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When shopping for a collection agency you may not have stopped to consider the benefits of national collection agencies versus smaller local collection agencies. National collection agencies have a lot of reasons to recommend them. Following is a discussion of their benefits.

The first reason a national collection agency will trump a small local agency is their greater number of resources. Any business which has enough funds to operate offices in each state is going to be better equipped to collect on your debts. An example of this is the fact that over 50% of US states require that anyone doing collections have a license. The licensing procedure takes time and costs money.

If you’re using a local agency to call people in other states, they may not be aware of licensing requirements. National collection agencies will keep abreast of each state’s requirements and conform to them so you are in compliance with local laws at all times.

National collection agencies have well-trained staffs and make the commitment to continue this training even for their most experienced employees as collection techniques evolve. The debt management industry is very different today than it was even three years ago, and it’s crucial that you hire a firm that continually improves its practices if you want your collections to be successful.

Because they are more prestigious, national agencies get the cream of the crop when it comes to collection employees. They are also more likely to impress debtors into paying something. They will realize you mean business when you have a national debt collection firm representing you.

Since they attract the best people, national agencies are more likely to have specialized staff for unique industries. If you require medical collections, for example, you don’t want someone who’s mostly done collections on credit cards handling the files for you. If your collection needs are specialized, a nationwide firm is more likely to be able to fit them.

National agencies have an advantage when it comes to time as well. They have larger staffs so they keep longer business hours, and with offices in each state, you don’t have to worry about time zones. If you need to collect on accounts on the West Coast and your collection agency is on the East Coast, you’ll be missing out on some prime opportunities to reach the client due to time zone issues.

Finally, national collection agencies use advanced computer utilities that facilitate communication and allow you to check up on their activities. With most of them, you can monitor your account online in real time whenever you want. This is far preferable to the monthly reports that smaller agencies tend to send out. You want to check up on the rate of return, how quickly they’re getting your money back, and other details, and the best way to do that is by having access to your own files. Most smaller agencies just can’t offer this, so if keeping informed is important to you, you’d best consider national collection agencies.

Once you’ve decided on delegating your delinquent accounts to a collection agency, the next question is how to find the best one. In today’s current economy there are so many different kinds it can be confusing. Following are suggestions for finding the best collection agency to suit your needs.

The first question out of your mouth when interviewing a collection agency should be how they structure their fees. While some of them charge monthly fees, there are many who take a percentage of any recovered money. This costs you less cash outlay, obviously, and it also means they’re guaranteeing their ability to perform for you, so this is the kind of agency you want.

Some agencies belong to professional collection associations, while others do not. There are two such groups in the US, the Commercial Law League of America and the American Collectors Association. It’s preferable to hire a member firm for collections because they take their professional standing seriously.

For example, both organizations require perfectly professional conduct from their members. Not only do they conform to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, they are committed to training courses for members to teach the latest collection techniques.

The next question for a collection agency you want to hire is whether or not they will allow you to access your accounts online. Even though you’re delegating collections to them, you want to be able to check your files to see how things are going at any time. A truly professional agency will understand this need and take care of it for you rather than making you rely on monthly reports.

You also want to pick an agency that uses private investigators or does investigations themselves with skip trace software. (A skip trace is a search for a person based on their previous known addresses.) Collections efforts can’t be successful when you can’t locate the debtor. This is a practice that all good collection agencies follow these days so make sure the one you choose does as well.

Ask your potential collection agency if they do all their own work or outsource it. If you’re hiring a company you want that company to perform the actual work. Some agencies outsource their calls, including to offshore call centers. Unless your collections are international, in which case you will want an international collection agency that is familiar with the local culture, this is not a good idea. Debtors tend to take these calls less seriously.

The final thing you should check on when hiring a collection agency is what their business hours are. This may seem like a small thing but with national collections, time zones can be a problem, and with local collections, you still want people working outside of normal business hours. Consumer debtors are more likely to answer the phone before 9 am or after 5 pm, because they’re more likely to be home, and also because they believe collections calls are less likely at those times. A collection agency which spreads out its work hours is beneficial to you.

You may have hired an outsource billing service because you wanted to help your cash flow or improve your bottom line. An outsource billing service will do this for both companies and local governments, but it’s important to keep some facts in mind to make sure that they’re working for you in the best manner possible. Following are the things you most need to know about your outsource billing service.

Outsource billing services work for both private businesses and governments, and they often are a branch of third party collection agencies. If you want to hire an outsource billing service your first criteria should be whether or not they also do collections. This will ensure that if your accounts go into collections, the process will be seamless and cost-effective.

Think about it this way. If you’re working with a billing service but don’t have them doing your collections, when accounts start reaching the troubling milestone of 60 days past due, you’ll waste time looking for someone else to handle the collections process.

