RAINING MANUAL FOR ENTRY LEVEL D COLLECTORS

1 COLLECTIONS 101. A training MANUAL FOR ENTRY LEVEL . DEBT COLLECTORS . Kenneth R. Besser Collections 101: A training MANUAL For ENTRY LEVEL Debt COLLECTORS (C) All Rights Reserved by Kenneth R. Besser, and 1. RTMC Organization, LLC COLLECTIONS 101. A training MANUAL FOR ENTRY LEVEL . DEBT COLLECTORS . Kenneth R. Besser Copyright Notice: This copy of this document is copyrighted with all rights reserved by Kenneth R. Besser and RTMC Organization, LLC, but it is licensed for the individual use of the original purchaser. If you are not the original purchaser of this document, then please contact us at and tell us how you obtained this document so that we can send you your own free copy of the latest and greatest version of it. Collections 101: A training MANUAL For ENTRY LEVEL Debt COLLECTORS (C) All Rights Reserved by Kenneth R. Besser, and i RTMC Organization, LLC About the author: Having graduated high school more than a year in advance of his class, Kenneth R.

2 Besser chartered his first business corporation, a regional wire rope/steel cable distribution company, at the age of sixteen. Since that early beginning he has successfully owned and operated many business ventures including but not limited to a restaurant and catering operation, a custom and speculative single-family home construction company, a Macintosh software development, licensor and publishing company, a medical practice consulting and management company, and retail distinctive artwear and craft gallery. During his thirty years of business experiences, Besser also obtained a Bachelor of Science degree, attended two years of medical school, graduated law school with honors, simultaneously served as two law review editors (both administrative editor and research editor), served as a law school associate professor in legal methods and drafting and a continuing legal education lecturer on several topics, and remained married to his wife, a practicing family physician, and raised six excellent children.

3 As a medical practice management consultant, Besser has overseen several installations of medical practice operation and management systems using two different programs, both of which were integrated computerized medical records, scheduling, billing and financial management tools with knowledge based artificial intelligence driven total medical practice solutions. In addition to overseeing the installation and operation of these systems, Besser personally trained or supervised his subordinate training staff as they trained all employees of the medical practices, from physicians to front desk personnel, as a component of his medical practice management consultant services. As a business owner and medical practice manager, Besser has overseen both business- to-business and consumer primary collection staffs ranging from single to multiple- person collection departments. During his long career as a lawyer, Besser has advised many clients concerning the main federal laws dealing with consumer credit issues, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the Fair Credit Reporting Act and appropriate state consumer credit and consumer protection laws in his clients' jurisdictions.

4 During 2005, Besser planned, established, and coordinated a project for an international publicly traded corporation to design, implement, and initially operate a debt collection agency with United States operations and an offshore call center. Besser pushed the project from assignment to implementation delivering the first ten agent team of COLLECTORS fully trained in policies, procedures, and work instructions using the Latitude collection management software platform in twenty-one days (and nights, to his family's deep and constant chagrin). Besser is a member of the American COLLECTORS Association in the Member Attorneys Program, the Asset Buyers Division, and the Healthcare Services Program and an Editorial Board Member of Eli Research's Debt Collection Compliance Alert. Collections 101: A training MANUAL For ENTRY LEVEL Debt COLLECTORS (C) All Rights Reserved by Kenneth R.

5 Besser, and i RTMC Organization, LLC Collections 101: A training MANUAL For ENTRY LEVEL Debt COLLECTORS (C) All Rights Reserved by Kenneth R. Besser, and ii RTMC Organization, LLC INTRODUCTION ..1. Section : Our Values: Reciprocal Rights, Responsibilities, and Respect .. 2. Section : Our Vision: Fully Integrated Professional Consumer Debt Collection Services 2. Section : Our Mission: Debt Collection Using Local Action with a Global Reach2. CHAPTER 2: A CAREER IN DEBT. COLLECTION 3. Section : How Consumer Credit and Debt Collection Works .. 4. Section : Some Early 4. Section : Why Consumers Avoid Paying Their 9. Section : What Debt Collection Agencies and COLLECTORS Can Do .. 9. Section : Debt Collection is Not Just a Job It's a Career .. 9. Section : Coming Up Next .. 10. CHAPTER 3: PARTICIPANTS IN THE. RECEIVABLES TRADING, MANAGEMENT, AND COLLECTIONS INDUSTRY ..11. Section : Credit 12.

