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Like the phoenix that rises from the ashes, so does so-called zombie debt. A consumer may think it’s dead, but it keeps coming back to haunt them.

“Zombie debt is a phrase to describe all debt that a consumer had forgotten about or never even owed that comes back to haunt them,” said John Monderine, of Rapid Recovery Solution, Inc.

Joan Baker has been tormented for years as collection agencies hassled her about debt that was not even hers to begin with. More than a decade ago Baker had her identity stolen and since then debt collectors have been stealing her peace of mind.

“It is a nightmare. It won’t go away,” Baker said. “I had knots in my stomach. I was on the phone for hours.”

Baker reported a fraudulent $5,000 charge and still the debt collectors were persistent. When she refused to pay, they went after her credit rating. She would clear her name with one company but the cycle would start up again because her debt would be sold to a different collection company.

Baker finally reluctantly sued the aggressive collection agency for fraud five years ago. Baker was awarded $40,000.

Her experience is not an isolated one.

When Larry Randazzo missed a Verizon bill for 11 cents, it morphed into $4,000 seven years later.

Randazzo said the collector backed off when he made it clear that he knew his rights.

“If they are going after me, someone who has the resources to fight them, what are they doing to people who don’t understand their rights?” he said.

“I think what I did was make them aware that I was aware,” Randazzo said.

Almost all banks sell old debt. For example, a bank might sell a credit-card debt worth $10,000 to a debt collection company for only $100. Then, the agency turns around and aggressively tries to collect and whatever it receives is mostly profit.

This year more than $100 billion of “junk debt” is expected to be bought and sold on the open market, according to a report by debt collection advisory Kaulkin Ginsberg. A debt collection trade association said it polices its members.

“Once we determine that the complaint is against a member of ACA International, what we do is seek to work with the consumer and the debt collection agency to identify a solution,” said Rozanne Andersen, executive vice president of the Association of Credit and Collection Professionals.

How to Protect Yourself

First, ask for something in writing.

Consumers should recognize a statute of limitations exists and varies from state to state. Many allot about seven years where you cannot be sued or have your credit rating destroyed.

“If a consumer believes that this debt that the debt collector is trying to collect from is past the statute of limitations, they should not pay it,” said Mauro.

Also, you should never let a collector debit your account because the money can often be difficult to get back.

Rapid Recovery Solution is a New York debt collection company. Don’t reprint this exact article. Instead, reprint a free unique content version of this same article.

Statute of Limitations on Debt Collection is the amount of time that creditors have to collect their debts by suing you in court and by other legal methods. Once the statute of limitations period is over, the creditors cannot sue you in court. However, the debt that you owe STILL REMAINS. Do not think that once the statute of limitations period is over, your debt will disappear. It will not! Creditors can collect their debts owed via other legal methods like a debt collection company.

We should point out that there are NO Statute of Limitations on the following types of debt owed: Child support due payments, Federal & Local state taxes, Parking fines, illegal fines and Federal Student Loans.

Each US Statute has its own statute of limitations periods. Generally speaking, here is the statute of limitations on the following types of debt: Auto Loans: Debt owed on auto loans generally expires in 6 years. Unsecured Debt: 3-6 years after the last missed payment by a consumer, or last tracked activity.

The moment you sign that debt contract for example a car lease document, a personal loan or other types of loans, the Statute of Limitations period begins. However, this rules varies state by state. Some states also allow the ‘adjustment” of this period. For example, a person living in Alabama has credit card debt of $15000 and does not make a single payment for 3 years. Now in the state of Alabama, the statute of Limitations period is 6 years. If that person travels out of the state of Alabama (say to Florida) for 1 year, then his statute of limitations period STOPS up until he returns back to Alabama from Florida. Upon his return to Alabama, this period resumes again (3 more years).

Also note that after 3 years of having not made a single payment on your debt, you start making payments again. This new payment automatically resets the statute of limitations period to 0.

We will now abbreviate the word statute of limitations as SoL. Consider another example:

You sign an auto financing contract on March 3rd, 2004 where the first payment of $300 is due on April 3rd, 2004. In April, you never make a payment towards your debt. The SoL expires on April 3rd, 2010 (assuming you live in Alabama where the SoL period is 6 years). Why April 3rd? This is because April 3rd was the last time you made a delinquent payment on your loan, or this was your last missed payment. The SoL period starts counting from your last missed payment.

Now assume you get a call from a debt collection company and instead of paying $300/month, they say you can pay just $150/month. You receive this call on July 30, 2008 (2 years have expired on the SoL period). This offer sounds pretty good to you and you indeed do make the payment! Hey! The SoL period at this point automatically resets to 0 and will run for another 6 years!

