For the same reason it is occasionally correct to hire an attorney on contingency. He isn't a collections agency and didn't know that it was going to end in a judicial remedy... That's just the route they've gone.

I should have probably mentioned that I am a landlord and the judgement is for collection of unpaid rents. I'm just confused why the collection agency is asking me to sign over the rights to the judgement to them. It's seems kinda shady.

Really enjoying this thread mate. Found it on google and joined the forum in the hope you can give me some tips as I'm looking to do the same in the Uk. How do you approach prospective clients with a view to buying their debt? Do you just send out a competitive tender? Are they apprenhensive about selling debt to you (a relatively new company)?

Many thanks

Thanks man.
As for buying debt, I'm sure the rules are different in the UK. I took a different route though. I worked debt on contingency long before I ever bought my own. By the time I purchased any of my own debt I already had a pretty good reputation in the industry.

Over here in the USA, if you have the cash, somebody will sell you a portfolio. They don't care about your business plan as long as you come with cash in hand and can convince them you won't get them in legal trouble. So purchasing debt isn't the issue if you have the cash... the issue is finding the debt at a good price, and making sure it is legit. It is much harder when you go in under-capitalized like I did and try to convince owners of debt to let you work their debt on contingency...

Thanks for this thread. Any updates?

I am in a similar situation, I'm looking to start up a consumer debt focused collection agency on Long Island to collect on debt that an affiliated investor group will purchase ongoing but I wish I knew someone like your friend because I need an experienced manager to help start it up and run it. I can finance it. Any suggestions where to look for someone like that?

Thanks!

Updates soon. As for your question, I would think nowhere. You really can't find anybody that is going to run an agency for you if you have no idea what you are doing and don't trust them completely. Why is an affiliated investor group purchasing debt ongoing when you don't have experience? The whole thing sounds kind of weird and I'd need more info.

Good question. I left some things out. I own/run an investment brokerage. We have clients/investors that we manage money for. One of the things we do is create limited partnerships that invest in various alternative asset classes and our investors invest in these partnerships. I have experience purchasing debt and I'm in the process of setting up a new partnership to purchase various consumer portfolios. As part of this plan I want to set up a captive agency. Make a little more sense?

Yes, it does. However, you aren't ever going to get a captive agency that is performing at a high level already. The only captives you would be able to get are companies and startups that are not able to get clients anywhere else. I would never be captive, and very few successful owners are. Not to say it couldn't happen, just thta it most likely wouldn't. There are a lot of successful agencies out there that would gladly take on another client, but very few that would give up their existing clients in order to get one. You will also be exclusively looking at extremely small agencies for that type of set up.
I suggest opening up to becoming a client of a few already successful agencies, and accept the fact that they may need to have additional clients in addition to you.
Feel free to PM me.
Andrew

First real update of the new year;
As somebody mentioned earlier in the thread, naming the company after myself was a mixed bag as far as results go. When I started out, I named the company after myself in order to build recognition and make a name for myself as far as attracting clients was concerned. As of 2 weeks ago, I have contracted with one of the top 3 PayDayLoan debt purchasers in the nation. There is literally no client I can get that is going to be better than them. Because of this, I have taken the advice of my attorney and am creating a new LLC with my name nowhere on it. My reputation in this field is immaculate and I have no reason to put my name out there and risk future lawsuits.

A few big changes as well... we moved out of my old office and as of this past Monday have moved into a new one. The new office can hold 22 collectors, two managers and a private office for myself. The old office had room for 13 collectors, one manager and myself with no private office and a very crappy layout. I'm extremely happy with the new office; it looks a lot more professional. The old office gave off the vibe that the power could get cut off at any minute regardless of how successful we were. We also now have room to expand more. New office cost me 14k to build including computers and phones, but I am happy with the way it turned out for certain. We also purchased our own software rather than leasing it as we have been doing, and now operate on our own server rather than in the cloud which is cheaper and more secure. Total software investment is 7k plus 400 per month in server upkeep as opposed to the 2k per month we were paying to lease a different software.

