Now Ye're Talking - to a Debt Collector

I'm a debt collector, AMA

diomed wrote: »

Are there any women debt collectors?

We didn't have any working in our company, one of my directors worked with yer woman from the TV show, (Sue?? Blonde hair), apparently she was ruthless

I'm a debt collector, AMA

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

What was the largest amount you were sent to recover and what was the smallest?

Largest amount i was sent to recover, and got paid, was 12k, what was very annoying was if you were on a case and you were close to getting it paid and the debtor rang the council/courts and they called you off. With this case i double checked everything with the courts on the Friday, made sure Warrant was correct, amounts correct etc and they were. Then knocked on his door at 8am on a Saturday morning when courts were closed so he couldn't call them. Got it paid in full

Lowest was maybe 20/30 quid, just remnants of old council tax cases.

The court fines were generally quite low (90quid), but add bailiff letter and visit fee's and that was taking it up to around 230, remove goods and you were looking at close to 350. Crazy when the fine started at 60 quid then gets 50% added after 28 days of non payment.

Debtor would get the fine, if didn't pay would get a letter saying it would go up 50%, didn't pay then there would be another letter from courts saying 7 days to pay of will be sent out to bailiffs.
We get the case and send a letter asking for them to contact us and make an arrangement to pay, if they ignore this or break an arrangement thats when bailiff visits, so basically the debtor would have had 4 chances to get it sorted before a visit

I'm a debt collector, AMA

Agent Smith wrote: »

Do you have a bedside locker?

Whats in the bedside locker?

What sort of mileage would you work, like do you have a range you do, or could you go all over the place?

Yes, books i think and piles of crap that i've not used in ages

My office was a 30min drive from my gaff but i hardly ever went there, would drive up to maybe 90mins in any direction for a days work, could be 5 miles away, could be 60.
Had an office in South Wales so did a lot of work down there, in them cases they'd pay for me to stay Mon- Thurs nights in hotel (later a self contained flat). Had bailiffs in South Wales but they were not that great at getting results, used to take them out with me occasionally and they were baffled how i got so many payments

StringerBell

Do you like Can't pay, we'll take it away?

Can you relate to a lot of the situations the lads find themselves encountering?

I'm a debt collector, AMA

StringerBell wrote: »

Do you like Can't pay, we'll take it away?

Can you relate to a lot of the situations the lads find themselves encountering?

Seen a few episodes, yeah, can relate to them, it really is a no win job but someone has to do it, if there wasn't any sort of collection service for fines then the country would be in chaos.
From the episodes i seen, if they were in a certain situation i'd be chuckling to myself, "yep, i know how he feels there"

DrPhilG

Do the infamous private parking fine companies ever actually try to use collectors to enforce their debts?

The usual advice given by people is to ignore the threatening letters from private parking companies who nab people in supermarket car parks etc because they are not enforceable.

If that's false and they are enforceable, I'd imagine you would have been sent to collect at some point.

TheAnalyst_

DrPhilG wrote: »

Do the infamous private parking fine companies ever actually try to use collectors to enforce their debts?

The usual advice given by people is to ignore the threatening letters from private parking companies who nab people in supermarket car parks etc because they are not enforceable.

If that's false and they are enforceable, I'd imagine you would have been sent to collect at some point.

He worked for the court not private companies.

I'm a debt collector, AMA

TheAnalyst_ wrote: »

He worked for the court not private companies.

I worked for a private company that was contracted by courts/councils to execute warrants.

I'm a debt collector, AMA

DrPhilG wrote: »

Do the infamous private parking fine companies ever actually try to use collectors to enforce their debts?

The usual advice given by people is to ignore the threatening letters from private parking companies who nab people in supermarket car parks etc because they are not enforceable.

If that's false and they are enforceable, I'd imagine you would have been sent to collect at some point.

