Become A Sales Pro

On June 1, 2010, In business for sale, By Mallory Megan

When comparing people who are most successful at persuading, convincing or selling others on their ideas, products or services, I’ve found 10 characteristics that appear to be routine among them. Read through this list and see how many apply to you now. If you don’t find these characteristics in your current bag of traits, consider adopting them in order to hear “yes” more often in your life.

1. A Burning Desire to Prove Something to Someone: A professional in any type of business has a distinct reason for wanting to succeed. My reason was to prove myself to all the people who said I couldn’t do it. I never went to college, knowing that formal education wasn’t for me. My parents had castles in the air for me and were quite disappointed. My dad told me, “If you don’t go to college, you’ll never amount to anything.” That was my first motivational talk, and it kindled my desire to become the best and prove something to my parents. What are you trying to prove? And to whom? You must know why you’ve chosen your particular business.

2. An Interest in Others: You must truly be intrigued in other people and in making those people’s lives better if you are to succeed in business. You must get the hang of how to draw others out, making them feel important and getting to know them well enough to determine how you can help.

3. Confidence and Strength: Professionals radiate confidence and strength in the way they walk and talk and in their overall presence. They have great posture. They wear their clothing well. They use positive body language. If you’re not sure this is you, ask someone you trust to evaluate you and provide some suggestions for improvement.

4. Empathy: You must level your own self pride and need for success with warmth and sincerity. Your true interest in the happiness of the people you come in contact with creates bonds of trust that allow you to serve not only your prospects, but their friends, relatives and acquaintances that can be sent to you.

5. A Focus on Goals: If you’re serious about your business, you’ve set your goals and put them in writing. You know exactly what you’re striving for and when you expect to accomplish it. Knowing how your future will look helps keep you focused on doing what’s productive each day.

6. Persistence: Professionals plan their time most effectively to take steps toward achieving their goals. They rely on proven systems for planning their time and have learned effective time-management strategies.

7. Enthusiasm Through Difficult Situations: The past can’t be changed and the future can’t be controlled, so you must live for today, doing the best you can to make each day a day of accomplishment and fulfillment. When you encounter a difficult situation that’s draining your enthusiasm, lay it out clearly in your mind or on paper. Then step back from it and let your emotions shift to normal. Then take another look at the situation with a clear head. You’ll be pleasantly surprised in most cases that it really isn’t as bad as you thought.

8. A Positive Attitude: Keep yourself in a productive shell and avoid jealousy, gossip, anger and negative thoughts. Don’t allow negativity to steal your energy or tempt you to stray from your chosen course.

9. An Understanding that People Come Before Money: Successful businesspeople love others and use money as appose to loving money and using people. They understand the old adage that you have to spend money to make money, and that persuasion is a people business. They invest judiciously in things for the good of the people they serve.

10. An Investment in Their Minds: Business professionals are lifelong learners. Congratulations! I know you have this trait simply because you’re reading this article. Set a goal to be a lifelong learner, and you’ll never have a dull moment. Plus, you’ll achieve tremendous success in whatever you set your mind to studying!

Rapid Recovery Solution is a commercial debt collection agency.

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Wiki Statute Of Limitations

On June 1, 2010, In business, By Mallory Megan

Statute of Limitations on Debt Collection is the amount of time that businesses have to collect their debts by suing you in court and by other legal methods. Once the statute of limitations period is over, the businesses cannot sue you in court. However, the debt that you owe STILL REMAINS. Do not think that once the statute of limitations period is over, your debt will disappear. It will not! Businesses can collect their debts owed via other legal methods like a debt collection company.

We should point out that there are NO Statute of Limitations on the following types of debt owed: Child support due payments, Federal & Local state taxes, Parking fines, illegal fines & Federal Student Loans.

Each US Statute has its own statute of limitations periods. Generally speaking, here is the statute of limitations on the following types of debt: Auto Loans: Debt owed on auto loans generally expires in 6 years. Unsecured Debt: 3-6 years after the last missed payment by a consumer, or last tracked activity.

The moment you sign that debt agreement, for example a car lease document, a personal loan or other types of loans, the Statute of Limitations period begins. However, this rule varies state by state. Some states also allow the ‘adjustment” of this period. For example, a person living in Alabama has credit card debt of $22000 and does not make a single payment for 3 years. Now in the state of Alabama, the statute of Limitations period is 6 years. If that person travels out of the state of Alabama (say to New York) for 1 year, then his statute of limitations period STOPS up until he returns back to Alabama from New York. Upon his return to Alabama, this period resumes again (3 more years).

