The Very Basics Of Debt Collection Part One
This is the first article in a three part series on the very basic facts of debt collection. When you take out an account, and don’t pay your account bills on time, the account goes delinquent and your bills turn into debt. A debt collector is a person whose job it is to try and get in contact with you and get that money back, or in layman’s terms, collect the debt.
Debt collectors can also be called bill collectors, account collectors, or collection agents. A lot of debt collectors work for third party collection companies. A creditor is the financial institute that you originally set up your account with. For example, you set up an account with a contractor to do work on your house. When you don’t pay your bills, this creditor will often hire outside of their company to get their debt collected, especially if their accounts receivable department is small.
Other collectors are employed directly by the original creditors. These agents are called in house collectors. Typically companies with in house collectors are finance based institutions like health care providers, utility companies, or credit card and mortgage companies. In house collectors are working straight for the creditors, while third party collectors are working for their own collection agency, so both sets of collectors must follow different guidelines and regulations concerning debt and directing payment.
If you are being contacted by a debt collector, try to determine if they are calling on behalf of the original creditor or a third party debt collection agency so you have a better idea how to proceed. If you are dealing with a third party debt collection agency for example, you are always going to pay the agency, not the creditor.
Collectors working under the creditors do not always have to adhere to all of the rules of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, while collectors working for a third party collection agency must. Mail from a creditor informing you that you owe a payment may be marked accordingly, while mail coming from a third party debt collection company can’t indicate that it is an attempt to collect money. To Be Continued In Parts Two And Three
Mallory Megan works for Rapid Recovery Solution and writes articles about medical collection agencies. This article, The Very Basics Of Debt Collection Part One is available for free reprint.
Investing In Bonds- How Is It Done And Is It Safe?
Stocks and bonds. You have doubtlessly heard of them, and if you have been reading my articles, you know what they are. If you haven’t, here’s a quick update: stocks represent a fraction of ownership in a company, and a bond represents money that a company “borrowed” and has to pay back on set dates. You may have heard that bonds are “safer” to invest in than stocks, but is this true? How are bonds traded, and what are the differences between a stock market and a bond market? Hopefully, this article can put these questions to rest.
Unlike the stock market, bonds markets do not usually have a centralized trading system. Instead, bonds will be traded in decentralized, dealer based over the counter markets. When an investor buys or sells a bond, the counter party to the trade is almost always a bank acting as a dealer. Another difference between bond markets and stock markets is that sometimes investors don’t pay broker’s fees to dealers with whom they buy or sell bonds. Instead, the dealers get their money by collecting the spread, which is the difference between the price at which the dealer buys a bond from one investor and the price at which he sells the same bond to another investor.
In terms of volatility, bonds are usually somewhat safer than stocks, especially short and medium dated bonds, but the value of stocks can definitely change. Bonds are liquid – it’s fairly simple to sell a bond investment, and the safety of a fixed interest payment that you will receive twice a year is attractive. Bondholders additionally enjoy certain legal protections: in the United States if a company goes bankrupt, its bondholders will be paid before stockholders because they are creditors.
But, bonds also come with their risks. Fixed rate bonds are subject to interest rate risk, which means that their market prices will shrink in value when the interest rates rise. Bonds can also be subject to other risk factors such as call and prepayment risk, reinvestment risk, event risk, liquidity risk, credit risk, inflation risk, yield curve risk, volatility risk and sovereign risk. Price changes in a bond can also affect mutual funds that hold these bonds immediately. If the value of the bonds in a trading portfolio has plummeted over the day, the value of the portfolio will also have fallen.
Finally, in the case of bankruptcy, because there is a hierarchy of creditors that must be paid that bondholders are not on top of, there is no guarantee of how much money will go to repay the bondholders even though the money will go to them first before shareholders. Bondholders have been known to lose some or all of their money when this happens.
Mallory Megan works for Rapid Recovery Solution and writes articles on nationwide collection agencies. Check here for free reprint licence: Investing In Bonds- How Is It Done And Is It Safe?.
Filing For Bankruptcy? A List Of DONT’S Pt. 2
Don’t pay back family members. The thing is that they can not be treated any differently than other creditors. As far as the law is concerned, relatives have the same legal status as every creditor that you owe. Therefore, relatives can not be treated differently than all of the other places. I know that stinks, but it’s the law.
Do NOT liquidate your retirement account! They are typically exempt property in a bankruptcy regardless of what chapter you file, so it is not necessary to do this. Some people liquidate and still owe huge amounts of money, and if you withdraw these funds early that makes you fully liable for penalties and taxes which might not be discharged in the bankruptcy.
Don’t transfer property out of your name before you file bankruptcy. This action can be undone if a fair price isn’t received, or if it were made with intent to defraud, delay, or hinder a creditor. Friends and relatives fall into this category too.
Do not utilize your equity line of credit to pay off your the money you owe. Under most federal and state law, you will have the option to claim exemption for the equity in your home. So you can go through bankruptcy and still be able to have this equity.
So basically, if you use your equity line to pay off money you owe or to take out a second mortgage, you will for the most part be converting debt that would have been discharged in bankruptcy into debt which you will still need to pay so you can hold on to your home.
And one last do: Always speak to your attorney with honesty and make them fully aware of all of your concerns. Courts take their rules seriously and have the ability to file criminal charges if intention fraud is committed. And even if they don’t go that far, they can refuse to discharge a particular debt, or simply dismiss the entire case.
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Everything You Need To Know About Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is generally seen as a quick fix solution to financial problems. Yet the effects of bankruptcy are long term and can hinder your ability to get employment, house, and any type of credit. It is important to weigh the pros and the cons of bankruptcy before making a major choice.
It is a fact that bankruptcy comes with a number of benefits. First and foremost it annihilates most of your debt. It can aid you with repossessions, missed debt payments, defaults and lawsuits. It can get you started on rehabiliation if you have poor credit.
Bankruptcy will hinder the phone calls from creditors, collections letters, repossessions, declined charge authorizations, cancelled credit cards, and lawsuits. You can also keep your car if you keep up on the payment; bankruptcy will also allow you to keep your home if you remain current on the payments.
Bankruptcy allows you to stop foreclosure and permits you to make monthly payments on amounts you have owed in the past. Finally, it stops creditors from making a claim after it is filed, even if your financial situation changes.
Conversely, bankruptcy law can offer a “fresh start” but only every six years in most cases. Bankruptcy will stay on your credit report for ten years and hurts your credit rating severly. Additionally, filing bankruptcy may require a wait of two years before it is possible to buy a home. Some lenders allow for home loans after one year however.
Bankruptcy does not wipe out most tax debt. It does not clear away student loan debt. It requires that you give up your credit cards. It might cause you to lose some of your things, and unfortunately bankruptcy carries a stigma that can be embarrassing.
If you are not positive whether you should file for bankruptcy or not, get in touch with your creditors to see what type of repayment plan they can come up for you. While bankruptcy is an option, in most cases it should be seen as a last resort.
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