August, 2024

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More Consumers Tapping Credit Cards to Make Ends Meet: Report

Account Recovery

A recent field note from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston reveals that, despite a significant drop in inflation, 59% of U.S. adults surveyed in May are still highly concerned about future price increases. This concern persists even though the inflation rate decreased from a peak of 9% in June 2022 to about 3% by June 2023. As inflation rates have gradually declined over the past two years, households remain significantly concerned about rising prices, with many turning to credit cards and loan

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Growth and learning are part of building a career here

American Profit Recovery

By Ian: Just over four months ago, I joined the customer service team at American Profit Recovery. I was immediately impressed by the warmth and helpfulness of my colleagues – I’ve enjoyed getting to know them and learning from them, and it’s easy to see why they get such great reviews from our clients. As someone who is new to the collections industry and new to customer service, I wasn’t sure what to expect when I started, other than that it would be unique compared to any work I had done befo

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The Role of Credit Management in Ensuring Business Longevity

Enterprise Recovery

Credit management is a vital aspect of financial health for any business, influencing cash flow, profitability, and overall stability. Effective credit management ensures a company can meet its obligations to suppliers, employees, and creditors while maintaining the liquidity necessary for day-to-day operations. Let's explore how strategic credit management can propel your business toward sustained success and stability.

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CFPB Takes Action to Stop Contract-for-Deed Investors from Setting Borrowers Up to Fail

Consumer Finance

The CFPB released an advisory opinion and research report on a form of home seller financing that is often referred to as contract for deed.

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Solve Your Firm's Automation Complexities Once and For All

Speaker: Mark Stovel

When it comes to automating, many firms focus on finding the latest tech, believing that efficiency is something achieved through new tools. Yet true efficiency is achieved by delivering real value to clients, not merely by upgraded systems. Without a clear approach, no level of automation can overcome the complexities of serving every client’s needs.

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2.7m Debt Cases passed to Bailiffs by Councils

UK debt collections

More than 2.7 million debts were referred to bailiffs by local authorities in England and Wales during the 2022/23 financial year, according to new research conducted by the Money Advice Trust , the charity that runs National Debtline, and the Centre for Social Justice think-tank. The findings, based on Freedom of Information requests to local authorities, form part of wider research into council tax debt and collection practices published by the Centre for Social Justice, which reveals that 1.3

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CFPB Fines Lender $2.25M for Misleading Veterans on Loan Costs

Account Recovery

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau yesterday announced a $2.25 million civil penalty against New Day Financial for deceiving veterans and active-duty servicemembers in connection with cash-out refinance loans. This action comes after the CFPB found that the lender provided misleading cost comparisons to borrowers in North Carolina, Maine, and Minnesota, falsely making its loans appear less expensive than they were.

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Top 10 reasons using a debt collection agency is better than going it alone

American Profit Recovery

Why should my business use a collection agency? That’s a question we hear often. The fact is there are enormous benefits to outsourcing your debt collections for a small business and even a larger organization. Having a reputable debt collection agency represent your business is one of the smartest moves you can make. It can improve your cash flow, save you time and money, and protect you from legal challenges.

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Steps to Rebuild Your Business Credit Score

Enterprise Recovery

A business credit score is crucial for your company's financial health and reputation. It reflects your ability to manage credit responsibly and can impact your ability to secure financing, negotiate favorable terms with suppliers, and attract potential business partners. A strong business credit score demonstrates your reliability as a borrower and opens up opportunities for growth and expansion.

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CFPB Takes Action Against Credit Repair Cloud and CEO Daniel Rosen for Enabling Credit Repair Companies that Harvest Illegal Fees

Consumer Finance

The CFPB filed a proposed order to resolve its lawsuit against Credit Repair Cloud and CEO Daniel Rosen for assisting businesses that charge illegal advance fees to consumers.

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Top 3 Banking Secrets to Stay Relevant with Gen Z Consumers

Speaker: Brian Muse-McKenney, Chief Revenue Officer & Matt Simester, Cards and Payments Expert

In today’s world of social media, dating apps, and remote work, businesses risk becoming irrelevant (or getting "ghosted") if they fail to meet the evolving needs of Gen Z consumers. Credit cards with flexible payment options, especially for young adults with little-to-no credit history, are a particularly important and valuable solution for this generation.

