National Service Bureau

DECEMBER 15, 2015

The United States Department of Education (ED) recently announced two additional regulations (designated REPAYE or Revised Pay As You Earn) which are intended to ease the burden of federal student loan repayment. The REPAYE initiative complements an earlier memorandum issued by President Obama on June 2014 by expanding the “Pay As You Earn” plan to an additional five million borrowers involved in Federal Direct Loans.

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FDCPA Defense

DECEMBER 15, 2015

Collection attorneys who are nervous about the risks involved in handling consumer accounts can relax. The CFPB has devised an ideal litigation strategy for you to follow. Let’s take a closer look at what the Bureau wants you to do to make sure it dovetails with the CFPB’s consumer protection goals. First, if your client plans to place accounts with your office, you should ensure the client has access to or possesses all the evidence needed to file suit and win the case at trial.

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Turbo Recovery

OCTOBER 6, 2015

Turbo Debt Recovery Helps Another Client Get Paid!

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Recoverity

SEPTEMBER 23, 2015

Credit Collections Bureau represent a broad base of healthcare, retail, and financial clients from sole proprietors to large corporations. Over 7000 clients have come to trust CCB with their accounts receivable collections. CCB has not branched out into different businesses. We have always concentrated on only one thing: accounts receivable collections.

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Speaker: Mark Stovel

When it comes to automating, many firms focus on finding the latest tech, believing that efficiency is something achieved through new tools. Yet true efficiency is achieved by delivering real value to clients, not merely by upgraded systems. Without a clear approach, no level of automation can overcome the complexities of serving every client’s needs.

National Service Bureau

DECEMBER 9, 2015

John Rossman and Mike Poncin of Moss and Barnett have a Debt Collection Drill podcast, and a recent episode was particularly relevant to our audience. Here, we share three mistakes gleaned from a study of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) enforcement actions. These are important for debt collectors to avoid, especially because they’ve been emphasized recently.

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FDCPA Defense

NOVEMBER 10, 2015

How can a collector accurately identify, track, and respond to consumer disputes when the FDCPA does not define what a “dispute” is? When Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart famously stated, “I know it when I see it,” in Jacobellis v. Ohio , 378 U.S. 184 (1964), he was not talking about consumer disputes. But his catch phrase succinctly described how it can be a struggle to define common words in different contexts.

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Debt Consolidation Creditworthiness Fair Debt Collection Law Firms 40

National Service Bureau

NOVEMBER 9, 2015

When accounts fall into collections they tend to follow a predictable pattern. Although every situation is unique and there are industry particulars, if you have worked in accounts receivable management long enough you will start to recognize some definite patterns. Here are three warning signs that an account is headed for collections: Communication Falls Off: Both sudden and gradual decreases in communication or responsiveness from the client are surefire indicators that they are distancing th

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National Service Bureau

OCTOBER 29, 2015

It’s better to stick with treats than tricks when it comes to money. Does it ever feel like dealing with some accounts is a game of trick-or-treat? Like you just aren’t sure what you’re going to get…another excuse or a check? That’s not to say that most clients aren’t honest human beings. The point is this: the 80-20 rule holds true for accounts receivable management.

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Accounts Receivables Management Trade Collections 40

National Service Bureau

OCTOBER 21, 2015

Halloween is right around the corner, so we decided to round up something spectacularly scary: medical debt collection horror stories! This isn’t the first time we’ve featured examples of bad apples, but we wanted to focus on the medical debt collection industry in particular this time. Why is that? Well, medical debt can be a touchy subject , and CFPB oversight of medical collection agencies is slightly different than for others - namely the exception of the $10 million revenue threshold for La

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Speaker: Brian Muse-McKenney, Chief Revenue Officer & Matt Simester, Cards and Payments Expert

In today’s world of social media, dating apps, and remote work, businesses risk becoming irrelevant (or getting "ghosted") if they fail to meet the evolving needs of Gen Z consumers. Credit cards with flexible payment options, especially for young adults with little-to-no credit history, are a particularly important and valuable solution for this generation.

Banks

National Service Bureau

OCTOBER 13, 2015

The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) is a piece of legislation that seeks to protect uniformed service members from certain financial obligations and practices. There was an established need for this sort of protection due to the unusual nature of military training; depending on where, when, and for how long a person might be deployed or otherwise unavailable, they may not have reliable access to phones, internet, or other ways of communicating with financial institutions and making sure t

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National Service Bureau

OCTOBER 5, 2015

The 2013 decision in Nelson v. Santander teaches debt collection agencies some important lessons about liability a nd communication when contacting consumers during collection efforts. The TCPA prohibits the use of automated dialing systems or the use of a pre-recorded voice to contact emergency lines (such as 911), guest or patient rooms in hospitals or similar establishments, and telephone lines where the recipient is charged for the call (e.g. cell or personal phone lines).

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National Service Bureau

OCTOBER 1, 2015

October 1 is the start of a new fiscal year for a large number of organizations - particularly those with a high percentage of their work coming from government contracts. The US government’s fiscal year runs from 01 October to 30 September and therefore a lot of businesses run their accounting on a similar schedule. Otherwise, fiscal years will typically coincide with the calendar year (in which case it’s only three months away).