6 Section : Debt Purchasers, Debt Traders, and Portfolio 13. Section : Collection Agencies .. 14. Section : Collection Law 14. Section : Technology Vendors and Service Providers .. 14. Section : Coming Up Next .. 15. Collections 101: A training MANUAL For ENTRY LEVEL Debt COLLECTORS (C) All Rights Reserved by Kenneth R. Besser, and i RTMC Organization, LLC CHAPTER 4: THE DEBT COLLECTION. PROCESS 16. Section : The Initial Communication with the 17. Section : The Section 809 Verification 18. Section : The Initial Collection Call .. 18. Section : A Little Bit Less Simple Collection 19. Section : Settle, Sue, Sell, Surrender .. 21. Section : An Average Collection Agency .. 21. Section : Coming Up Next .. 27. CHAPTER 5: INITIAL COMMUNICATIONS. WITH THE DEBTOR ..28. Section : Obtaining Debtor Information .. 28. Section : Initial Communication with the Debtor .. 30. Section : The Initial Collection Call.

7 31. Section : The Steps of the Initial Collection 31. Section : Leaving Messages for Consumer Debtors .. 38. Section :.. 40. Section : Coming Up Next .. 40. CHAPTER 6: MAKING MORE EFFECTIVE. COLLECTION CALLS ..41. Section : Practice Makes 41. Section : Negotiations: Seven Rules for Succesful 42. Section : Possible Results of an Initial Collection Call .. 45. Collections 101: A training MANUAL For ENTRY LEVEL Debt COLLECTORS (C) All Rights Reserved by Kenneth R. Besser, and ii RTMC Organization, LLC Section : Effective Collection Call Techniques .. 46. Section : Multitasking During a Collection 49. Section : Overcoming Stalls and 53. Section : The 10% 56. Section : Credit Bartering .. 56. Section : Coming Up 56. CHAPTER 7: COMPLIANCE ..57. Section : Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (the FDCPA ) .. 58. Section : Fair Credit Reporting Act ( FCRA ) as amended by the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act ( FACTA ).

8 63. Section : Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act ( GLBA ) .. 69. Section : Federal Trade Commission Act (the FTC Act ) .. 71. Section : Telephone Consumer Protection Act .. 72. Section : Federal Wiretapping Act and Similar State 73. Section : Electronic Fund Transfer ACT and Regulation 74. Section : Regulation 75. Section : Automated Check Handling (ACH) Requirements .. 76. Section : Heath Insurance Portability and Accountability Act ( HIPAA ).. 77. Section : Bankruptcy Injunction and 78. Section : State 79. Section : Coming Up Next .. 82. CHAPTER 8: ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF A. SCRIPT 83. Section : An Initial Collection Call Script .. 83. Collections 101: A training MANUAL For ENTRY LEVEL Debt COLLECTORS (C) All Rights Reserved by Kenneth R. Besser, and iii RTMC Organization, LLC Section : Errors and 88. Section : Coming Up Next .. 88. CHAPTER 9: MORE CLICHES ..89. Section : That Is 89. Section : Time Is Of the Essence.

9 89. Section : That Would Help You, Right? .. 89. Section : Getting the Good Faith 90. Section : Pushing For Automated Payments or Post Dated Checks .. 90. Section : Dealing with Dodges and Stalls and Hardship 90. Section : The Road to Purgatory .. 91. Section : Dealing with Attacking Consumers .. 91. Section : Harassment allegations .. 93. Section : More procrastinating, trying consumer 93. Section : Strongly appeal to their honesty, without call them 93. Section : So, what are you going to do if I don't pay you? .. 94. Section : If they don't trust you with the payment account information .. 94. Section : Calling back a hang 95. CHAPTER 10: BANKRUPTCY ..96. Section : Three Types of Bankruptcy .. 96. Section : The Bankruptcy Discharge .. 98. Section : The Automatic Stay .. 102. Section : Safeguard 102. Section : Actions That a Collector Should Take When a Consumer Claims To Have Filed Bankruptcy.

10 103. Collections 101: A training MANUAL For ENTRY LEVEL Debt COLLECTORS (C) All Rights Reserved by Kenneth R. Besser, and iv RTMC Organization, LLC Section : Bankruptcy 103. CHAPTER 11: DECEASED DEBTORS ..105. CHAPTER 12: ALLEGATIONS OF FRAUD. AND IDENTITY THEFT ..106. Section : Basics of Credit Fraud and Identity 106. Section : FTC Fraud/Identity Theft Affidavit .. 107. CHAPTER 13: SKIP TRACING ..115. Section : Location, Location, 115. Section : Skip Tracing Websites .. 117. Section : Skip Tracers for Hire .. 118. Section : Skip Tracing Moving Debtors and/or Post Office 118. CHAPTER 14: CREDIT CHAPTER 15: USING A COMPUTERIZED. COLLECTIONS CASE MANAGEMENT. SYSTEM 129. Section : Debtor Demographics .. 130. Section : Particulars of Debt .. 130. Section : Status 131. Section : Action and Result 133. Section : Queue LEVEL Indicators .. 135. Section : Agency Account Payment and Balance Ledgers.