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Settlements - End of Month

Date: Mon, 09/21/2009 - 10:24

Submitted by ball_mich
on Mon, 09/21/2009 - 10:24

Posts: 360 Credits: [Donate]

Total Replies: 12


People often say that settlement tend to improve at the end of the month. At what point does that start? Today is 9/21, so less than 10 days to the end of the month. No more movement from my creditors. Do I wait until 2-3 days before the end? In my limited experience the time it takes to get written agreements, etc, can easily go beyond 2-3 days... which is why I was trying to start this today.

Any thoughts here?


i work for a 3rd party CA and have for 3 years. I now collect on student loans but for over a year collected on credit cards. I remember definitely in the final business week of the month I would push my manager and sr managers to go "below blanket" so i could reach my fee goal when negotiating a settlement with a consumer. So I would say the final 3-5 collection days of the month and hopefully you'll find a needy collector who has pull or is "in" w his manager or higher ups.

A couple other points are as far as time for receiving documentation in writing. I remember we would fax out sif letters so the debtor would be able to get the fax in minutes or hours if they had to get to a fax machine. Then get the person back on the phone and run the payment thru crc or check.

Also some of the settlement factor depended on how much room above "z screen we had left". The z screen was the set percentage we could offer for a settlement without approval from a senior manager. This depended on how much of a set amount we had either settled during the month and that set percentage up until that month due to creditor stipulating we couldnt end up below a total percentage of settlements for the entire month or batch of accounts we received on a certain date from them.

So in closing, call late in the month, find a collector who is close to goal and can push to be the one to use up the settlement allotment and don't budge on what you want to settle for. If it doesnt happen this month maybe next. The first of the month opens up a lot of room percentage wise for CA's for settlements.

It is really a call of chance and good timing, some of which is out of your hands.

GOOD LUCK!!!

ps
i almost forgot, the ultimate time to settle(and this is completey something you would have no idea is happening unless you happened to be calling at the most opportune time) I remember was when we would be ending contracts with clients(creditors). Either we would be stopping biz w the company or we would lose the bidding on a companies contract and of course or management would wait till the last couple days before we were done with the contract, but it was like a if you offer anything w will take it and with documentation in writing just to liquate as much as we could before we cut ties. Sometime the company would stipulate to stop all below blankets. Example: I had a 3000 crc debt and prev had not been able to go below a 75 percent sif.(2250 dollars). When we were told we were losing the contract I was able to get a 30 percent sif with the consumer.(900 dollars).


lrhall41

Submitted by on Mon, 09/21/2009 - 18:10

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The problem with faxing the settlement letter, is that I don't have a dedicated fax line at home. I have to call my wife, have her run home to set up the fax machine. And then I don't see it until that night when I get home. And if I disagree with the way it's written or have changes, then you have to repeat the process again the next day. I went through this with my BofA settlement and it was a bit painful and it stretched out almost a week because of this process.

I asked if they could just email it to me, so I could turn it around quickly, but they stated they can't email these documents... only fax or USPS. This is why I'm hesitant to wait until a couple of days before month end.


lrhall41

Submitted by ball_mich on Wed, 09/23/2009 - 12:24

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There are some fax to email programs out there, but they all seem to charge a fee (usually after a 30 day trial period). I'm just wary of taking on another payment. And the sites that look to be "Free" with no charges, seem to be based overseas. And I'm even more wary of sending personal information to them, even if only my name and email address.

Is anyone using a good, free fax to email program/provider?


lrhall41

Submitted by ball_mich on Thu, 09/24/2009 - 14:47

( Posts: 360 | Credits: )