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Deciding to instruct a debt recovery agency can be quite daunting, especially if you have always kept your collections process in-house. Handing the debt over to an agency to pursue can feel quite risky and you may question: will they ruin my relationship with my customer? will they be too aggressive?
Unfortunately, the perception of debt recovery agencies isn’t always positive, due to a few rogue agencies giving us a bad name. However, if you find the right debt recovery agency, you won’t need to worry.
To help you choose the right debt recovery agency, we have put together some key advice about what you should be looking out for:
How long have they been trading?
Although the length of trading doesn’t necessarily indicate an agency’s success, it can show how successful they are and that they have the right experience under their belt.
It’s important that you don’t just choose an agency because they have 20 years’ experience. Do some research:
- Do they have testimonials on their website?
- Do they have case studies on their website showing how they’ve helped their clients and how successful they were with the recovery?
- What do their Google Reviews look like? Are they all positive or are there some negative ones?
- What does their social media look like? Do they have negative Facebook reviews or people leaving negative comments on their posts?
What are their fees?
Not all debt recovery agencies work in the same way when it comes to fees. Some agencies will want to charge you upfront for the work they will undertake, however, agencies like us work on a no collection, no fee basis. This mean that if we aren’t successful then you don’t pay us a penny. Our fee is based on a successful outcome so we charge a percentage of the money recovered.
By working with an agency that offers a no collection, no fee basis, you can ensure that they are working their hardest for you because if they don’t, they won’t be getting paid.
Any good agency will review your debt(s) and give you honest advice on the likelihood of recovery before they get to work. They should also discuss the percentage they charge if they are successful so you shouldn’t have any nasty shocks when the invoice comes in.
What methods do they use to collect the debt?
One of the biggest worries that businesses have when passing their debts over to agencies is will they be too aggressive and as a result, will I lose my customer?
Again, like the fees, different agencies will use different methods to recover your monies. Some may choose a more aggressive approach, however, others like us will use both knowledge and reputation to try and achieve a positive outcome without the need for legal proceedings.
We often recover monies owed to our clients by approaching debtors with an attitude of understanding and opening the lines of communications with them. By dealing with the debtor in a professional manner, your relationship with that particular customer remains unharmed.
We actually have a number of clients who were originally debtors that we collected monies from!
Hopefully, this blog has been useful and you now know what you should be looking out for when searching for a debt recovery agency to suit your business.
If you would like to discuss any of your overdue invoices, please contact our team on 0800 009 6106 or hello@mydebtrecovery.co.uk to see how we can help.