We have started purchasing more debt and are working that now, in addition to working much better debt on contingency. We are also beginning to branch out into other asset classes and are experimenting with credit card collections. Payday Loans are extremely lucrative, but they may not be around forever and I want to stay open if they go away.

It's been a good 16 months so far. I honestly didn't expect to make it this far. I honestly feel I'm one of the best in the PDL space at what I do now. Many people I respect are telling me that PDLs are a means to an end and that now I can go after clients with credit cards and other types of debt. I am making a lot of money with PDL though, and some other people I respect are telling me to ride them until the wheels fall off. Maybe there will be some more answers in 2015.

Short brag update:

I made 30k this month already. I will finish the month at about 34k profit. Next month I should do about 25k profit or so. I don't expect to make close to that the rest of the months of the year; people are getting their tax returns now which is always the best time of the year for collections. No real other updates; love the new office, still expanding, still looking to improve our profit margin.

I reread my early posts in this thread from 2012. I don't think anybody here expected me to still be running this business at this point if they had been following me from the beginning, and even I didn't expect me to ever make 30k in a month. What a world.

congrats on all the success man. been lurking this thread since the OP, but dont think ive posted in it. i only get to this forum like once a month and im excited whenever i come here and see this thread bumped on the front page. keep up the good work.

OP, I have years of collection experience and have seen firsthand what it takes to run a very successful one.

Are you looking to hire people or looking for information?

I just reread all my posts in this thread... with how dumb I was in the beginning I can't believe I didn't go bankrupt.

Cheers!

^^^ lol, congrats on your success. What would you say were the three most valuable lessons that you have learned thus far?

Awesome thread, very inspiring ...

[QUOTE=SebastianHalf;33919989]
There is no maximum amount of time you can be called. If I own your debt, I can call you for 10 years if I want. Even if the statute of limitations is up on your debt, I can still legally call and try to collect on it; you just have no incentive to pay it if you know the law.
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/Perso...1#.UA7N5aNRyuE

False. If its out of statute you cant call them.

[QUOTE=sup hezbollah;42784379] You are wrong. You can be called on out of statute debt. You still legally owe a debt. The remedies that a collector has are severely limited though. All that out of statute means is that you cannot be sued or garnished etc for it.

Even that isn't true. Statute of limitations is an affirmative defense.

Thanks Kato. You're correct of course. We don't do out of statute debt but I just looked it up and you are correct. So yes, you can certainly still be called on out of statute debt.

this post does not constitute legal advice or a legal opinion. i am not your attorney. for information regarding your legal rights/obligations please consult an attorney licensed in your jurisdiction.

expired SOL does not extinguish a debt in 48 of 50 states.

what you can do on SOL accounts is currently in flux. the FTC/CFPB are pressing hard to change the law on the subject, making attempting to non-judicially collect on "time-barred debt" tantamount to debt collection activity which mischaracterizes the amount, nature, or status of a debt.

we first really saw this in the FTC's consent decree with asset acceptance capital corp .. they used section 5 of the FTC act as a means to gain standing to prosecute FDCPA claims (the statute confers standing on the AG and private individuals. (http://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/2...ual_report.pdf)

"sup hezbollah" is a troll who usually frequents the less civilized parts of 2p2.

very cool story OP, well done. keep up the success, and the updates of course.

EDIT: also there has to be some comedic value in the fact that while reading the thread from the beginning i thought "SOL" stood for "**** out of luck" until i got to these last posts.

Hey Sebastian,

I joined this forum soley to read this thread as i am very interested in having my own collection agency.

I was wondering if i could talk to you on the phone if you dont mind?

thanks.

Sure. I don't believe you can private message until you have 20 posts though and I'd prefer not to post my phone number on a public forum. If you have an email I'd be glad to trade emails and you can shoot me your number.

Sebastian,

I am also very interested in opening my own collection agency from home and I would very much like to pick your brain. Congrats on all the success you have had.

e-mail me here please. vanceinternationalcompany@gmail.com