The only parking fines we enforced were those issued by councils and police, fines from them 2 are enforceable, from private companies they're not.
Private companies issue what they call 'Parking Charge Notices', totally unenforceable, they COULD take you to court but it's highly unlikely as they're terrified of losing and it setting a precedent. Not worth the risk for them for the sake of a 60 quid fine.
What you're getting in the UK a lot now is litter enforcement people, they will see you drop litter (paper, smoke) then approach you and issue you with a FPN (Fixed Penalty Notice), only then do they start recording on body CCTV. Trick in that situation is to say nothing, don't engage with them in any way, just walk away, they can threaten to call the police but they won't. Don't have any powers at all

TheAnalyst_

Do you have to be a bit handy? Is that part of the job?

the purple tin

If you were given the name of a friend or neighbour to collect from would you have done it or not?

I'm a debt collector, AMA

TheAnalyst_ wrote: »

Do you have to be a bit handy? Is that part of the job?

Of course it helps, not that i'd just go in beating people up, but being able to defend yourself and knowing how to judge situations is a must.

I'm a debt collector, AMA

the purple tin wrote: »

If you were given the name of a friend or neighbour to collect from would you have done it or not?

Some of the other guys used to pass on cases to me when it was a friend/neighbour.
I never did, i always called on them, not in a bad way though, i'd get the warrants on a friday night, and over the weekend sort them into some sort of order for the week, if i recognised some people, which i often did, i'd pop round to see them, or call them if i knew them really well, explain i had a warrant and that i was due to call on them Thurs/Fri, and they should really be contacting the office to make an arrangement on Monday morning (that way they didn't get the bailiff visit fee added).
I'd then get a phone call from the office at the end of business monday asking me to hold on cases as arrangements made. If they defaulted i'd pass it over to a colleague

cavemeister

Do you know any of the boys from Can't Pay, we'll take it away?

If you came across a very violent debtor where you feared for your safety, would you share the details with other collection agencies so their agents can be more prepared?

Have you ever come across a situation collecting a debt where the living conditions were so bad, you had to call child services / police?

Vojera

Did you find people treated you differently when they found out what your job was?

CruelCoin

Is the tv series "Can't Pay, We'll take it away" an accurate portrayal of your job in the UK?


Typical of this forum to have a majority lean for the tenants. That said i'll ask for the flip side; ever have any cases where you felt really badly for the landlord/creditor? Any cases where they had been screwed over, retirement investments destroyed etc?


Here in Ireland, we have some counties where the collector is a court registrar, a civil servant who does **** all and has no real interest in actually retrieving the debt, and other counties where the collector is a sheriff who gets paid on results.
Is there a similar system in the UK? How is it structured with you guys?

I'm a debt collector, AMA

cavemeister wrote: »

Do you know any of the boys from Can't Pay, we'll take it away?

If you came across a very violent debtor where you feared for your safety, would you share the details with other collection agencies so their agents can be more prepared?

Have you ever come across a situation collecting a debt where the living conditions were so bad, you had to call child services / police?

No, don't know them, although one of my directors did work with yer wan Sue for a while (if thats the right programme), she was ruthless

No, wouldn't share with other agencies, let them find out themselves, sure i knew 1 or 2 other bailiffs from other companies, if we met up for a pint or 2 we'd discuss certain individuals, share war stories etc

Yes, once, a council gaff where 2 or 3 young kids were, dog **** all over the floors, dirty nappies all over, place was dire, reported it anonymously to social services, don't know if they took any actiont

I'm a debt collector, AMA

Vojera wrote: »

Did you find people treated you differently when they found out what your job was?

Not really, most people i knew sort of knew what i did, i didn't go around advertising it though, when we went on holiday if we meta group of people and were sitting around having a drink i always said i worked for the courts, little white lie but some people get uncomfortable

Danny Donut

I'm a debt collector, AMA wrote: »

Yes, once, a council gaff where 2 or 3 young kids were, dog **** all over the floors, dirty nappies all over, place was dire, reported it anonymously to social services, don't know if they took any actiont

Had a case like that (must be 20 years ago ) - not debt collecting btw.

