being made (progress meaning helping you reach a resolution you can live with.

 

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Sassy, if that's what you consider an "inaccuracy" then you really don't get the reason for the posts nor do you know anything about me.

I deliberately did not put "violation" in my posts because I was showing how the CA thinks and works. There are plenty of other posts here (mine included) that point out the violations. Heck, besides Lizardking I am one of the more MILITANT and LITIGOUS posters on these boards. At this very second I have suits pending against Sears and 2 out of the 3 credit bureaus.

These posts are a peek into the mind of the adversary. They are not to excuse any illegal behaviour (and besides, a lot of whet you put "violation" on is NOT a violation. The CA can and does use veiled statements that on their face are NOT violations and lets the debtor's mind wander into its own little purgatory. The CA just provided the roadmap.

If you are in AZ I would like to meet with you so you can see for yourself that I am NOT an apologist for the CA's and in fact are in may respects their worst nightmare. I live in Tucson.