Looking for advice on Collection Agencies...

[JLC]

Hey all...a question for anyone who may have experience with this:

Someone owes us a great deal of money. ($8000-$10000 range) It's a totally binding debt (tenant vs homeowner w/ a binding lease) so there's no room for them to claim they don't owe it.

The chance of us actually ever getting the money from these people is slim to none. However, if I understand right, you can get a Collection Agency to "buy" the debt from you. They give you a percentage of the total debt owed, and then they go after the people involved for the full amount. This seems like a good way for us to go, because we have neither the time nor the resources to force someone to give us that kind of money. I'd rather get a percentage of the monies owed than never get anything.

SO....does anyone here have experience along these lines? Ever used one? Got any advice to offer on where to start looking and what to watch out for? (Seems like a super-easy area to get ripped off in if one isn't exceedingly careful!)

Thanks!!

[brainman1000]

It really depends on the laws where you live. You could file a lawsuit against them and have their wages and/or bank accounts garnished as part of the judgement. That will insure that you get the full amount back, or you could go to a collection agency and settle for a percentage.

[Adam_Wysocki]

I can help you collect the money "Jersey style" for a small fee. '

-adam

[elevatethis]

I'll second brainman's post. You need to file suit against them. You'll need any and all documentation regarding the lease, and anything else in writing that you can come up with that is relevent. PLEASE tell me you had a legal binding lease and not one of those oral tenancy at will things, right?

The clerk at the courthouse will help you get the ball rolling.

[elevatethis]

Also, you might be able to find an attorney to help you out at a small cost, just to guide you along, but would probably charge 1000-2000 retainer, plus hourly, at minimum to take the case full on. But hey, for a 10,000 debt you wouldn't get otherwise...thats not a bad deal.

[iceman25]

What about small court claims Judy? I'm not sure if this would fall in the category though, considering that it's a substantial amount. I'm afraid I'm of no help here.

[brainman1000]

Also, you might be able to find an attorney to help you out at a small cost, just to guide you along, but would probably charge 1000-2000 retainer, plus hourly, at minimum to take the case full on. But hey, for a 10,000 debt you wouldn't get otherwise...thats not a bad deal.

You can charge them interest and all attorney's fees too.

[elevatethis]

True that...

[JLC]

Small claims usually top out at $4k - $5k. I'd really like to do somewhat better than a 50% return...but if it came down to it, I'd take even that over nothing.


Yes, Brad...we have a full and detailed legally binding lease. But due to the fact that we've been out of state for the last three years, and the property manager we hired sort of....hmmmm......deteriorated slowly...the debt sort of piled up and its been a huge bear of a process to even find out exactly what's going on, much less take steps to fix it and get those tenants OUT of there.

Anyhow...hiring a lawyer and suing them for the full amount might be an option, but I really think these people just don't have any money...so even if they garnered wages or whatever, we might see $100 a month or something, which just wouldn't cut it. I want this over with, if at all possible. I'm hoping we can find some solution that will give us better than half our money back, and then just be done with it. We're just now starting to study this...so we'll see how things go.

Adam...you're SUCH a doll! A tough Jersey doll...but a doll, nonetheless! However, I'm afraid my hubby's high security clearance might be put at risk if we resorted to such methods.

[Ginevive]

Argh! I wish I could help out more; being that, I work for a collection agency, and my boyfriend is a property manager!
I dunno; my agency only works with huge clients such as Sallie Mae loans, and Citi Financial.. maybe a smaller agency (suchas one that works for lawyers or doctors) would be helpful? I know that as far aas I know, a wage garnishment can only be done on a federally insured student loan; not sure if they can garnish for other types and if so, what those are. The first thing I might do is file for eviction papers, to at least get them out.. I know about slimeball tenants because of Mark's work, and mostly the landlords usually end up stuck if someone trashes an apartment.. but unlike us, they are loaded and can afford to fix this crap.
Are they still living in the apartment? I too am still pretty new at this whole tenant-landlord thing and all the litigation it involves; not to be nosy, but it might help if you give a few more details; I can have Mark look things up since he should be learning this stuff anyway.