Our Only Business is Putting Money into Your Business
A Progressive Company in an Old Line Business
NCSPlus Incorporated (NCS) was founded in 2005. We are licensed by the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs and we are members of the American Collectors Association.
We currently are collecting slow and delinquent accounts for over 35,000 clients in over 200 categories of business including doctors, dentists, chiropractors, video stores, manufacturers, importers, and publishers. Our clients include the The American Chiropractor's Association, the Valueline Investment Survey, New York University, and New York Magazine.
We are a full service collection agency. We write letters, report delinquents to credit bureaus, make telephone calls, and initiate legal action - all on your behalf to collect your money.
NCS clients typically enjoy a substantially higher recovery rate, lower collection costs and a dramatic increase in cash flow as compared to the typical American Collector's Association (ACA) member agency.
According to the ACA, the typical member agency is liquidating 20-22% of the accounts assigned. Clients may expect to wait up to three months to receive their share of the money collected according to the ACA. And the average collection agency, according to the ACA, charges a whopping 40% of the any monies recovered! It's no wonder that the average creditor client is unhappy.
A Better Way
We charge a low one-time flat-fee (always less than 10%) per claim submitted for collection. When the debt is paid, the money goes into your bank, and because of our unique fee structure, you'll recover over 50% of the accounts placed instead of a paltry 20-22%.
To understand why NCS is able to produce these kind of superior results, one must first examine the reasons that collection agencies are able to recover money from accounts that the original creditors have been unable to collect. Remember, every account that an agency receives has already been worked on by the original creditor -- with no results.
Impact and Effectiveness
Collection agencies are able to recover money from difficult debtors through the application of third party intervention. The third party being the collection agency. The first and second party to the transaction being the creditor and the debtor. Third party intervention may be broken down into four distinctive parts:
Reporting the debt to the credit bureaus.
This technique is extremely effective in recovering delinquent accounts. The listing of an overdue account on the credit profile of the debtor will most likely prevent the debtor from obtaining new credit cards, car loans, mortgages, etc. The decision to grant credit is of course up to the creditor but eventually, if the debtor wants to reenter the credit economy -- he'll have to pay you first.The reinitiation of the dialogue.
This is simply the fact that after an original creditor has sent several notices to a delinquent, the debtor begins to stop listening to the creditor. He knows what the notices look like and it's a short trip from the mail box to the garbage pail -- the notices go unopened and unread. Each contact we send comes from a different address, and is in a different size and style of envelope. This simple technique dramatically increases readership -- and collections result. A simple concept to be sure, but it works.The threat of legal action.
The worst thing that can happen to the delinquent is having legal action taken against them. They could be held responsible for attorney fees and court costs, and if the case is reduced to judgment, you will have certain rights to pursue payment by attaching bank accounts, repossessing automobiles and other assets, or instituting a wage garnishment from the debtor's paycheck. If the debtor knows that you are willing and able to pursue legal action, the threat of legal action will recover as much or more than the actual legal action would at a substantially lower cost.The negative image of the collection agency.
Prior to the passage of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) in 1978, many collection agencies utilized extremely harsh, harassing and embarrassing techniques to extract payments from difficult debtors. While many of the tactics were indeed effective and were also encouraged by creditors (some blue chip companies to be sure), they became largely illegal with the passage of the act in 1978. For instance, agencies must now only contact the debtor during certain hours of the day. The envelopes used to send notices must not indicate that they originate from a collection agency. If the debtor asks that he no longer be contacted, the agency must no longer call or write, etc. NCS is fully compliant with all requirements of the act and is fully abreast of the evolving case law in regards to the act. And it is our opinion that the act has been beneficial in cleaning up the collection industry. The fact remains though that in the public mind the collection agency is still viewed as someone that you would rather not be associated with. But this can be an advantage. When the debtor is faced with the choice of who to pay at the end of the month, typically the collection agency is the first to get paid. The average debtor would like to get the agency off his back. The net result is that your bill goes from the bottom of the pile to the top!
The Biggest Secret in the Collection Business
There are three basic ways to collect money in today's economy:
Collection Letters
Most creditors immediately assume that collection agencies just sue everyone. Or when pressed, they'll usually admit that they haven't a clue as to how their collection agency recovered some of their accounts. And believe me, their friendly collection agency representative certainly isn't going to tell them! The fact is that most of the money that is recovered by collection agencies across the country is as a result of simply sending letters. According to the ACA, 80% of all money collected by the collection industry is collected by simply sending collection letters that bring the full impact of third party intervention to bear on the debtor.
