Which is the Best Debt Collection Agency for You?

16th June 2020

If you have a debt that has gone unpaid for too long and your debtor isn’t taking your requests for payment seriously, it’s time to seek the services of a Debt Collection Agency.

However, there are a lot of Debt Collection Agencies to choose from. How should you go about choosing the right one for you?

Here are the factors we think should be on your checklist when selecting a Debt Collection Agency (click to read more):

• Do their services meet your needs?
• Do they have a good reputation?
• Are they compliant and responsible?
• What is their fee structure?
• How long have they been operating?
• How will they collect your debt?
• Talk to them directly

DCBL The Best Debt Collection Agency – Do their services meet your needs?

Debt Collection Agencies come in all shapes and sizes and can specialise in very different clients, services, and even sectors. Some deal exclusively in personal debt, others in business debt, whereas others (such as DCBL) have expertise in both.

The size of the debt you need to collect can also affect your decision. Some agencies specialise in high volumes of small debts, whereas others take on various amounts.

At DCBL we offer pre-court debt collection services for debts over £1,000, although we also provide our highly successful letter cycle debt collection service for larger accounts with a high volume of smaller debts which achieves a 25% higher collection rate than that of our competitors.

If you have a County Court Judgment against your debtor amounting to £600 or over, you could alternatively instruct a High Court Enforcement Agency to help you – this is a service DCBL also offers.

DCBL The Best Debt Collection Agency – Do they have a good reputation?

It’s vitally important that you feel you can trust your debt collection agency, especially where large amounts of money – and your reputation – are at stake.

The best way to assess a debt collection agency’s reputation is to find out what real customers are saying about them. Read through their Testimonial pages and first-hand reviews submitted online to the likes of Google Business pages, Trustpilot and their social media accounts.

As well as the overall rating, it’s also important to consider the volume of reviews, as a high rating with fewer reviews is less reliable than a similar rating with many more reviews. Read our 2,000+ reviews on Trustpilot.

Reading through these reviews will also give you an idea of what past customers think in more detail and help paint an accurate picture of what working with the agency is like.

You might also consider asking friends and colleagues whether they have used any debt collection agencies and if so, what their experience was like.

At DCBL we are able to provide unique transparency into our service due to our participation in the Channel 5 & Netflix TV series “Can’t Pay? We’ll Take It Away!”, so you can see first-hand how effective and professional our recovery services are.

DCBL The Best Debt Collection Agency – Are they compliant and responsible?

Research the agency to check for affiliations and associations with the leading industry bodies such as the FCA & CSA prior to instruction to confirm they are subject to codes of conduct and disciplinary procedures.

Also, check what other accreditations they hold to ensure they are managing your data properly, and are operating to the highest professional standards. DCBL hold both BSI ISO 9001:2015 – Quality Management System and BSI ISO 27001 Information Security standard among many other accreditations to ensure our service exceeds all quality and compliance recommendations.

Finding a recovery company that applies an ethical and responsible approach in their enforcement is vital to protect yourself from reputational damage while attempting to recover your outstanding debt. We find that debt collection scenarios can vary greatly; therefore, a recovery company must tailor their approach to each individual case to get the best possible result.

What is their fee structure?

This depends on the agency; however, this is often based on an instruction fee, a commission based on the total amount collected, or a combination of both.

It may be tempting to seek out a “no win, no fee” deal. Frequently there is a hidden sign-up or membership fee or very high commission on such deals, and the success rate is often much lower.

In any case, it’s best to find out all of the costs involved, so you are not hit with hidden charges further down the line.

How long have they been operating?

Whilst trading time does not necessarily mean a business offers a quality service it does give you an indication of how successful our business is and is an important factor to consider when looking at instructing a debt collection agency.

An established agency that has been trading for numerous years will have more experience dealing with difficult debtors and will know the best approach to take to achieve a successful result.

How will they collect your debt?

One of the most common complaints we hear from our clients about other debt collection agencies is that not enough is done to proactively chase debtors for payment.

It is important to get assurances from any debt collection agency about what the service includes. Many agencies will simply send letters and make phone calls which may not be the most effective approach for your situation.

At DCBL, experience tells us that person to person contact improves communication and collection success rates, which is why we do not just send letters and make phone calls; we’ll do whatever is needed to get a positive outcome.

Our legal practice DCB Legal sits alongside DCBL and specialises in debt recovery litigation giving us the unique capability of providing a full, seamless debt recovery journey from first reminder letter to agent enforcement.

One solution. Debt recovery made simple.

Talk to them directly

It’s often a good idea to talk directly to a debt collection agency, describe your situation and get a feeling for how they will approach this for you.

You’ll get a good sense of how they operate, the level of customer service they offer, and whether your case would be a good fit.

Most importantly, you will be able to tell whether you feel like you could trust them to take on your case.

It’s also important to note that successful Debt Recovery in every case cannot be guaranteed, and if it sounds too good to be true, it often is.

If you’d like to discuss what DCBL could do to help your situation, call us on 0203 298 0201 or fill in our contact form and we’d be happy to talk you through your options and how we can work with you.