Atlas has been involved with the collection of local and regional rental property accounts since I came to work here in 1993. We have increased our presence in this market substantially over the years to more than some 300 proprty owners of all sizes (1 to 200 units) as our clients.
Recovery success can vary as widely as does the quality of the information that is brought to us. Expectations are always high, but sometimes just not realistic. We, at Atlas, have always tried to be realists and not overstate any potential collection percentages or even success in finding the "lost sheep" that were once your renters.
Hopefully, I can give you a couple of ideas to help increase your returns and make the whole event of collections simpler and more profitable for you.
(Overview) -
Many of these types of accounts require "skiptracing". Skiptracing is an attempt to track down a piece of information on a given individual to be used to contact them. Skiptrace information may include phone numbers, addresses, or place of employment. This procedure can be time consuming and require access to many databases of information and contacts. I would always encourage you to try collecting the debt prior to engaging our services. This will give you perspective as to what it takes to accomplish our job sometimes. Your collection efforts will also give you peace of mind that you have done all you can. Individual property owners do this on many other property repair issues, so collections should work this way also. My father told me, "Don't pay someone to do something that you are capable of doing yourself, but dont flood or burn your own house down either.". Great words of wisdom from a great man. Thanks Dad!
(Leases and Information) -
There are four pieces of information you should have when turning in an account:
- Copy of a signed Lease and signed Disclaimer if not part of the Lease.
- Copy of a Final Bill (Damage Deposit Letter) * This should show all charges and deduction of the damage deposit if one existed.
- Judgment papers (if in court prior to turning over)
- Rental Application or Demographic Information on debtors (i.e. SSN, Place of Employment, Phone Number, Forwarding Adrerss(es), etc.)
Many new clients have come to us with one piece of the information listed above. Some we get a handwritten bill and a name. The quality of the information usually has a direct correlation to the amount we recover. Establishing a starting point along with having a hard target is very important. The two most important pieces of information to keep is SSN and Place of Employment on "ALL" signers of the lease. Having this information allows Atlas Collections, Inc to quickly begin serving your collection needs.
(Speed and Timing) -
We are always in competition with other agencies and attorney's chasing the same debtors. "First in, First Wins" many times. If we happen to set behind a large garnishment because you tried to collect it on your own for two years, you may have just put yourself in a position of having to wait for many more years for an existing garnishment to pay off. You need to act on these accounts as soon as possible. Being a nice guy usually just means you are not going to be paid. I have heard "I was just trying to be nice or help them out" many times. If someone stole $500 out of your wallet, you would move fast to recover or report it. You should act with the same urgency on $500 owed to you on these types of accounts also.
Our team at Atlas Collections, Inc looks forward to helping you with any issues you have. If there are questions we cannot answer, our team of attorney's are always a phone call away to assist us with a recommendation.
- Al Holdren
Vice President & Director of Sales
