Executive Credit Management, Inc.
Your Applicant Screening and Debt Collection partners for over 20 years
Three steps, not much work, large benefits. Absolutely nothing to lose and everything to gain.
1: Screening
First, take a look at your tenant screening process. We all want quick and easy but taking an extra minute or two can save you thousands of dollars. Credit scores are simply not accurate enough to determine the viability of a prospective tenant. Job information is easy to fake or exaggerate. Eviction reports can provide a misleading sense of security. Criminal background checks need evaluation and, sometimes, hands on investigation to be meaningful. Red Flags are often ignored such as blank or illegible application fields.
Some of the solutions are as easy as adding additional fields to your application. Others require minimum effort. The results not only give you better tenants but can double the amount of money you obtain from the efforts of your debt collection agency.
What you may need is an evaluation of your tenant screening from a debt collection agency perspective. You need to know more than the laundry list of available reports. You need to know which reports provide useful evaluation of tenant financial stability. You need to know what to look for and what to ignore. You also need to know what questions to ask and where the red flags are hiding.
2: Fixed Fee
Second, take advantage of low cost Fixed Fee debt collection if you have a good forwarding address. You can collect some of these claims at considerable saving, usually under ten percent total costs. At the conclusion of the letter series, you can move uncollected claims into Contingent debt collection.
3: Contingent
Finally, choose a debt collection agency that has a proven track record in your industry. Unlike other industries, tenants frequently do not understand the basis of your bill. This often leads to anger as these tenants believe you are manipulating figures to take money from them you do not deserve.
You need a debt collection agency that is not only patient but knowledgeable in your lease and the meaning of each clause. You need an agency that can explain why you charged rent for months after the tenant left or for painting or for carpet replacement.
You need a knowledgeable debt collection agency because that knowledge translates directly into more money collected. A lot more money. This step takes only a single decision to bring you substantial dividends.