Still turns my stomach.

Really good AMA, thanks for taking the time and for your candor.

I'm a debt collector, AMA

CruelCoin wrote: »

Is the tv series "Can't Pay, We'll take it away" an accurate portrayal of your job in the UK?


Typical of this forum to have a majority lean for the tenants. That said i'll ask for the flip side; ever have any cases where you felt really badly for the landlord/creditor? Any cases where they had been screwed over, retirement investments destroyed etc?


Here in Ireland, we have some counties where the collector is a court registrar, a civil servant who does **** all and has no real interest in actually retrieving the debt, and other counties where the collector is a sheriff who gets paid on results.
Is there a similar system in the UK? How is it structured with you guys?

Yeah, it's pretty accurate

I didn't do evictions, they were carried out by High Court Sheriffs, of which my boss was one, when i see the sheriffs over here evicting someone and see the mob mentality that ensues it sort of makes me mad. Sheriffs won't just turn up to evict with no notice, it's a LONG process with plenty of communication from the person owed the debt.
A Close friend of my now wife was evicted by the council some years back, my wife came to me for advice, as did other friends of hers, what could i do or say?
She'd ignored dozens of letters/visits, defaulted on all arrangements made, there had to be a cut off point.

We were paid on results, basic salary and decent bonus system, if it was just a salary, like maybe in some counties you mentioned, then why bust your balls getting payments?

I'm a debt collector, AMA

Danny Donut wrote: »

Had a case like that (must be 20 years ago ) - not debt collecting btw.

Still turns my stomach.

Really good AMA, thanks for taking the time and for your candor.

No problem, what annoyed me the most about places like that was when they had a 50" top of the range plasma tv, Games systems with dozens of games and smoked like chimneys. Guess the parents had their priorities right there :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

CruelCoin

I'm a debt collector, AMA wrote: »

We were paid on results, basic salary and decent bonus system, if it was just a salary, like maybe in some counties you mentioned, then why bust your balls getting payments?

Cheers,

A follow on to that:

What pays more? A ball of "no assets" or actually retrieving?

You mentioned earlier a a family with **** and nappies, etc all over the house. Did you call social services?
Are they already involved prior to that point?

I'm a debt collector, AMA

CruelCoin wrote: »

Cheers,

A follow on to that:

What pays more? A ball of "no assets" or actually retrieving?

You mentioned earlier a a family with **** and nappies, etc all over the house. Did you call social services?
Are they already involved prior to that point?

All depends on what pays more, when the case is sent to bailiff company a letter is sent out, if they have no assets it's doubtful they'll pay but they MAY enter into an arrangement, start that off then default, which would lead to the bailiff visit. If it was a Council tax case then say they've made 5 x 10pound payments, that 50quid will go to bailiff company as costs from council tax cases come out first. So when bailiff visits and returns case nil effects then debtor would still owe the full balance of council tax, as what they paid goes as bailiff company fee's.

If it's courts then costs come out last, so unless paid in full then company would get nothing.

I called Social services, anonymously, once, the only people we did call was the police when we were removing from a house witgh nobody inside, that was very rare but it happens. We did one such removal like this, confirmed res, had a signed walking possesion, rang police to say we were going in through an upstairs window (just in case neighbours seen us and rang police). 5 mins later police rang us back, asked us, unofficially, to keep an eye out for in the house for any firearms, they'd been keeping tabs on tbis guy but couldn't get a warrant so asked us to look for them and report back if we did.

We didn't find any but for the whole time we were there we were on edge

Boards.ie: Niamh

I'm going to close this one up now, it has been an eye-opening experience. Thanks to our guest for answering so many questions and so thoroughly. Hopefully none of us will have the misfortune to have the debt collectors at the door any time in the future but it's good to know they are only human too

If you would like to apply to do an AMA with us yourself, please PM me or email me on niamh@boards.ie. Thanks!