Collecting Judgments: Challenges And Difficulties For Successful Collections

Business owners commonly choose to pursue delinquent debt by suing the organization that is indebted, using the court to remedy the situation by seeking to be awarded a judgment. This is often seen as the first step in the collection of past due business debts, though what many business owners fail to realize is that, because most courts do not enforce the judgment and repayment, the court ruling means little.

Why is this the case? Because with these types of disputes, courts usually only make determination as to who is right, and what the remedies should be...emphasis on should be. Courts don't usually enforce collecting judgments because they tend to view it as too costly, since it requires the court to spend additional resources to demand the losing party to pay up. Courts also view it too costly to monitor this activity. After a judgment award, the business owner is more often than not left on their own to collect the money.

Successfully collecting judgments is very difficult. In fact, eighty percent of all judgments aren't collected at all, according to Brian Petrone, owner of a judgment enforcement and bail bondsman agency with offices in Brunswick, N.J., and Venice, Fla.

Lacking the strong arm of the court as backup, many business owners next take their judgment award and turn to a commercial debt collection agency. This is believed to be the logical progression, since the court-awarded judgment must hold enough weight and credibility that the agency will have immediate success.

However, there are a number of problems with this scenario. Businesses with court-awarded judgments often find it difficult to get a commercial collection agency interested in collecting their judgment. Usually, by the time the business relationship has deteriorated to the point of taking a non-paying debtor to court, the debtor becomes even further alienated and hardened against paying his debt once he finds out that the court isn't going to enforce or demand payment of the judgment against him.

Rather than pursuing a judgment award first, hiring a commercial debt collection agency before these pursuits can yield much greater success in collecting the unpaid debt. Think of the court order as a last resource, not the first.

In most cases, commercial collection agencies are highly motivated to successfully resolve past due debts. This is because they typically work on a contingency basis, meaning they are paid if - and only if - they succeed in the pursuit of the unpaid sum. Business owners find commercial collection agencies also to be the least expensive option, charging the smallest contingency fees (20% and less).

Consumer debt is not the same as commercial debt, so business debt collection agencies are privy to a completely different array of tools and resources to help recover delinquent debt. Using asset and private investigation, for example, can yield a better outcome than contact via demand letters and frequent phone calls. This allows for rectifying delinquent accounts much more quickly and efficiently.