Now Ye're Talking - to a Debt Collector

DrPhilG wrote: »

Do you ever get abuse or looked down on by people, other than the people you're collecting from?

I often see posts on facebook etc where there are videos of bailiffs etc carrying out evictions and the comments are always about how scummy those enforcing the eviction are. Personally speaking, while I don't like seeing someone booted out of their house, at the end of the day if they can't pay the bills something has to give. Maybe a bit different when someone is losing their house because of mortgage arrears. As a landlord myself I would hope I never find myself in the position of having to evict someone.

Not really got abuse from others, the odd neighbour would have a a go and of course the debtors but i guess if i was in their position i'd do the same, i had to learn to ignore all that, whatever verbals they threw at you.

I didn't do evictions, that was the job of the High Court Sheriff, closest i ever got to evictions was process serving, where i had to go to a traveller camp and issue them with an eviction order, or an order to move a minimum distance from where thy already were. The travellers were the same people all the time and pretty spot on, was mainly during the summer months, after a while i got to know them, would have a brew and a natter with them, advise them where to go, they went, and i'd be back there a few weeks later.
That was a pain though, as had to go to the court to swear an affadavit each time saying i'd served them.

Mr.S wrote: »

What did you do when people refuse to answer the door or talk to you?

Confirm, or try to confirm with neighbours that the person lived there, with Council Tax you'd be 99% sure the person lived there, with fines it was different as people move on.

Simple answer if a bailiff ever knocked on your door is not to answer, then call and make an arrangement

If it was council tax and a Walking Possesion had been signed then you could gain entry through an open door/window etc, when inside, if nobody was in you'd just call them from a number obtained on a previous vist.

With fines, maybe 50% were motoring and the car reg was on the warrant, if car was there it would be clamped

miamee wrote: »

How did it work, were you just given a list of calls to make per day or week to do in your own time? You had mentioned not starting until 11am if you didn't feel like it.
Was there a specific list of things you could take or not take if no money was forthcoming or could you take anything that was of value to cover the money owed?

Did you make these calls alone or did you work in pairs? I'd imagine doing it alone could be a bit scary depending on where you were calling.

Was the commission a percentage of what you collected or was it a bonus for reaching a weekly or monthly target?

If you were unemployed at some stage in the future and this job came up again, would you go back to it? Or is it one of those things that you think "been there, done that, never going back"?

Sorry about so many questions in one post :pac: I'd say it was a stressful job all the same.

No set numbers/targets, you could be stuck on 1 call for 3hrs or do 6 calls in 3hours.
Only items you could not remove were tools of the trade or items on finance, but even then, if you had a car in your sights that was worth say 5grand and you found out it only had a grand finance on it, you'd remove it, settle up with finance company and sell it at auction. Also kids bedrooms, wouldn't remove anything from in there.

When i started off i we were in pairs for my training then i went alone, every few months we'd go out 'on the van', which meant 2 of us would hit the most difficult cases. Always nice when you had someone with you, some funny times as you really had to have a sense of humour on some days

Commission was points based, 1 point = 1 pound, for a fine cleared in full it was 12points (costs for fines came last so any money taken went to client first, then to us, so made sure cleared in full), Inland revenue the same
Council tax your costs were paid first so it was 4 points for a signed walking possesion with fee's paid then 12 points for a paid in full.

My biggest ever payment was 1 case for a fine, he paid (or his ma did) 12grand, generated around 900 quid in fee's for the company, before i went there i negotiated a bonus of 100quid if i got it cleared

Nope, wouldn't go back to that life now, been there, done it, time to move on

The Fox of Glenarvon wrote: »

Whar are your views on debt collectors who work for banks?

Pretty indifferent, sure they need the debt to be chased up but doubtful they have any powers to enforce

Deleted User wrote: »

As a general percentage breakdown of your 'customers' over the years, what percent would you say were the ones threatening to kill you, losing the head with you, etc. VS the type that just accepted you were there and were level-headed and reasonable with you?

Would it be a 50/50 mix, or would you come across the aggressive ones once in a blue moon (or every day?).

I presume the bigger the debt, the more aggressive people would be over it?




Moar info!!! :pac:

Maybe 20% started off very aggressive, but it hardly ever resorted to violence, most calmed down after a short while, actually had some people threatening to kill me when i walked in the door and thanking me as i left

The worst types were some of the council house debtors, they'd be all brave then you'd calm them down, a mates(s) would come around and it would all kick off again, a bit of bravado in front of their mates, who were all legal experts

As for the more info, i don't even know if they were passes, or offers of favours, but if they were they were shot down straight away, not worth the hassle in anyway at all

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

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 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 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