I am curious about the way the collection agencies and debt buyers actually work internally. For instance, if a debt buyer buys a portfolio of charged off credit card accounts, what happens. Are the accounts then divided up by age, or by amount due or what? Are they "evaluated" individually to determine the ones most likely to be profitable (i.e., get someone to actually pay something)? Assuming that they are not outside the SOL for their various states, how is it determined which ones to file suit on? Are the "better quality" accounts given to the top gun collectors in the office and the crap to the newbies? What happens if you file suit and you get someone on the other end who is an attorney or legally sophisiticated and knows enough to file an answer and contest the suit, thereby incurring legal fees on your end? Do you persist or move on to the next one? Are the debt tranches "mixed" i.e., some in SOL, some out? Tell me as much as you're inclined about the process. I'm quite curious. Don't worry, you won't be "helping" me evade anything. My problems were all more than 7 years ago and are almost gone from the record.
Our buyer goes out and looks for a credit card portfolio, usually 0-1 agency, buys it and the accounts are loaded into our system with a credit report, and the 1st notice already sent. They are given out to each person equally by the number of accounts. They are not hand picked for the top collector. As for legal, whatever account shows any type of asset is sued if arrangements cant be worked out, atleast thats the way it is here. At the end of how many ever days we get to collect, if I personally haven't gotten arrangements worked out, I find an asset and sue it. We have 2-4 attorney firms in every state, and contract with them a certain fee we are charged. That fee is paid by the company and does not affect me at all. When the garnishments start, or the account is being paid on legal gets their fees back and then I get about 30% of the total account balance. Well worth it as it wouldn't have been paid any other way.
are you all knowledgeable about the various state exemptions, etc.? I would think it would probably be a waste of time to sue in Texas, Florida or California unless there are a lot of low hanging fruit type unencumbered assets showing, which, if that were the case, it would seem stupid for the debtor not to pay or make arrangements. Is there any recovery sharing arrangement with the orginal creditors?
Since we purchased the debt no, all monies recovered is ours. Texas is a state we dont sue in unless property is owned. I'll sit a lien on the house for years and renew it, doesnt bother me. Florida is tricky with the HOH exemption and property exemption, but we do it every day. California is only expensive, nothing tricky about it. Debtor's do stupid things, I certainly tell them they are going to be reviewed for suit, they laugh and hang up. Who gets the last laugh when they start being garnished, or property is attached?
Have you ever had someone defend suit vigorously File an answer, send you discovery, etc.? Unless you have attorneys on a flat fee basis, that starts to add up on the legal fees.
Never had to go through any of that. Sure they will file an answer, a few have disputed, but before our accounts are sent for suit, we request all media that we can and forward that to the attorney so he is prepared for everything.
How many times can you get the actual paper? I've seen very few JDB's that can show anything other than an affadavit which is worthless if contested from an evidentiary standpoint (unless the affiant shows in court). That is not to say that you can't prove up contracts, I've just not seen it much. Then again, 99% of all suits of this nature are default judgments in any event. Too bad for the Defendant's in these cases insofar as a slew of affirmative equitable defenses are available if they'd take the time to respond.
So in states which have a $10,000 bond requirement and require a license for collectors, your costs to collect are higher. If you are trying to collect from a consumer in a state which requires bond and license,Do you use a spreadsheet to help you decide whether it is worth paying an out of state attorney to collect in a state with higher costs than a state which has lower collection costs? Texas is the worst state to collect or file suit in, so in Texas you just send letters and hope the consumer is not educated about their laws? What about Massachussets?