Also note that after 3 years of having not made a single payment on your debt, you start making payments again. This new payment automatically resets the statute of limitations period to 0.

We will now abbreviate the word statute of limitations as SoL. Consider another example:

You sign an auto financing contract on March 3rd, 2004 where the first payment of $300 is due on April 3rd, 2004. In April, you never make a payment towards your debt. The SoL expires on April 3rd, 2010 (assuming you live in Alabama where the SoL period is 6 years). Why April 3rd? This is because April 3rd was the last time you made a delinquent payment on your loan, or this was your last missed payment. The SoL period starts counting from your last missed payment.

Now assume you get a call from a debt collection company and instead of paying $300/month, they say you can pay just $150/month. You receive this call on July 30, 2008 (2 years have expired on the SoL period). This offer sounds pretty good to you and you indeed do make the payment! Hey! The SoL period at this point automatically resets to 0 and will run for another 6 years!

To recap, every payment you make towards credit card or personal loan debt resets the SoL clock. This resetting of the SoL clock applies only to unsecured debt and NOT secured debt. This is because in Secured Debt, the lender will simply confiscate your collateral (a pledged home, your car, etc) and will not have to deal with collection issues.

If your lender makes demands payment from you after the SoL period of collecting the debts is legally over, you might not have to go to court. The court will probably call off the case as soon as the Judge finds out that the SoL period is over. You should write up an “Expired Statute of Limitations” letter to your creditor and inform him that the SoL period is over.

Most people confuse the Statute of Limitations Period of Debt Collection with the SoL period for Credit Reporting. For instance, consider you live in Arizona where the statute of limitations period is 3 years. After 4 years, you can totally refuse to pay that debt and the court will rule in your favor. However, according to the rules defined in the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), your delinquent debt will be shown for up to 7 years (since your last delinquent or missed annuity payment).

Rapid Recovery Solution is a credit debt collection agency.

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Are You Being Haunted By Zombie Debt?

On June 1, 2010, In business, By Mallory Megan

Like the phoenix that rises from the ashes, so does so-called zombie debt. A consumer may think it’s dead, but it keeps coming back to haunt.

“Zombie debt is a phrase to describe all debt that a consumer had forgotten about or never even owed that comes back to haunt them,” said John Monderine, of Rapid Recovery Solution, Inc.

Joan Baker has been tormented for years as collection agencies hassled her about debt that was not even hers to begin with. More than a decade ago Baker was the victim of identity theft and since then debt collectors have not let her rest.

“It is a nightmare. It won’t go away,” Baker said. “I had knots in my stomach. I was on the phone for hours.”

Baker reported a fraudulent $5,000 charge and still the debt collectors were persistent. When she refused to pay, they went after her credit rating. She would clear her name with one company but the cycle would start up again because her debt would be sold to a different collection company.

Baker finally reluctantly sued the aggressive collection agency for fraud five years ago. Baker was awarded $40,000.

Her experience isn’t an isolated one.

When Larry Randazzo missed a Verizon bill for 11 cents, it mushroomed into $4,000 seven years later.

Randazzo said the collector backed off when he made it clear that he knew his rights.

“If they are going after me, someone who has the resources to fight them, what are they doing to people who don’t understand their rights?” he said.

“I think what I did was make them aware that I was aware,” Randazzo said.

Almost all banks sell old debt. For example, a bank might sell a credit-card debt worth $10,000 to a debt collection company for only $100. Then, the agency turns around and aggressively tries to collect and whatever it receives is mostly profit.

This year more than $100 billion of “junk debt” is expected to be bought and sold on the open market, according to a report by debt collection advisory Kaulkin Ginsberg. A debt collection trade association said it polices its members.

“Once we determine that the complaint is against a member of ACA International, what we do is seek to work with the consumer and the debt collection agency to identify a solution,” said Rozanne Andersen, executive vice president of the Association of Credit and Collection Professionals.

How to Protect Yourself

First, ask for something in writing.

Consumers should be aware of the statute of limitations in their state. Most allot about seven years where you cannot be sued or have your credit rating destroyed.

“If a consumer believes that this debt that the debt collector is trying to collect from is past the statute of limitations, they should not pay it,” said Mauro.

Also, you should never let a collector debit your account because the money can often be difficult to get back.

Rapid Recovery Solution is a credit debt collection company.

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Debt Collection Practices

On April 15, 2010, In business, By Mallory Megan

If you owe money to a creditor debt collection agencies can report your debt to credit bureaus, file suits against you, and should be taken very seriously. The best way to protect yourself and your finances is a methodical approach. First, know why you are being contacted. Know what the debt is from and exactly how much it costs.