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Collection Agencies Collections Agency Government Accounts Receivables Management 40

National Service Bureau

SEPTEMBER 30, 2015

There has been a lot of discussion in the collections business about automated dialing equipment over the last few years as it relates to new industry regulation (the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, TCPA) and its application in practice. First, in a 2013 judgment of Nelson v. Santander , the plaintiff was awarded approximately $572,000 in damages relating to the use of automated calling equipment.

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Collection Agencies

National Service Bureau

SEPTEMBER 22, 2015

Here’s an encouraging fact: there are things you can do with your business to improve the financial efficiency of your company! One of those things is to incorporate a few simple processes into your company’s accounts receivable department. Improving your system of accepting and managing receivable accounts will help you to collect revenues more quickly, and will minimize your organization’s propensity to lose money to bad debt.

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National Service Bureau

SEPTEMBER 16, 2015

We speak to a lot of service companies who, after months of back-and-forth with their client, come to the realization that they simply aren’t going to get paid for their work. What do you do when faced with that type of situation? If you had to get one thing right before you handed an aging account receivable off to collections, it would be the Final Notice.

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National Service Bureau

SEPTEMBER 9, 2015

It’s no secret that student debt is at an all-time high. According to the US Department of Education, there are more than 40 million student loan borrowers who owe more than $1.2 trillion. That is an incredible amount - for reference, a stack of $1000 bills would be more than 67 miles high if it were to equal a trillion dollars…that’s where the bills are stacked on top of each other, not placed end-to-end!

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National Service Bureau

SEPTEMBER 2, 2015

If you’re a collection agency or creditor in New York, you need to be keeping an eye out for Senate Bill 3803. This bill was introduced to the state senate in February of this year, and the crux is that if approved, debt collectors would be prohibited from using social media to contact debtors. But what does this mean exactly, and what are some of the ambiguities associated with the proposed legislation?

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Speaker: Erika R. Bales, Esq.

When we talk about “compliance and security," most companies want to ensure that steps are being taken to protect what they value most – people, data, real or personal property, intellectual property, digital assets, or any other number of other things - and it’s more important than ever that safeguards are in place. Let’s step back and focus on the idea that no matter how complicated the compliance and security regime, it should be able to be distilled down to a checklist.

National Service Bureau

AUGUST 28, 2015

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act was first passed almost 40 years ago to govern the tactics used by debt collection agencies pursuing consumer debt. Whether you’re in the business of collecting your own outstanding accounts receivable, or looking to outsource that work, FDCPA compliance is very important to consider. The head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (which works with the Federal Trade Commission to enforce consumer protection law) has stated multiple times that debt col

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National Service Bureau

AUGUST 25, 2015

In a previous blog , we discussed some of the laws regarding utility companies and collection agencies , specific to the state of Washington. Here, we’ll go over some of the additional guidelines and restraints that govern a utility company’s ability to collect owed payment. As previously mentioned, gas and water providers are unique in that they are generally authorized to terminate service for delinquent accounts.

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National Service Bureau

AUGUST 21, 2015

The debt collection and accounts receivable industries can be understandably awkward for your business to consider at times. This is especially true if your company is service- or relationship-based (rather than selling a consumer product). For instance, you may have a medical private practice, or run an assisted-living facility. In both of these situations, there is often a long-term relationship established between the ‘consumer’ and the provider.

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National Service Bureau

AUGUST 19, 2015

Like any industry, the debt collection and accounts receivable management industries have some bad apples. There are those organizations who are licensed, professional, effective, and ethical, and then there are those who would take advantage of specialized knowledge or the opportunity to take money unlawfully from debtors. The latter are obviously people and organizations that you would want to avoid should your business need assistance with collecting on delinquent accounts.

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National Service Bureau

AUGUST 12, 2015

Sometimes it seems hard to believe, but checks are still alive and well in the world of finance. While the use of checks for many things (grocery shopping, clothes, fuel, and other personal expenses) has gone down, there are still some industries and some populations that prefer payment this way. If your business is one of them, you need to look into check verification services.

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National Service Bureau

AUGUST 5, 2015

Skip tracing has been around since antiquity. It wasn’t practiced in the same way that it is now, but the basic idea is the same. What is it? In relation to debt collection, skip tracing is a way of “tracing” (finding) a debtor who has “skipped” (left) town in an effort to get out of a debt that is owed. Now you know what we mean when we say it has been around for a while - people have been running away from debts since before sliced bread!

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Debtor Repossession Collection Agencies Collections Agency 40

National Service Bureau

JULY 30, 2015

Student loans generally fall into two categories: federal student loans and non-federal student loans. Federal loans come from the United States national government and are controlled by the Department of Education, while non-federal loans may come from a variety of sources to include state or local governments, the school itself, or a private organization of some sort.

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National Service Bureau

JULY 21, 2015

In 2009, the North Carolina legislature passed Senate Bill (SB) 974, which governed the requirements surrounding debt collection and asset buying in the state. At the time (and still), many in the industry viewed this bill as highly restrictive. For instance, the law broadened the definition of collection agencies and debt collectors, increased civil penalties (minimum of $500, max of $4000 per violation), and restricted the ability of collectors and debt buyers to file suit against a consumer.

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