Debt Collection Agencies Step Up To Bat As Young Adults Slip More And More Into Debt
For American individuals just starting out, the most current analysis of trends in our economy points to the fact that incomes are decreasing. Many financial analysts and leaders in the collections industry have reason to believe that this paradigm change will be a permanent one. Out of all of the demographics in the United States, young adults are the most uninsured when it comes to health care coverage. A massive thirty percent of these individuals have absolutely no insurance to speak of. And even though a large portion of uninsured young people are employed, many have just begun their careers and work at low wage jobs for employers who offer limited or no health care benefits.
From the perspective of the collections industry, this new economic change has the capacity to have massive ramifications. With this many young adults currently scrambling to pay for day to day expenses, let alone medical bills, analysts are predicting that their personal debt will blow up to massive proportions. As health care prices spike it is key to keep in mind that uninsured young people are twice as likely as those with privatized health insurance to have little to no education beyond high school. Not only will these people not have coverage, but their lack of education will limit their earnings potential in the future as the job market grows more and more competitive. This, coupled with young people’s financial inexperience makes them prime territory for debt collectors.
Yet another factor is the credit industry itself. With the CARD Act and America’s financial woes, stricter credit standards have been imposed and will most likely make it more difficult for many young people to obtain credit or loans for “good debts,” any type of productive debt that could improve an individual’s situation such as a mortgage for a home or a loan for post graduate education. As debt collectors struggle to wrap their heads around all of the economic changes, advances in technology make debt collection practices and their regulations (The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act) seem dated. One blaring example of this fact is the existence of cell phones. The FDCPA was written in the 1970s and as a result does not have stipulations guiding cell phone calls, and it is estimated that over forty percent of consumers do not have landlines at this moment. Out of everyone, young people are the least likely to have landlines and therefore the trickiest to get in touch with.
One way that leaders of the collection industry are attempting to address this difficulty is by creating more methodical profiling systems to aid debt collection companies when they are trying to collect on these accounts with an active cell phone number. Better, more efficient communications with credit bureaus will help them determine if the debtor has obtained a new address or phone number.
Because this is a time to think outside the box, the collections industry can be likened to the wild west. It seems that these days, anything goes.With advances accelerating faster and faster, the smartest debt collection agencies are gearing up for younger adults, attempting to use the ways that these individuals prefer to do business and communicate. Some bill collectors are thinking about utilizing text messages, and many companies have recently added online systems to their businesses that permits consumers to make payments over the internet, rather than deal with a bill collector in person or via United States Postal Mail.
Rapid Recovery Solution is a credit collection agencies
What To Do If You Have A Bill Collector On The Phone
If you owe money to a creditor debt collectors are permitted to report your debt to credit bureaus, file lawsuits against you, and should be taken extremely seriously. The best way to protect yourself and your financial situation is a methodical approach. First, know why you are being contacted. Know where the debt is from and exactly how much it costs.
Ask for the name of the person calling, the agency, the creditor, and the agency’s address and fax number. You have the right to tell a collector over the phone that you want all future contact to be in writing. Follow up all requests with a written request.
Try to remember that if you ask the collector not to contact you at all it the agency has the authority to contact you once more to inform you how it plans to proceed. Another request that can be made is that you are the only person that should be contacted. It may be a good idea to keep a file including dates and details of phone conversations and when you mail out or receive letters.
If you do send any correspondence to the collections agency do this by Certified Mail, Return Receipt Requested. This ensures that the letter reached the collector, giving you a signed receipt as proof. If you negotiate a re-payment plan over the phone, ask for the terms of the plan in writing. Any promise to remove or adjust credit history should also definitely be documented.
Be sure that you pay the correct party; payments are usually made to the debt collection agency, not the creditor, unless you are otherwise instructed to do so. Carefully look over the amount you are being asked to pay. Get an assessment of any interest, fees or charges that have been added.
If you feel that your collector is being abusive, be certain to complain to the agency and keep this complaint on file. But most importantly, don’t ever ignore a bill collector even if you think that the debt isn’t yours; they will continue to contact you and it may mean more trouble and time in the long run.
Rapid Recovery Solution is a third party collection agency.
Recent Report Reveals Bleak News About Foreclosure
Recent research by RealtyTrac Year-End 2009 Foreclosure Market Report reveals that 3,957,643 foreclosure filings were reported on 2,824,674 U.S. properties in 2009. This includes scheduled foreclosure auctions, default notices and bank repossessions.
That’s a twenty one percent increase in properties from numbers in information collected in 2008, and a one hundred and twenty percent increase in total properties from 2007. The report also showed that one in forty five housing units, 2.21 percent, had at least one foreclosure filing during 2009, up from 2008′s 1.48 percent and 2007′s 1.03 percent.
In the month of December alone, the foreclosure filings were reported totaled 349,519 properties in December. That’s a fourteen percent jump from the previous month of November and a fifteen percent increase from 2008. Despite this, even though there was an increase in December, foreclosure activity in the fourth quarter of 2008 has decreased by seven percent.
Of all of the states, Nevada claimed the nation’s highest state foreclosure rate; more than ten percent of housing units received at least one foreclosure filing in 2009. That makes Nevada’s third consecutive year at the top of the foreclosure list. Nevada’s foreclosure activity in December increased twenty seven percent from the previous month, but still was down by twenty two percent from December of 08.
Arizona claimed the nation’s second highest state foreclosure rate in 2009 with more than six percent of properties receiving at least one foreclosure filing during 2009, and Florida claimed the nation’s third highest foreclosure rate at 5.93 percent of its properties getting at least one foreclosure during the filing year.
Clearly, this raises concerns in the debt collection industry. Recent trends have illustrated that consumers are raising up their credit debt and low balling their assets to receive lower payment plans. The fact that they are maxing out their credit cards to receive lower payment plans does not look promising.
Mallory Megan is employed by a debt collection agency. Also she composes stories on business, finance, consumer spending and collection agencies.