Collecting civil judgments is not easy. It takes time, effort, and a lot of know-how. We have been in the business long enough to know that trying to do in-house judgment collection can be more trouble than it’s worth. That’s why so many clients come to Judgment Collectors for help getting paid in Utah, Arizona, Texas, and three other states.
Maybe you’re beginning to think that collecting your judgments in-house isn’t going to work. First off, you are not alone, so don’t stress over it. We are ready to take your cases. We will track down those debtors and find ways to encourage them to pay.
In the meantime, here are five reasons in-house judgment collection doesn’t work for a lot of judgment creditors:
It’s a Legal Minefield
For starters, judgment collection is a legal minefield. Courts don’t get involved in enforcing collection except under very rare circumstances. Still, there are laws that need to be followed. There are deadlines and time limits that must be adhered to. All of this requires a significant knowledge of the legal landscape.
Companies like yours are not legal experts. You don’t get paid to know the law. Therefore, expecting to be able to navigate the legal minefield that is collections isn’t reasonable. On the other hand, specialized collection agencies that deal only in civil judgments are well-versed in the law.
Collection Requires Full-Time Effort
Next up, collecting judgments from people who are not enthusiastic about paying often requires a full-time effort. If the best you can do is send a letter every 60 to 90 days, that’s not going to be enough.
It has been our experience that most businesses cannot afford to dedicate a full-time staff to debt collection. On the other hand, this is all our staff does. We work full-time on behalf of all our clients because it’s all we do.
Collections Are a Distraction
Hand-in-hand with debt collection being a full-time job, it’s also a distraction from whatever your company does as a business. Let’s say, hypothetically of course, that you run a contracting business specializing in kitchen and bath remodels. You and your staff are experts in remodelling. You don’t know the first thing about collections or the law.
Attempting to collect from deadbeat clients is only going to distract you and your staff from doing what you do best. Time you should be spending on kitchen and bath projects will be put into collections instead. Now you are not able to focus on your clients.
Debtors Don’t Always Cooperate
Making the distraction aspect worse is the fact that debtors don’t always cooperate. In fact, you wouldn’t be in this position if those clients cooperated and paid their bills. The fact that they haven’t paid is pretty compelling evidence that they either don’t intend to or plan to draw things out for as long as possible. Neither option is good for you or your business.
Collection Efforts Can Get Complex
Finally, efforts to collect on unpaid judgments sometimes will prove to be more complex than initially expected. For example, we might have to move to seize a piece of property and sell it to collect what a debtor owes. A lot of our clients don’t want to have to do that sort of thing themselves. We get it. We also don’t mind playing the bad guy.
A lot of companies attempt to collect outstanding judgments in-house. They certainly have the right to do so. But when push comes to shove, the best course of action is usually hiring a judgment collection service that knows how to collect judgments the right way.