Archive for May, 2009

Know Your Debtor

Thursday, May 7th, 2009

When trying to collect on a receivable, you first need to gathered as much information about your debtor before you can formulate a plan to collect on the debtor.  Figure out what type of business they are - corporate entity or solo proprietorship.  Do they have various locations or just one location.  How do they normally pay you - checks, credit cards, money orders and etc.

Is the business relationship personally guaranteed.  Call their telephone number to see if they are still in business.  As the sale staff about the debtor’s business.  See if you can find out if there is a dispute or just a failure to pay your bills.

Knowing your debtor will help you plan your attack.  If the matter is a billing dispute then that is right up your alley.  If it involves something more than gathering the information will be useful if you need to outsource the matter to a law firm to collection on.

Corporate Claims

Thursday, May 7th, 2009

Lets face it, everyone of us who has worked in the accounting department of any company has had to deal with a stack outstanding receivables that we need to pursue.  In the collection world, these outstanding receivables as called corporate claims or commerical debt cause the debtor is a business and not an individual.  It helps to know what type of debt you have when dealing with collection attorneys or agencies.