COLLECTING "STALES" VS. COLLECTING BAD INTERNET PAYDAY LOANS:
As noted in my first entry, I mainly collect two types of debt:
- Consumer debts that are beyond the applicable Statute of Limitations, which Anonymous refers to as "Stales";
- And bad Internet Payday Loan debts in which the debtor has already paid between two and three times the amount of the original loan amount or principle. Charging and collecting such high fees/rollovers is per se illegal in 47 of the 50 states and potentially illegal in the other 3 states depending on the specific facts of the debtor's case. Additionally, the respective lender is generally not licensed in the debtor's state, and the lender may not even be licensed in any state. I often just refer to these type of accounts as Bad IPDLs or Bad Payday Loans due to the illegal nature of the fees and lender's licensure status.
If I had to choose between the two types of debt, I'd say that it is easer to collect on the bad IPDLs than the Stales because the IPDL debtors are stupid. Absolutely dumb. Some are even borderline-retarded.
Think about it -- you have to be pretty Goddamn stupid to let a loan rollover 6 times before defaulting. You may just be stupid enough to pay me another 300 bucks to get me to go away. The downside obviously is that if you are stupid and broke enough to be in that situation, you probably don’t have a whole hell of a lot of money. But often times these people are surprised at how little I am willing to take to clear their account. When they consider that it will only cost X amount of dollars to get me off their back or avoid being arrested, going to jail, or maybe even going to the Debtor's Prison, a surprising number of these IPDL debtors find a way to come up with the money.
Generally, collecting on Stales takes more skill. More creativity. More work. And, the collection work on Stales actually takes quite a bit less manipulation and violation of the Federal debt collection and privacy laws as compared to collecting on bad IPDL debts.
I’m not saying that my conduct in collecting Stales is generally on the up-and-up. It isn't. But, my Stale collection behavior is less egregious than my IPDL collection behavior. And, I’m not saying that I can’t also get creative in collecting an IPDL, but the IPDL debtor is much easier to stereotype. The IPDL debtor is much easier to draw conclusions about. It’s easier to figure out what works and what doesn’t work and apply it to other IPDL debtors.
Collecting stales requires much more ad-libbing. It's more of an art-form than collecting on a bad IPDL. When you figure that I collect everything from Stale Retail debt to Stale Medical debt to Stale Hot Checks to Stale Utility debt and so on and so on, the Stale debtors come in may forms and character types. Plus, since 7 or more years has passed since the time the Stale debtor initially incurred the debt, a lot has changed in their lives. Well, for most of the Stale debtors a lot has changed. Some of them are still complete losers with no hope in life, no goals, and no discernible future. But, that is just it -- I can't stereotype Stale debtors because they could be anything from a complete and total loser to a rich and successful businessman who has turned his life around. And, therefore, some Stale debtors will respond to one type of collection behavior, some Stale debtors will respond to a different type of collection behavior, and others will not respond at all.
Man, I love my job.
As noted in my first entry, I mainly collect two types of debt:
- Consumer debts that are beyond the applicable Statute of Limitations, which Anonymous refers to as "Stales";
- And bad Internet Payday Loan debts in which the debtor has already paid between two and three times the amount of the original loan amount or principle. Charging and collecting such high fees/rollovers is per se illegal in 47 of the 50 states and potentially illegal in the other 3 states depending on the specific facts of the debtor's case. Additionally, the respective lender is generally not licensed in the debtor's state, and the lender may not even be licensed in any state. I often just refer to these type of accounts as Bad IPDLs or Bad Payday Loans due to the illegal nature of the fees and lender's licensure status.
If I had to choose between the two types of debt, I'd say that it is easer to collect on the bad IPDLs than the Stales because the IPDL debtors are stupid. Absolutely dumb. Some are even borderline-retarded.
Think about it -- you have to be pretty Goddamn stupid to let a loan rollover 6 times before defaulting. You may just be stupid enough to pay me another 300 bucks to get me to go away. The downside obviously is that if you are stupid and broke enough to be in that situation, you probably don’t have a whole hell of a lot of money. But often times these people are surprised at how little I am willing to take to clear their account. When they consider that it will only cost X amount of dollars to get me off their back or avoid being arrested, going to jail, or maybe even going to the Debtor's Prison, a surprising number of these IPDL debtors find a way to come up with the money.
Generally, collecting on Stales takes more skill. More creativity. More work. And, the collection work on Stales actually takes quite a bit less manipulation and violation of the Federal debt collection and privacy laws as compared to collecting on bad IPDL debts.
I’m not saying that my conduct in collecting Stales is generally on the up-and-up. It isn't. But, my Stale collection behavior is less egregious than my IPDL collection behavior. And, I’m not saying that I can’t also get creative in collecting an IPDL, but the IPDL debtor is much easier to stereotype. The IPDL debtor is much easier to draw conclusions about. It’s easier to figure out what works and what doesn’t work and apply it to other IPDL debtors.
Collecting stales requires much more ad-libbing. It's more of an art-form than collecting on a bad IPDL. When you figure that I collect everything from Stale Retail debt to Stale Medical debt to Stale Hot Checks to Stale Utility debt and so on and so on, the Stale debtors come in may forms and character types. Plus, since 7 or more years has passed since the time the Stale debtor initially incurred the debt, a lot has changed in their lives. Well, for most of the Stale debtors a lot has changed. Some of them are still complete losers with no hope in life, no goals, and no discernible future. But, that is just it -- I can't stereotype Stale debtors because they could be anything from a complete and total loser to a rich and successful businessman who has turned his life around. And, therefore, some Stale debtors will respond to one type of collection behavior, some Stale debtors will respond to a different type of collection behavior, and others will not respond at all.
Man, I love my job.
No comments:
Post a Comment