Been sued and I won! Had a contract problem a few years ago, so I stopped payments, sent notice they were being held until the CC debt holder came back on contract. Instead of coming back on contract, they sued and used a gutter lawyer. I represented myself and answered the action, also filing motions for dismissal under promisary estoppel. I told the judge all they needed to do was comply with their contract and I'd resume payments immediately. He issued a judgement to that effect and I resumed payments. The attorney took the payments, pocketed them and sent a report to the debt holder I had defaulted, so they hired another collections firm to sue. They had the professional courtesy to call and calmly discuss what they knew. I keep very good records and showed them a very clear paper trail, and they bowed out, seeing I had complied to the court judgement. I was later advised there were actions being taken against the first attorney for his abscounding with several payments. The CC debt holder really slipped up on this one and instead of quieting the file, sold the alledged debt to a JDB, but the debt no longer existed. They sent the usual notice and I replied with a demand for written proof, to which nothing came. About three months later it popped up at another JDB and I sent the same letter with a copy of the prior firm's correspondence, to which I got no further reply. About six months later another VERY AGGRESSIVE JDB called and got extremely crude. I politely hung up, sent a 72 hour demand for wirtten proof, and at the end of 72 hours sent a Cease and Desist Demand letter. I pay my legitmate debts and this has been the only encounter with the shadowy side of collections. My experience tells me I did the right thing by keeping good records and even though I did not wish to take a formal action on a breach of contract, their sudden demands were quite irresponsible and unreasonable. After repeated calls and unscuccessful attempts to get them back on contract or something even close, I was left with no choice but suspend payments and force their hand into a legal forum. I won the suit and was told by an attorney (retired judge) observing my court room procedure that he had never seen a defendant win on such claims, but my paperwork was well set out and my position was absolutely clear. I told the judge up from what my debt was, I took responsibility for it and would pay it immediately upon the plaintiff's return to the contract we had originally agreed on. I had also shown the court that I had tried multiple times to negotiate them back onto our agreed terms, but they steadfastly refused. It took the wind out of the plaintiff's sails real quick. The judge ordered the plaintiff back on contract, handed me a reduced interest rate and thus reduced the corresponding balance and issued his judgement order insisting the plaintiff pay all court costs and attorney fees. I also got one other point of satisfaction. I was granted time to verbally dress down this most unprofessional bit of juris prudence, or lack thereof. It felt good and I ended it by asking him what he gained by not coplying with contract law 101 and reasonable attempts to do the right thing. I got silence.
Since we purchase accounts less than 24 months from chargeoff and keep them until they are sued or nearing the SOL we can very easlily get the documents on the account from the OC.
A 10,000 bond costs what, 200 a year to keep if that? Texas doesn't require a license. I'm sure upper management uses some sort of spreadsheet to tally what the fee's are, but it's never used in consideration of filing suit against a debtor. We sue often in TX without a problem and have 2 attorneys we use in the state everytime.
A 10,000 bond costs what, 200 a year to keep if that? Texas doesn't require a license. I'm sure upper management uses some sort of spreadsheet to tally what the fee's are, but it's never used in consideration of filing suit against a debtor. We sue often in TX without a problem and have 2 attorneys we use in the state everytime. OK, you said just above that you don't sue in Texas, and now you are saying you sue often in Texas?
The attorneys here who do that kind of work are high volume mill type firms. Unorganized, pay their staff nothing, make frequent mistakes. Easy to beat.
Does the above also apply to accounts purchased from Providian/WaMu and HSBC? Chase is even getting bad about record keeping. May be different in some jurisdictions but in my experience, it's all affadavits.
No WaMu or HSBC. Chase, Cap1, Discover, Metris/Direct Merchants, Sears. We've only ran into a couple situations where the original contract was required, otherwise the judge allows the affidavit, notorized by the OC.
Oh, really . . . so the judge allowed in an out-of-court statement; i.e., the affadivit, without the declarant being present in the courtroom? Some people call that hearsay. Seriously, I realize that you've probably only needed the actual contract a few times. However, this is not because the judge "allowed" it in. It is because the majority of the people that your company sued have no idea how to defend themselves. Not too say that there is anything wrong with this is terms of legalities rather, it is just inequitable to collect 5k for a debt purchased for $50.00, if that.
I have no clue what happens with the accounts that are sued with the company that I work for. I only click a button and send them for legal review. But the 2 accounts that I have acutally sued the judge took the notorized statement from the broker I bought it from and a notorized statement from the OC showing the chain of title. The judge didn't say anything about them and the defendant actually showed up and didn't contest anything. Easy judgment even with the debtor showing up. How much I pay for the account has no bearing at all on anything the judge/debtor should be concerned with.