Inquire about the name of the person calling, the agency, the creditor, and the agency’s address and fax number. You have every right to tell a collector over the phone that you want all future contact to be in a written form. Follow up all requests with a written request.

Keep in mind if you tell the collector not to contact you at all it the agency is entitled to contact you once more to inform you how it plans to proceed. Another request that can be made is that you are the only person that can be contacted. It might be a good idea to keep a file including dates and details of phone conversations and when you mail out or receive letters.

If you do send any written correspondence to the collections company do this by Certified Mail, Return Receipt Requested. This guarantees that the letter reached the collector, giving you a signed receipt as proof. If you work out a re-payment plan over the phone, ask for the terms of the plan in writing. Any promise to remove or adjust credit history should also definitely be documented.

Be certain that you pay the right party; payments should be made to the collections agency, not the creditor, unless you have been otherwise instructed to do so. Carefully look over the amount you are being asked to pay. Get an assessment of any interest, fees or charges that have been added.

If you feel that your collector is being abusive, be certain to complain to the agency and keep this complaint on file. Finally, never ignore a collector even if you feel that the debt isn’t yours; they will continue to contact you and it may mean more trouble and time in the long run.

Mallory Megan is employed by a debt collection company. She also composes stories on business and finance, consumer spending and collection agencies.

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Bank Accused Of Bad Business

On April 2, 2010, In business, By Mallory Megan

Credit card issuer Capital One Bank and four other companies were sued by West Virginia Attorney General Darrell McGraw for deceptive and unfair practices and bad business conduct. The complaint was filed this week in West Virginia’s Circuit Court and it alleges that Capital One fooled consumers into repayment plans by sending out solicitations disguised as new credit offers.

Capital One offered to give consumers one dollar of new credit if they agreed to transfer the whole balance of a charged off account to the new credit card. This meant that Capital One could re-age debts to get around the statute of limitations, which would start anew.

According to the case, Capital One sent out cards with limits as low as 200 dollars for low-income customers with bad credit histories. With The cards membership came fees of up to 59 dollars per year. Generally, the annual fees were billed on the consumer’s second monthly statement, leaving the consumer with just 141 dollars of credit when they thought they had 200 dollars. Then, if the consumer mistakenly exceeded the limit, they could face over the limit fees of up to 29 dollars.

In recent months, McGraw’s office has gone after debt collection companies in part of an effort to protect West Virginia’s consumers. In November his office sued two payday lending firms and four collection agencies.

As members of the collection industry, we may scratch our heads and wonder why, in an economy that is doing poorly and where debt is running rampant, we cannot collect the money that consumers owe. Experts allege that with unemployment rates running so high, it is impossible for consumers to repay their debts. But bad business practices are not going to help the situation either. It may be a knee jerk reaction to try to con consumers out of money, but it is just that. A knee jerk reaction.

Mallory Megan is employed by a debt collection company. She also writes stories on business, finance, consumer spending and collection agencies.

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The Debt Collection Industry Today

On March 9, 2010, In Uncategorized, By Mallory Megan

The collections industry has grown quite large in the past couple of years. The reason for this is that collections and recoveries are typically outsourced business functions. It would be unthinkable for a creditor to try to handle retrieving debt from all of their accounts, so the creditors call upon the collections agencies.

But there seems to be a beginning of an enormous change taking place with the collections industry. The industry has grown to massive proportionas through the recession and seems giant. Rather than hire out more service providers, creditors are begining to lower the number of debt collection companies that they will work with, which requires the companies they originally hired to take on more accounts.The effects of this could change the way that the collections industry operates in a large way.

As the worst workers are removed from these collection networks, certain debt collection agencies are going to lose their most important clients. Creditors will also have less reason to work with companies that have a reputation for being inappropriate. The financial effects of this will cause these companies to suffer, and company value will also fall with some owners forced to sell their companies in distress.

As this happens, the most efficient performers will see a lot more potential job growth, less competition, greater leverage on contract terms, better revenues, and improved profitability.

Within the debt buying market, the same type of transference is also taking place. Instead of calling on more debt buyers, some creditors are lowering the number of companies they approach for selling the accounts.

Smaller, less efficient debt buyers will begin to a smaller chance to buy from these issuers. Again, concentration within the primary debt sales market will increase. Recovery executives within credit businesses will be making the same kind of choice more and more, picking concentration within their vendor networks over diversification.

Mallory McGuinness works for a collections agency that works with a debt collection lawyer. She also composes stories on business, finance, the credit industry and collections agencies.

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