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Contractor wins Late Payments legal dispute

UK debt collections

An East Grinstead contractor has successfully overturned a legal decision that found it was wrong to terminate its contract with a housing association over repeated late payments. The dispute arose from a JCT contract between Providence Building Services Limited and Hexagon Housing Association Limited (Hexagon) for the construction of buildings in Purley, valued at £7.2m.

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Two-fer: Law Firms Need to Consider the Second Phase of the Client Intake Process

NCBA Law Practice Management Blog

Generally speaking, most law firm intake systems need a whole heck of a lot of work. But, while many law firms lose leads through their client journey, that probably could have been converted – there is one thing that law firms usually get right, in the intake process. Law firms tend to generate short initial intake forms, which is great – because legal consumers don’t want to jump through a lot of hoops before they’re allowed to talk to their potential attorney.

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Suit Accuses CRAs, Collection Operation of Not Investigating Dispute on Three Occasions

Account Recovery

EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is part of a series that is sponsored by WebRecon. WebRecon identifies serial plaintiffs lurking in your database BEFORE you contact them and expose yourself to a likely lawsuit. Protect your company from as many as one in three new consumer lawsuits by scrubbing your consumers through WebRecon first. Want to learn more? Call (855) WEB-RECON or email admin@webrecon.net today!

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A culture of helping makes this one of the best places to work

American Profit Recovery

American Profit Recovery is a great place to build a career. Since 2008 we have been ranked as one of the best places to work in collections. And that comes straight from our team members. For over a decade, we’ve gone through a time-consuming survey process that methodically ranks the best places to work in the collection industry. And it is well worth the effort.

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How Collection Agencies Minimize Effort and Maximize Results with the Right Software

Navigating collections in the dynamic financial landscape presents multifaceted challenges. Organizations face pressures to maintain standards alongside software challenges like regulatory adaptations, data integration, security, workflow optimization, and automation. Finding the right software can save time and money. BEAM offers a comprehensive solution with specialized modules to streamline debt collection effortlessly.

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Top 5 Financial Mistakes Businesses Make and How to Avoid Them

Enterprise Recovery

Navigating the financial landscape of business operations can be daunting, regardless of the company's size. From small startups to large corporations, financial challenges constantly require careful planning and strategic decision-making. Whether managing cash flow, setting financial goals, staying compliant with taxes, or planning for growth, businesses must proactively address these challenges to ensure long-term success and sustainability.

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CFPB Takes Action Against Fay Servicing for Illegal Foreclosure Actions and Violating Law Enforcement Order

Consumer Finance

The CFPB ordered Fay Servicing to pay a $2 million penalty for violations of mortgage servicing laws, and for violations of a 2017 agency order.

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Overdue Invoices in Scotland reaching high levels

UK debt collections

The number of overdue invoices in Scotland has reached its highest level this year, according to new research from R3, the UK’s insolvency and restructuring trade body. R3’s analysis of data provided by Creditsafe shows that businesses in Scotland had 538,172 unpaid invoices on their books last month – the highest monthly total in 2024 so far. Unpaid Invoices in Scotland Overdue invoices in Scotland increased by 27.7% in July 2024 when compared to July 2023’s figure of 421,501.

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How to Get the Most Impact When Working to Improve Your Credit Score

Direct Recovery

Working to improve your credit score can be a difficult undertaking due to the fact that you never really know for sure how much impact any given action will have on your score, or how long it will take for those changes to show up. If you are working to improve your score, you likely have a target number in mind and a deadline you need to hit, which means that you absolutely must get the most impact possible on every action you take.

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From Complexity to Clarity: Strategies for Effective Compliance and Security Measures

Speaker: Erika R. Bales, Esq.

