How to Use a Legal Network Effectively in your Collection Strategy

Having the right legal network in your collection strategy can mean the difference between success or failure in your collections efforts.  With a downturned economy comes the need to find new and improved ways of collecting on unpaid debt and there is no better way of learning these than through working with a legal network of collection professionals.  The words of Ken Blanchard—renowned author, speaker and global leader in leadership training—certainly ring true in this business: “None of us is as smart as all of us.”  

Finding a nationwide legal network of professionals and attorneys in the industry will make your collections practice an evolving one—one that is aware of new industry trends and new approaches to successful recovery methods.  You will learn from each other and obtain valuable insight from collections professionals who will become trusted mentors.  These professional relationships will help grow your business and solidify its success. 

A legal network also adds that added punch to your collections attempts, encouraging delinquent customers to pay more quickly due to the multiple attorneys backing up the claim.  Everyone wants to avoid litigation (including you) and having a legal network on your side helps make your collection attempts more “pressing” to the average consumer who fails to pay their bills on time. 

Additionally, a legal network will be able to help you handle a wide variety of collections endeavors that might not be easy for a traditional debt collection firm to handle.  These include contracts, international collections, insurance subrogation, PPO claims and HMO disbursements, commercial/retail collections, and high technology accounts.  Legal networks also provide the necessary resources for skip tracing to find contact information for accounts in which the holder has moved or changed phone numbers and jobs.  This type of tracing is extremely valuable in tracking down non-paying customers who are able to ward off traditional debt collection strategies.  

What are some of the perks with working with a legal network instead of a traditional debt collection agency in collecting on unpaid debts?

Why Legal Networks Make More Sense than Collection Agencies in This Economic Period

Collecting debt can be a nightmare for many companies, especially when dealing with debt collection agencies that just don’t really care whether or not you ever see results and just want to take your hard earned money. That’s why it is important for you to choose the right fit, so that you not only collect what is owed, but also that you do not waste too much time in retrieving your money.

 

There are two main choices when getting help in collecting owed debt. You can choose to send your accounts to a debt collection agency or you can choose to use the services of a legal network. The advantage over having a legal network on your side is that it puts more pressure on the debtor to pay up. Imagine getting mail about a debt owed from an attorney or law office. This definitely will put a sense of urgency on the debtor to pay as soon as possible, while those getting letters from just an ordinary debt collection agency may not feel that same sense of urgency to pay up right away. 

In additions to that, a legal network can handle a wide variety of collections, including contracts, insurance subrogation, commercial collections, and high technology accounts. The network would also have a retail collections department. This department would help in collecting unsecured loans from finance companies and banks, as well as auto deficiency loans and credit card debt. 

A third department is the medical collection department that will work on a variety of medical finance issues. These would definitely include contract compliance, PPO appeals and HMO reimbursements. Most of your collection problems can easily be handled by one main office. That can make life a lot easier, when you have one main contact to call for questions.

Another advantage is that a legal network can implement skip tracing methods to track down debtors. This involves tracking down those that owe you or your company money. In order to achieve success in collecting on the delinquent accounts, it is imperative that the debtor be located. Debtors may change their phone number to an unlisted one or even move and change their address. They may believe that they have left you behind with no means of contact. While that would be the end of the story with an ordinary debt collection agency, with a legal network on your team, you can rest assured that debtors’ location will be tracked down in order to collect payment. There is really only one simple choice if you want to assure a high success rate of collecting debts, and that is to choose a legal network.