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Saturday, March 31, 2012

Improve Business Debt Collection Process With Asset Investigations

By Michael Forsyth


One thing that's tougher than collecting business debt from a debtor is collecting business debt from a debtor who has insufficient or no assets left to repay the debt. It makes perfect business sense to figure out whether the debtor, or the defaulter, has enough assets-that-will-repay to make the whole collection exercise worthwhile.

Commercial collection agencies, with the help of private investigators, can conduct assets investigations, which help research the quality and value of the defaulter's assets. It also uncovers the locations and liquidity-capability as well.

In order to protect assets from being tracked and possibly sold to fund repayment of delinquent debt, many defaulters will remove their assets and transfer them to another name, or they may even enter into bankruptcy proceedings. Because of this, asset investigation exercises must be conducted.

While these tricks are common among debtors, a creditor isn't established in the collection industry and lacks the expertise to get around these shady practices. Asset investigation may also prove that there is nothing the defaulter has with which to repay, keeping creditors from wasting money on the pursuit of debt recovery.

Asset investigations also allow the commercial collection agencies to discover the defaultr's financial status and his asset stripping actions, which is why these exercises are important to the process.

What Do Asset Investigations Cover?

Private investigators are hired from a network by commercial collection agencies to find: -Bank accounts, which include Certificates of Deposit, Money Market deposits, and Safety Deposit Boxes. -Addresses and employment information -Real estate properties information -Ownership of professional and business licenses to help pinpoint actual occupation -Court history - criminal and civil -Any special, advanced investigation

How Is An Asset Investigation Done?

Private investigators are hired by commercial collection agencies to keep an eye on court documents in case of filing bankruptcy.

Time is put into uncovering and analyzing consumer, credit, real estate records, and commercial accounts receivable data. While these are all public record, analysis and negotiation based on findings require expertise and experience.

The private investigator takes on the task of tracking address changes, court history, and contacting anyone who may have more information.

Tabs are kept on the borrower's actions to see if he indulges in asset stripping.

Because the collection agencies keep up a good rapport with local authorities and lawyers, they know how to work their way through the government systems and use this relationship to get useful information.

Advantages of An Asset Investigation

Aside from getting in all the information detailed above, the process is completed surprisingly quickly. Commercial collection agencies can present all the required assets' information in a couple of days at the most, thereby allowing the creditor to move fast. A fast mover always has more chance of recovering his debt.

On the other hand, if the defaulter has no assets, the creditor can temporarily drop the collection procedure and pay the nominal fee for the assets investigation process. Because the investigation will uncover any available assets or the complete lack thereof, the creditor can enter into the collection process with sufficient information for negotiation purposes.

Commercial collection agencies help save businesses an enormous amount of time and effort, with key company personnel left available for focus on more important processes, such as revenue generation.

CFOs and CEOs of an organization that is saddled with a whole lot of bad debt must naturally be keen to collect these and infuse the much-required cash in the company. They must hire a commercial collection agency to conduct an assets' investigation and then take it from there.




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