Debt Recovery

Certain states, California for example, do not currently require a person to be a lawyer or have a
collection agency license to recover most debts or to collect judgments they own. Can an average
(non-lawyer) person begin a company collecting debts that aren't yet judgments? Yes, but it is
much harder to make a profit doing that than many people might believe.

My articles are my opinions and are not, legal advice. I'm a judgment broker, and not an
attorney. When you ever want a strategy to use or legal advice, please retain a lawyer. Sole debt
recovery experts usually have creditors assign their debts to themselves having a signed contract
in place, and then the collector will either try to convince their debtors to pay using the phone
or letters, or they sue them in court to try to get a judgment based on the debt claim.

There is a website selling a product to help people learn to be their own collection agency,
using just the web. The downside with that concept and product is that the majority of debtors
and judgment debtors don't respond to letters sent to them. Debts that aren't yet judgments
cannot be recovered with a court. Not having a judgment, one can't pay the Sheriff to levy the
available assets of the debtor.

Be aware that if you recover non-judgment debts you buy outright or on a future-payment basis,
you are collecting debts, not judgments; and you'll be a third-party debt collector subject to
all FDCPA statues, and the Rosenthal restrictions in California. 

If you are not a lawyer, you cannot represent anyone else in any court matters, unless you are a
collection agency; in which case you represent only someone's right to try to collect the single
debt or judgment. While California does not currently require a license to be a collection
agency, most states require folks to be licensed and bonded to recover debts and/or judgments.

Whether your state requires any bonding and/or licensing or not, every debtor circumstance must
be scrutinized and screened, to get a opportunity to earn money. Not having judgment, you will
not be legally allowed to run a credit report on the debtor, and a debtor may file for bankruptcy
at any time. You can use professional databases to check the debtors of the potential debt owner
customers, to help minimize your financial risks.

If your debtor does not respond to telephone calls or letters, an answer might be to sue the
debtor to try to turn them into a judgment debtor. The hassle and expense of suing a debtor makes
sense when they appear to have available assets. In most states, including California, this cannot
be done in a small claims court, so this could be expensive.

Although a few debtors may settle without having to sue them, one might need to sue most of them.
In California, this usually costs around $275 to $500 to sue somebody at a civil court, including
serving the debtor notice of your lawsuit, and a lot more money if you retain an attorney. If the
lawsuit isn't contested, there will not be any additional lawsuit costs; however if they contest
the lawsuit, the expenses can be enough to make you want to dismiss the lawsuit. Could one make
money collecting debts? My answer is perhaps.


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One stop judgment recovery: http://www.JudgmentBuy.com - Judgment Recovery. The easiest and
fastest way to start recovering enforceable judgments. (Mark D. Shapiro 408-840-4610) Free, no
obligation judgment evaluations.

Posted by J. Randall Frier