Here at Judgment Collectors, we offer a highly specialized service that goes above and beyond general debt collection. We are more than just a general collection agency. We focus exclusively on judgments, utilizing every tool at our disposal to ensure creditors get paid. Perhaps you are wondering what judgment collection services look like. If so, you’re in the right place.
This post will outline what judgment collection agencies like ours do for clients. We don’t want to get into the details though, because we do not want to tip off debtors. The less they know about what we do, the better it is for our clients.
Post-Judgment Discovery
One of the first things creditors get with judgment collection services is assistance with post-judgment discovery. Post-judgment discovery is the process of finding out what types of assets a debtor has. When debtors cooperate, things go smoothly. When they do not, collection agencies and attorneys have access to tools for compelling cooperation.
Please understand that post-judgment discovery doesn’t work the same in every state we operate in. Each state has its own rules that need to be followed. For that reason alone, turning judgments over to a specialized judgment collection agency is a smart move.
Legal Assistance
The thrill of winning a judgment against a debtor is often short-lived for the simple fact that collection usually involves legal wrangling. An agency like ours offers invaluable assistance in this regard.
There may be motions to file. There might be writs to obtain. A judgment collection agency can take on the responsibility of handling legal matters so that creditors do not have to spend time on them.
Along those same lines, judgment collection services require calendaring – which is to say scheduling tasks based on legally enforceable deadlines. In some states for example, a creditor must wait 30 days from the date of judgment before interrogatories can be initiated. A judgment collector will put that date on the calendar and follow up immediately when it arrives.
Skip Tracing
The most sophisticated tool in our industry is skip tracing. We cannot get into all the details of what it is and how it works. It is sufficient to say that we utilize skip tracing to track down debtors who choose to move out of town – or even out-of-state – to avoid paying.
If you are looking at debtors who have skipped town, you have yet another reason to turn those judgments over to an agency like ours. Skip tracing is a highly specialized discipline that your in-house staff is probably unfamiliar with.
Negotiating Payments
In a perfect world, creditor and debtor would negotiate a payment plan within minutes of the judge’s gavel falling. But that happens so rarely that it is almost not worth mentioning. Our services are engaged because debtors don’t cooperate. But there will come a time when they have to negotiate with us.
Judgment collection services include negotiating payments on the creditor’s behalf. Negotiating skill is especially important to us because we work on contingency. What does that mean? Rather than buying judgments from our clients, we simply take on the responsibility of collecting. Said judgments remain the property of each client.
The contingency model means that we only get paid if and when we collect. We also absorb all the collection costs as we go. You benefit inasmuch as the contingency model gives us every reason to succeed. We do not want to work for free.
Now you know the basics of judgment collection services and what they look like. If you are having trouble collecting judgments in any of the states we serve, let us talk.