Article Trunk



What You Need To Know About Government Debt Collection During A Slow Economy

07.10.2009 · Posted in Finance Articles

When most people think of debt collection, government debt collection isn’t the first thing to come to mind. When you picture collection agencies you’re thinking about late credit card payments or missed mortgage payments, not government debt. However, in the current difficult economy, the government has cash flow problems the same as any other business. Making sure that all fees owed them come in helps continue the programs that people rely upon. For this reason, government debt collection is a growing concern.nnSome people don’t even consider the fact that the government has debt collection concerns. However, they have income they rely on to keep running just the way ordinary businesses do. If the incoming receivables stop, the government can not run smoothly. nnSome areas where the government collects debt don’t require outside help. Tickets, whether they are for parking or for speeding and other traffic offenses, require the offender to pay or they will lose their driving privileges. Library fines come with suspended borrowing privileges. In most cases, the fines are low enough in these two areas or the punishment is high enough that there’s not a problem in collecting on them.nnThere are other areas where government debt collection is more of a challenge, such as unpaid utility bills or unpaid taxes. Since local governments receive about one third of their operating funds from the state, one third from the federal government, and the rest from these local sources of income. Municipalities have faced challenges as federal aid and state aid have diminished due to economic hardship. Government debt collection is now an important source of revenue.nnOnce a bill has been unpaid for more than 60 days, the chances that it will never be paid rise steeply. If you’ve been unable to collect on a bill past the 60 day mark, it’s time to get a professional debt collector that is familiar with government debt collection involved. A good agency will know how to coerce people to pay on default accounts. nnAlternatively, you can hire collections people who do the billing for you right at the start of the process. This is a good option for municipalities, since having a third party company do collections for you saves both time and money. Should an account go into default, the agency can start collections techniques immediately.nnIf you choose a collection agency that offers first party billing, they handle the billing for the utility company from the beginning. This saves time and money for the utility company because if an account falls into collections the process of starting debt collection in earnest is seamless. One of the main costs when it comes to government debt collection is mailing costs. nnAnother advantage to handling government debt collection this way is the reduction in operational costs such as phone and mailing. Debt collectors who specialize in government clients get major volume discounts in these areas. They pass the cost savings on to you and are able to get more money back more quickly at lower cost to you. The best part about this is that you don’t even have to pay them until they recover anything. Their fee is usually taken out as a percentage of whatever recovery they accomplish. If government debt collection touches your area of responsibility, you should definitely consider hiring a specialized collection agency that understands government collection sooner rather than later.

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.