This may not seem like a big deal but it can mean the difference between getting a decent recovery and losing out. Taking out a step of the process (sending delinquent files to a new vendor) will make a big difference to your collection efforts in the long run.

Another thing to ask your outsource billing service is if they are getting volume discounts, and if so, if they’re passing the savings on to you. Many billing services do work for a high volume of companies, and therefore get bulk discounts on mailings, phone rates, etc. They should be passing these savings on to you. If they’re not, showing them you’re aware of this factor may prompt them to lower their rates.

There is no reason to pay more and to waste the resources of your accounting department or your sales department on billing or collections of any kind. Hire professionals, pay less for operational costs and free up your own staff to work on more productive, business-generating tasks. When you’re looking for an outsource billing service, ask them how many accounts they service in your industry. In this case, the more the better because of the cost savings.

Of course, if you hire an outsource billing service you will have to pay them a monthly fee, while many if not most collections agencies only charge a percentage of any money they recover. This is a serious benefit to the cash flow of any business or governmental department, so when you’re interviewing potential outsource billing services, ask if they are willing to take a monthly fee for the billing services, but a percentage of the take for collections services.

The final thing you need to know from your outsource billing service is whether or not they will allow you online access to your account. While you want to free up your time by letting them handle this function, it’s your business and you need to keep watch over this crucial part of it at all times. It may not have occurred to you to ask your outsource billing service for real-time access to your accounts, but this is absolutely something they should let you do.

Government debt collection differs from ordinary debt collection in several crucial ways. Debt collectors who go after people who miss the due date on their credit cards or skip mortgage payments have one set of skills, but debt collectors who work for the government need another set entirely.

Some 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.

If your department of government has receivables that are more than 60 days past the due date, you’re getting into the danger zone that they may never be paid. A debt collection agency with experience in government debt collection can be a big help in this case. People who specialize in this area will understand the problems unique to government debt collection.

There are some areas of government debt where collections are easy. Parking violations or traffic violations have built-in checks and balances. If the driver does not pay, he or she loses his or her license. Similarly, library fines cause borrowing privileges to be suspended. The debtor cannot perpetually ignore these problems. Eventually the consequences will cause him or her to respond.

Once 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.

Another option is to hire a collection agency that will do all of your billing from the beginning. Local governments can find significant cost savings with this method because it eliminates the middle of the process. When an account goes into collections the agency can take care of it immediately without having to transfer information.

A specialty collection agency that understands government debt will know how to recover money quickly and easily without resorting to painful and costly procedures like shutting off utility services or foreclosing on homes that cause resentment in your constituency beyond the debtor. The municipality gets return on their debt without putting forth any effort beyond hiring the collection agency.

If you turn your first party billing over to a company that specializes in this area, you will receive significant cost benefits because this type of collection agency handles a large volume of mail and therefore can pass their volume discounts on to the customer. A specialized collection agency can offer huge benefits to the municipality in terms of government debt collection. The smart collections manager will make use of their services sooner rather than later.

iVolution Medical Systems, a West Hampton, NY-based health care systems firm, is taking a different approach. The four-year-old company, started by former Wall Street consultants to the health care industry, entered the medical receivables space by acquiring experienced billing and collections companies. First there was Professional Health care Billing Services (PHB) of Palm Springs, California in March, and then Continental Collection Services of New York, earlier this month (iVolution Medical Systems Acquires Continental Collection Services, May 13).

Despite the regulatory uncertainty surrounding the health care industry, iVolution co-chair and chief financial officer Vince Pipia told insideARM that the medical billing and collection industry is ripe for consolidation. We think (medical billing and collections businesses) are all good cash generators, and they have a coveted relationship with physicians, Pipia said.

Distinctively, its that relationship that Pipia wants to benefit from to provide combined billing and collections services to health care providers as they transition to health care information systems. Electronic medical records, billing, e-prescriptions and instant messaging are amidst the solutions offered by the company. Our goal is to build and grow medical billing to cross-sell technology.

In the year since iVolution introduced its products to the market, Pipia said some of iVolutions technology is gaining recognition among its pediatricians. Likewise, iVolutions billing and collections clients are appreciating the benefits of its free instant message technology.

Since conversion to electronic medical records was dubbed as the one change that the entire health care industry agrees can boost efficiencies and lower costs, dozens of companies have been working to develop technology solutions. Still, only 8 percent of health care providers operate fully functioning electronic medical record systems, Pipia said.

Most EMR (electronic medical records) are expensive, Pipia said. Analyst Michael Klozotsky said he expects more ARM industry consolidations and acquisitions as some company owners look to depart from the business to avoid regulatory changes that will come with health reform. However, the health industrys inclination to use more health information technology and the Obama administrations commitment to helping fund the transition leaves an abundance of opportunity for companies that can help health care providers comply with new technology mandates, he said.