Therefore, every payment you make towards credit card or personal loan debt resets the SoL clock. This resetting of the SoL clock applies only to unsecured debt and NOT secured debt. This is because in Secured Debt, the lender will simply confiscate your collateral (a pledged home, your car, etc) and will not have to deal with collection issues.

If your lender harasses you after the SoL period of collecting the debts is legally over, you will not have to go to court. The court will probably call off the case as soon as the Judge finds out that the SoL period is over. You should write up an “Expired Statute of Limitations” letter to your creditor and inform him that the SoL period is over.

A lot of people confuse the Statute of Limitations Period of Debt Collection with the SoL period for Credit Reporting. For instance, consider you live in Arizona where the statute of limitations period is 3 years. After 4 years, you can absolutely refuse to pay that debt and the court will rule in your favor. However, according to the rules defined in the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), your delinquent debt will be shown for up to 7 years (since your last delinquent or missed annuity payment).

Rapid Recovery Solution is a medical debt collection agency. You can get a unique content version of this article from the Uber Article Directory.

Do you know how many patients your medical collection agency collected from last year? If you don’t, how can you evaluate their effectiveness or your return? How could you possibly be aware?

Many patient balances forwarded to a medical collection agency are often considered “lost causes,” there would be little point in using such services if that were always the case. Logic dictates this much. Some of the reasons are as follows: Some patients simply do not respond to practice statements or internal collection letters. They will, however, respond when a collection agency states it will report their failure to pay to credit bureaus. Collection agencies have a number of resources on their hands. If reporting a debt to a credit bureau does not work, there are attorneys on hand that can assist you with problem consumers who refuse to pay.

It is common knowledge that most medical practices acknowledge the need for collection agency services but they should evaluate and manage this collection method just like any other. Practices should have a full understanding of the terms of the agreement with their collection agency and the results of such arrangements; they must also understand how their own internal processes affect the agency’s success. And internal processes do have an enormous effect on the amount of money that you can collect.

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Here are six questions you should ask when evaluating your current collection agency.

What is the total dollar value of accounts placed with the collection agency last year?

What is the protocol for turning accounts to collection?

What is the average age of transferred accounts?

What percentage of transferred accounts had balances less than $50?

How much did the agency collect last year?

What fees does the collection agency charge?

What reports does the agency provide?

Mallory McGuinness works for a collections agency that works with a debt collection lawyer. She also composes stories on business and finance, the credit industry and collections agencies. You are welcome to reprint this article – but get your own unique content version here.

When you find yourself in a situation that may lead to bigger complications down the line, you try to find the fastest and most headache-free solution to the problem. It is always the best way to nip the problem in the bud before it even starts.

The same principle applies when you’re dealing with accounts that have lagged on payments, whose checks have bounced, who have totally stopped making their payments and have deemed themselves unreachable and a dozen other scenarios that will surely make your head spin. The role of your credit manager if you have one, at this point, is to decide whether to deal with these problems in-house or pass on these accounts to a collection agency that will then be tasked to follow-up and, at best, recover the money owed to your company.

Usually, a collection agency is called upon when you really have an overwhelming problem with your customers’ payment backlog. You’ve already tried resolving the issue using your in-house crew and having them initiate non-threatening appeals to your customers by making phone calls, sending letters and even making personal visits. Or, sometimes, the problem has persisted and you find that your whole business has reached its danger zone and its plight hinges on whether or not you can recover some of the money that you lost. Whatever the case, hiring a collection agency seems to be the best way to deal with the situation.

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However, extra care must be exercised when you finally decide to go with a collection agency. You have to remember that hiring a collection agency means that you are turning over a part of your business to someone totally on the outside. First of all, when you choose a collection agency you have to be sure that they come highly recommended by someone who has made use of their services and have been highly satisfied with them.

It is equally important that you check with an accrediting organization like that of the Better Business Bureau. This just makes sure that the debt collection agency that you’ve hired is regulated and subject to a higher power if they fail to deliver on their promise.

Second, when selecting a debt collection agency, you have to consider their technological capacity and equivalent manpower to handle your demands. When you say technological capacity it means that the agency will have the call center in place to handle any communication between your customers and the agency, with reporting to be done on a regular basis to you as the ‘mother’ company.

You also have to make sure that the agency’s staff is trained to represent you as the client and not be seen as a third-party provider. It has been reported that some people are adverse to collection agencies and are more prone to shying away from them which will make it harder for you to go after them.

The agencies experience and customer-related orientation need to be as good as the fees that you’ll be paying. You need to negotiate a good compensation package that will take into account all of these conditions mentioned so you’ll at least be assured that you’re getting your money’s worth. It doesn’t make sense for you to be paying so much and not getting anything in return.

Mallory McGuinness is employed by a collections agency that works with a debt collection lawyer. She also composes stories on business, finance, the credit industry and collections agencies. Get a totally unique version of this article from our article submission service