Collection during the age of COVID-19 may sound like wishful thinking – does the “new normal” mean that as a business owner, you may never get paid for Service rendered?
According to Gary Davis, Manager of Fidelity Creditor Service, this is an excellent time to consider retaining a top tier collection agency.
“Keep in mind, not everyone is negatively impacted by this pandemic. The reality is that many companies, and therefore many employees, are flourishing during this challenging time,” said Davis, adding that pursuing debtors now is a critical choice because the older a debt gets, the more difficult it is to collect.
The current state and predicted state of the economy should not be a deterrent for businesses whose financial health would be positively impacted, in not completely turned around, by reclaiming debts owed to them. “Credit is the basis of our economy,” said Davis. “Businesses and consumers rely on credit to function. Sadly, many people do not honor their responsibilities and regardless of the current economic conditions – the role of a collection agency is to safeguard the rights of the creditors.”
Fidelity Creditor Service has a team of highly-trained and experienced collection agency representatives at two locations in Southern California. Fidelity Creditor Service also operates as a full service one-stop shop that includes an in-house attorney to obtain court orders (writs of execution) as well as an in-house private investigator for tracking down debtors (and their assets). The firm also handles judgment enforcements.
What makes Fidelity Creditors truly stand out from the competition?
“Our approach,” said Davis. “Our goal is to build a rapport with the debtor and sell him on the reasons why it’s in their best interest to honor their responsibility. Then we develop a plan for them to pay their account.”
One issue which may hinder hiring a debt collection agency (versus attempting to handle it themselves) is a business owner’s fear of losing repeat clients or generating ill will with clients, most especially for legal and medical business owners.
Davis assures that his team is skilled in communicating with debtors in a manner that is strategically persuasive yet always professional. “More than 50% of our business is healthcare related collections,” said Davis. “The medical profession wants the bill paid, but they don’t want their patients good will negatively impacted.
That’s easy for us, given our approach. We will never make our clients look bad. All of our staff knows how to walk that line – it’s vital to our continued success.”
Fidelity Creditor Service also takes on what is known as “second placement debt” that a previous collection agency failed to reclaim. Davis added that his firm has such a high success rate with handing second placement debt that clients are continually won over to place all of their debt collection with Fidelity.
Sometimes a lawsuit is necessary – but Davis said this is rare for his firm, adding, “We only sue .1 % of our accounts and many of those are settled before court. Litigation is and always should be a last resort. If we have to, we will, but we would always rather find a solution without involving the courts.”
Fidelity Creditor Service also implements multi-channels of communication with debtors; for those debtors on a payment plan who give permission, text messaging and emails will also be issued to keep them on track with their commitment to pay.