Basically, the agency is sending out some letters, the debtor sends your money to the agency, and the agency keeps half. You'll get your share as the debtor payments come into the agency. This system cannot be good for you the creditor. You'll have no idea who paid, when they paid, or how much they paid -- until you receive your statement from the agency.Telephone Dunning
This method can be effective if the debtor has not first paid through the use of the collection letter above. If the debtor cares to pay, that is he is still concerned with his credit standing, telephone dunning can be effective in working out arrangements with the debtor setting up a stream of partial payments. But in most cases, if the debtor was still at the address in your files, if he still was concerned about his credit standing, and if he had the money to pay the bill, he would have paid when he received one of the collection letters sent to him prior to the telephone dunning. It is not surprising that the ACA reports that telephone dunning is responsible for only 16% of all money collected by member agencies.Legal Action
As noted above, the threat of legal action is very effective. Actual legal action is not nearly as effective as most people would expect. Remember that the "easy money" has already been collected by the agency through the use of the dunning letters and telephone calls above. People that you could reach, that had the money to pay, that were concerned about their credit rating already paid! That means that legal action in many cases results in uncollectible judgments, or protracted litigation from debtors who know the system. And in some states it can cost nearly $300 just to initiate a legal action. No wonder that ACA member agencies report that less than four (4) percent of the money collected is as a result of legal action.
The Cash Recovery System
So now you know what we discovered 15 years ago - Most of the money in the collection business is collected as a result of simple collection letters. When we looked into the collection business years ago, we thought it odd that a client would be willing to pay for something that they didn't receive.
Why pay for telephone or legal unless it was required to collect the money? So we designed the CASH RECOVERY SYSTEM. By using the Cash Recovery System, you'll only pay for the work that is actually performed. First, we'll send a series of carefully worded collection letters to the debtor. We'll instruct them to pay you directly - not us. And if they don't pay. We'll report them (at your option) to the Experian (formerly TRW) TransUnion and Equifax national credit reporting bureaus. Instead of paying an exorbitant percentage of the money collected, you'll pay a low one time flat-fee of less than 10% for the entire service!
The Mechanics of the System
First you place an order with us for the number of claims you need to place for collection. You may use paper claim forms or submit and update claims via this web site. The following description applies to both paper and Internet systems. After your order is approved, you may immediately place your delinquent accounts for collection.
It's very easy to place accounts into collection. Simply give us the name and address of the person or company who owes the money. Be sure to use the second line of the address section (where it says 'Attn') to put the names of minors or contact people at companies. The name you write on the first line is the name we report to the credit bureaus.
After the name and address, there is a space for you to place a 26 character message which will be printed on the collection letters we send to your debtors. Use this space for your in-house account numbers, invoice numbers, dates or service, patient names, video tape titles, etc. Directly underneath the client reference space is the NCS Claim Number. Next, you indicate if you want us to report this account to the credit bureaus if they don't pay you.
Next, indicate the type of claim - commercial, medical, or retail. Next, put in the date of the last payment or charge on the account. Then, put in the total amount due. You can put in two telephone numbers which we keep on file for future reference. Then, put in the debtor's social security number or federal tax ID number (if available).
Simply detach the top portion of the claim form (START) and mail or fax it to our office. If you are submitting claims via the web site, just press the "submit" button, and the collection process begins immediately. The first contact is sent within 24 hours from the time we receive it in our office.
We will continue to send collection letters, a total of six (including the employment verification letter), to your debtors. All of our letters instruct the debtor to pay you directly. We make it easy for him to pay. All he has to do is insert the payment stub and his check into the window envelope we provide and mail his payment to you.
When you receive payment from your debtors, simply mail or fax us notification, or update the claim on the internet.
- Paid in Full
- Settled in Full (examples are: accept insurance as full settlement, returned merchandise as full settlement, settling for less than the full amount due, or just canceling the claim.)
- Please Send Thank you Letter - we will send a thank you letter to the debtor that acknowledges payment. This is good for PR.
In lieu of using the Fax STOP form, you may also telephone our office, or stop or adjust your accounts via our home page on the INTERNET. Remember, when the debt is paid, you don't owe us anything. You keep all you collect -- but you must notify us that you have been paid or the next collection letter will go out to the debtor. And eventually the debtor will be reported to the credit bureaus in error.
Thirty days after we send our final letter to your debtor, we will report him to the credit bureaus. When we report a debtor to the credit bureau, he is reported in the Public Record portion of the report (sometimes in the Trade Line portion). The derogatory item is listed in your name and remains on the report for seven years.
