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Business Debt/Our collection attorney stole the debt??

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Expert: - 1/21/2008


Question
My small business had accumulated approximately $56k in debt that we chose to turn over to a collection attorney several months ago.  During this time, we've received NO accounting of anything they've collected.  They have demanded copies of our clients tax returns, which, by law, we CANNOT provide, due to our privacy policy.  We have requested, numerous times that we receive an invoice stating what they've collected, what fees they've taken, and how much they now owe us.  We've been transferred around so much, I don't know who works for the company anymore.  After 4 months, we sent them a certified letter of termination stating the above facts.  About a week later, we receive a telephone call in which the man proceeds to call my partner names.  We've been cursed at, have not been paid a dime and now they say we owe them commission on EVERY debt we assigned to them for collection.  The original terms were 20% of any debt collected.  We're also now being told, after we requested our paperwork to be sent back (yes we retained copies of everything, but we made the request anyway), that we no longer can collect on the debt because they now own it.  Since we are apparently unable to resolve this matter within the companies, we filed a complaint with the BBB.  We found that since we sent them the information, 22 other complaints have been filed against the company.  So, legally, who owns the debt collections?  We were never paid for them, and there was NOTHING in the contract mentioning this.  How do we go about getting back the information and stop them from further collection process on our clients??

Answer
Denise,
I would contact an attorney immediately and have the attorney contact this collection agency, try to find an attorney that is familiar with the FDCPA.  If you placed accounts with them on a commission basis, you own the debts. If you have a signed contract and a copy of your letter stating your are cancelling any relationship with them, you can place the accounts with another agency.
Good luck!

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Michelle Dunn

Expertise

As one of the Top 5 Women in Collections, one of the Top 50 Collection Professionals, and winner of the Business Excellence award, I can answer any questions about debt, debt collection, improving business credit, creating a credit policy, enforcing a credit policy and collecting on past due accounts. I can also answer questions in regards to starting a debt collection agency since I have been a bill collector for over 24 years, started and ran my own collection agency for 8 years, and maintain my 12 year old Credit & Collections Association for members of the credit & debt collection industry. I am also the author of the popular and award winning book "Starting a Collection Agency, how to make money collecting money" now on it's 3rd edition. This book has won a the Writers Digest self published award as well as the New York Book Festival Award. I am a repeat contributor to the Wall Street Journal, and have been featured on NPR, CNN, as well as many other national radio and television programs. I have also been featured in national publications such as the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Smart Money, MSNBC and much more. I have 17 published books to my name and am an accomplished speaker and consultant. I currently write 9 columns for newspapers, magazines and online portals worldwide.

Experience

I have over 24 years experience in debt collection, I started and ran my own collection agency for 8 years and I am the founder & owner of my Credit & Collections Association that I founded in 1998. www.credit-and-collections.com

Organizations
My Credit & Collections Association, I was also a member of the American Collectors Association and Plymouth Chamber of Commerce for 11 years. I am a member of many writing groups as well as my local Women Inspiring Women chapter. I am a member of Know More Media as an expert for their blog on business credit.

Publications
Business NH Magazine, Smart Money Magazine, MSNBC, CNN, Forbes.com, The Wall Street Journal, Home Business Magazine, Entrepreneur Magazine and website, many books, newspapers and television programs as well.

Education/Credentials
I have written 17 books in my collecting money series and one for Entrepreneur Press called the Ultimate Credit and Collections Handbook. My newest book is being published by John Wiley & Sons in May titled, The Guide to Getting Paid, how to weed out bad paying customers, collect on past due balances and avoid bad debt. This book is also being sold to many colleges as a text book.

Awards and Honors
My book Starting a Collection Agency, how to make money collecting money won an award from Writers Digest and the 2007 New York Book Festival in the "How to" category. I have won 2 awards from Dun & Bradstreet and Governor Jean Shaheen. I was nominated as one of the Top 5 Women in Collections twice as well as having been selected as one of Collection Advisor's Top 50 Collection Professionals by my peers.

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