Now Ye're Talking - to a Debt Collector

PTH2009 wrote: »

what was the worst case you had in terms of it having an emotional effect on you ??

Don't think i ever had a particular one worst case, the hardest for me to deal with on a personal level was when kids were involved, some houses i visited and the debtors lived in absolute squalor, dog crap on the floor, dirty nappies all over the place, they had nothing, those were the cases that really affected me as i had 3 young kids at the time.

Of course i still had to call out but i'd be in the gaff for maybe 5mins, wouldn't even push for a payment, just return the case to the courts/council listing it as 'no effects'

Stephen Hawkins football boots wrote: »

You don't know where I live do you ?

Could find out :pac::pac:

marklazarcovic wrote: »

Ever get a slap? Is their a higher percentage of one type of person you dealt with? Who knows the game best so to speak?

Yep, got a few slaps, had bats/shotguns/knives pulled on me, in them cases we just called the police, told them what had happened and their assistance was required, police turn up and we just carried on.
Had my elbow broken (compound fracture) on 1 case, we were attacked by 5-6 lads who had nothing at all to do with the case, they just seen us pulling up and laid into us

I worked on Magistrates Courts Fine/Council Tax/Inland Revenue and i'd say maybe 75% of them were Council Estates, Slightly higher % for the fines/council tax, lower % for income tax

The Bailiff will know the game best, or he will if he's worth anything, you'd get these people who'd be screaming and shouting 'i know my rights' but whatever they did know they were wrong.
Some who actually did know the game would be straight on the phone to the council/courts, pleading poverty, apologising, begging for mercy, in some of them cases we were instructed by the client to walk way, which was frustrating when the person had an amazing house/car/goods and just didn't want to pay

eurokev wrote: »

What's the pay like? It has to be half decent surely to make it worth your while

Deleted User wrote: »

Do you get commission?

When i finished up i was on 15k per annum (sterling) plus commission, i was good at my job so the commission could get an extra 1,500 a month

Free car/van with fuel card that i could use for personal time too

lifeandtimes wrote: »

Have you ever come across a case where the person proved to you legally you couldn't collect the debt for one reason or another and you were left with no choice but to abandon ship as it is?

On a few occasions there was a mistake on the warrant, be it a name spelt wrong, or a wrong D.O.B. In those cases we'd walk away, return it to courts/council who would correct the error and then revisit a few weeks later

Dog walker 1234 wrote: »

How did you get into the job? Is there much training given?

I was working the doors and the boss of the bailiff company used to do the odd night and was a mate, a vacancy came up and he asked me if i'd like to ry it out as i'm very level headed and excellent at talking to people.

I worked with him for 2 weeks, then another bailiff for a few weeks as i wasn't able to work alone with being registered, started learning about the laws of distress and applied for my cert, you then have to go and have a chat with a judge in his chambers, he's ask you all sorts of questions about what you can and can't do, then he'd issue you with your bailiff certificate, this had to be done every 2yrs, along with criminal record checks and credit checks

PopTarts wrote: »

15,000 is awful for that position! You’d earn more doing a lot less. Even with the extra 18,000 bonus it’s pretty bad.

For the area i lived in that was a pretty decent wage, Bailiffs in the cities get a lot more

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

What are you doing now?

Watching a bit of tv, wife is out so i get to watch the boring stuff she hates :pac:

Job wise i'm in security still, but a pretty decent position that doesn't involve violence and debtors

EIREDriver wrote: »

Do you wear stab vests, bulletproof jackets or any other protective gear while going out on jobs? If so, do employers provide them?

Have you seen Can't Pay We'll Take It Away, and if so, how realistic is it?

No, we didn't wear anything like that, just a pair of trousers, shirt and a jacket

Seen a few episodes and yeah, it was pretty realistic

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