When a debtor calls NCS for information he is prompted to enter his claim number (which appears on the credit report). The computer then gives the debtor your telephone number. Again, there is no charge for this service. Whenever you get paid (even years later), just let us know and we will stop collecting and update the credit bureaus that the account has been paid. All of the actions taken on your accounts are summarized on a Monthly Progress Report that is mailed to you each month. A Progress Report may also be printed at anytime via the Client Services Site on the INTERNET. These reports may be used for year end bad debt write-offs, year end audits or proof of pursuit to the IRS.
So, the mechanics are simple. You simply determine how many claims you'd like to place, purchase the appropriate number of claims, and submit your claims via mail, fax, or INTERNET. When you get paid, let us know. You don't owe us a cent. And if we don't hear from you we'll report the delinquent to the credit bureaus. Sooner or later, they'll have to settle up with you.
But Why is it that NCS Collects so much more money?
There are actually two reasons. First, when accounts are referred to a collection agency for collection, the most important factor as to how much will be collected is how old the accounts are. Are the accounts ninety days past due or a year or more past due.
It makes a big difference! As time goes by, people move, get sick, lose thier jobs, file bankruptcy -- die, etc. Events occur that render accounts uncollectible -- even if you visit the debtor with a nine millimeter, you won't be able to collect.
The problem with collection agencies has always been, and remains to be that most creditors are loath to pay an exhorbitant percentage of thier money to the collection agency as a fee for collection. So what do they do? They tend to wait before placing accounts for collection. They'll send another bill, maybe have the girl telephone the debtor, place the account in the 'prayer' pile -- whatever. According to the ACA, most creditor clients don't place accounts for collection until they're over 330 days past due on average. Well it's no wonder that the agencies don't recover much. Most of the accounts that are assigned are uncollectible. They've skipped town, filed bankruptcy, died, etc. Events have occured that render the accounts uncollectible.
There is a better way! If you assigned the accounts earlier on, say, at 120 days or so, you'd collect a lot more money. The problem is that most agencies will charge you an exhorbitant percentage and you'll end up on the short end of the stick. But remember that NCS charges just 10% or less per account placed for collection, so you can afford to use a collection agency earlier on when your accounts are highly recoverable.
Look at it this way -- you would spend the money either way. You can send additional letters from your office, or have an employee make some phone calls, but you've lost lost the dialoque with the debtor, he's no longer listening! Take the same money and send the five letter set from NCS and you'll receive many more dollars than your in-house efforts would have recovered for the same cost -- maybe less. The cost of in house pursuit while appearing inexpensive can indeed have substantial costs. A clerk working for only a week or two can cost $500.00 or more. Add the phone bill, postage, paper and overhead and you're talking about a substantial investment made in recovering accounts. You can recover 50% of the accounts through the Cash Recovery System for less than 10% per account. It's really a no brainer. We collect more because we get the accounts earlier in the aging cycle.
The second reason that we are able to recover more money than the typical collection agency is that we'll actually do the work. If that sounds strange, consider the ecomonics of the typical collection agency. They are paid a percentage of the amount collected. The more they collect, the more fees they earn. If you were running a collection agency, which accounts would you work? What would you concentrate on?
Simple. You'd work on the largest accounts. Then you would take a look at the fresher accounts (see reasons above). And then you'd always make sure that you took a closer look at the accounts that were in you local area because you'd be able to keep your overhead low, and most likely you have some good local council available if indeed you'd like to sue the debtor. Fair enough. The collection agency operator never promised to work your accounts. Remember, his only promise to you is "no collection, no charge." Sounds harmless enough, even risk free. But think again. As your accounts at the agency languish, they become older and less collectible with each passing day. The problem is that unless you have accounts that are fresh and local and have large dollar amounts owing, most agencies won't give your accounts the time of day. Oh, they'll promise you that they'll work your claims, but you know that they'll be concentrating on thier bottom line -- not yours.
Why not use the NCS Cash Recovery System? You'll recover more money because you'll use it sooner, and each of your accounts will be worked systematically and thoroughly regardless of the size of the account, the location of the account, or how old the account is.
Compare The Results
The cost of our service is exceptionally low. One of our clients tells us that she spends less on our service than she does on paper clips. What do you have to lose? We know that in most cases, the client creditors that are using the typical collection agency are not happy with the results.
The only way that you'll have a chance to increase your net collections is to try something different.
Open an Account Today!
To get started today, simply call our office toll-free at (212) 213-3000 Ext. 2000. A trained collection consultant will help you determine if our service can benefit you, and if you like what you hear, we'll set up an account for you immediately.
The sooner you make the call, the more you'll collect! Do it today.