[aageneral] Collecting Past Due Accounts - Please Make Me Pay this bill

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COLLECTING PAST DUE ACCOUNTS – Please, Please Make Me Pay This Bill!
By Jim Finucan
© 2005 Tiare Publications
472 words

If you listen "between the lines" you can sometimes hear a debtor
saying this. It's a cry for help you're hearing, even though they
may not be saying it in so many words. In fact, they might be saying
something completely irresponsible. It's as if they hate themselves
Offering some phony excuse. The more carefully you listen for this
hidden message the more easily you can spot it.

Reflecting this back to the debtor can have a very powerful effect.
Often it will soften even those who are the most hostile and make
them ready to listen to a solution you offer, perhaps even making
them agree to sending the balance in full.

Listen for those times when a debtor indicates he really wants you
to collect but doesn't come right out and say so. He may give you
what sounds like another whining excuse but you may be able to hear
the hidden cry for help. He's caught up in a thought pattern that
encourages complacency and inactivity.

Sometimes the debtor may even come across as trying to apologize,
trying to tell you how sorry he is about the delinquency. The debtor
feels bad because he knows he has the capacity to pay but he just
doesn't want to part with the money. Your reaction should be to ask
the debtor how badly he really feels. He needs your help to get
over this hurdle.

This is the time to bring your skills into play, restore the
debtor's self esteem and give him hope.

"OK, Mr. Jones. You own your own home and you've been making
payments on this diligently. You could refinance your home, pay off
this bill and any others you may have and be done with it."

The debtor may respond by saying something like:

"I don't want to refinance. I could lose my house."

"Not at all, Mr. Jones. Many people refinance when mortgage rates
drop. When interest rates go down more of your money goes to paying
down the principal. Your monthly payment could even drop. Besides,
if your wages are garnished and you lose 25% of your income would
you still be able to make all those payments? What would the bank
say if you should decide to refinance after someone has had to take
a judgment on you."

Or, the debtor might come at you with:

"Quit calling me, damn it! I don't have the money right now. I'd pay
it but you can't get blood out of a turnip."

"Mr. Jones, a turnip doesn't have a job that gives it a paycheck
every Friday. Now, you said you'd pay it if you could. Do you really
mean that or were those just empty words?

Now shift the call into talking about how he is, in fact, able to
pay and the assets he has.

(End)

Let 15-year collections pro Jim Finucan show you how to double –
even triple-- the amount of money you collect from your accounts
receivable. Check out his unique collections manual "Past Due!" It
shows you how to turn their excuses to your advantage! For more
information visit: http://www.tiare.com/pastdue.htm

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