When we talk about “compliance and security," most companies want to ensure that steps are being taken to protect what they value most – people, data, real or personal property, intellectual property, digital assets, or any other number of other things - and it’s more important than ever that safeguards are in place. Let’s step back and focus on the idea that no matter how complicated the compliance and security regime, it should be able to be distilled down to a checklist.

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Judge Grants MTD in FDCPA Case Over Whether ‘Not a Good Time to Talk’ Made Future Calls Inconvenient

Account Recovery

In a case that was defended by the team at Martin Golden Lyons Watts Morgan, a District Court judge in Oklahoma has granted a defendant’s motion to dismiss a Fair Debt Collection Practices Act case, ruling the defendant did not violate the statute when it contacted the plaintiff and left a voicemail at roughly the same time of day that the plaintiff had previously indicated that it wasn’t “a good time to talk.” The background: The plaintiff received a call from the defend

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Debt Collection: The Art and Science of Mental Rehearsal

American Profit Recovery

What is Mental Rehearsal? When learning about mental rehearsal, it’s important to understand that it is a proven tactic that can help anyone who wants to improve the way they perform. It has been put through the process of the scientific method with consistently reproducible results. Mental Rehearsal Definition Mental rehearsal is the act of using your internal voice and practicing a task inside your mind without the need to physically act it out.

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Flip the Switch: Payment Automation is the Solution for Eliminating Accounts Receivable

NCBA Law Practice Management Blog

Lawyers generally work really hard for their clients, to turn around work product. And then, they wait. and, wait. and, wait: to get paid. That’s largely because, while attorneys have been able to build out most of the payment process, the last part – you know, the part where the law firm actually gets paid – is still most ly entirely dependent on the client.

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CFPB Report Finds Large Retail Chains Charging Cash-back Fees to Customers Using Debit and Prepaid Cards

Consumer Finance

The CFPB published a new report finding Americans are paying tens of millions of dollars in fees to access their own money when getting “cash back” at large retail stores when making a purchase with a debit or prepaid card.

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When It Comes to Collections Software, “Good Enough” Isn’t Good Enough

Are you finding some snags in your collections process? With delinquencies, and the number of consumers looking for payment assistance on the rise, it may be time to consider an efficient cloud-based software to support your team. Learn how MeridianLink® Collect has helped financial institutions like yours streamline collections processes.

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Report estimates 110,000 SMEs at risk of Insolvency

UK debt collections

A new SME insights report by Dojo has revealed that an estimated 110,940 SMEs are at risk of going bust due to having no cash left to support business operations. The study also revealed that over 30% of SMEs cited rising inflation and high interest rates as their biggest challenge for 2024. Additionally, 1 in 6 SME owners felt unconfident to some extent in their understanding of the term ‘cash runway’ – the number of months a business has until cash runs out. 2% of businesses said that they hav

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Differences Between Commercial and Consumer Debt Collection

Direct Recovery

The debt collection process is a necessary evil for anyone who extends credit to clients, customers, or other businesses. In an ideal world, everyone would earn plenty of money to pay all of their obligations on time, but in the real world, we are not always quite so fortunate. When things get difficult and payments are missed, debt collectors are the ones that get tasked with tracking and collecting what is owed as efficiently as possible.

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California Legislature Sends Medical Debt Credit Reporting Bill to Governor for Approval

Account Recovery

California is poised to become the eighth state to ban medical debt from appearing on credit reports, pending Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature. Both houses of the state legislature have passed SB 1061, although there were some amendments, to the disappointment of the bill’s sponsor, that changed how medical debt is defined under the proposal.

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Mechanic’s Liens vs. Payment Bonds: Which is better for getting paid in Massachusetts?

Collections Law

When you’re struggling to collect on a business debt, sometimes, you need to rely on effective tools and creative strategies. Our aggressive and relentless commercial collections attorneys have more than 50 years of combined experience. They employ innovative and ethical debt collection tactics, as allowed under state and federal laws to facilitate payments for their clients in Massachusetts.

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10 Ways to Improve Payment Collections with Salesforce

For finance teams using Salesforce’s powerful CRM technology, automation can transform accounts receivable processes, driving efficiency and delivering measurable results like cost savings, reduced customer churn, and lower DSO.