One of the standard pieces of advice we give to people creating credit applications is to make sure they require complete contact information, not just for the accounts payable department, but for other finance people and principals within the company as well. Complete contact information means email addresses, phone numbers, and a mailing address, at … Read more
Companies like United Airlines, Pepsi, and PricewaterhouseCoopers spend millions of dollars every year on marketing and advertising. As we’ve seen recently though, all it takes is one mistake or one ill-advised interaction and all that money is wasted. When less high-profile companies suffer from poor PR they may not have the same public nature … Read more
It’s a general truism that no one wants to go to court, especially over financial issues. Even if you win a court case, you’ve still lost valuable time and money. Litigation costs more and takes longer than negotiating outside of court, and winning a judgment does not guarantee payment. However, usually the threat of … Read more
Potential new clients frequently ask us about the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and whether or not we conform to its rules and regulations. Interestingly, The FDCPA does not apply to commercial collection agencies. The FDCPA was enacted to protect individual consumers from unfair and harassing collection practices. The law has been around since … Read more
One question that business owners often have to wrestle with at tax time is whether or not to write off a debt as “uncollectible.” If your business uses a cash basis accounting system, this isn’t an issue for you. In a cash basis accounting system, you don’t count money that you’re owed until it’s paid … Read more
The end of the year always brings some predictable events. You know that magazines and websites will be releasing their lists of “best movies” or “most memorable events.” You know that car dealers and other large item retailers will be trying to sell off expensive merchandise. You know payroll departments will be preparing to … Read more
The end of the year is a hectic time for most businesses. I’ve always appreciated Thanksgiving as a time to pause before things get more intense. At The Kaplan Group, we love all of our clients, but we especially appreciate the clients that make our jobs just a little bit easier. These aren’t necessarily the … Read more
Is hiring a commercial collection agency truly better for your business? Undoubtedly the answer is yes. It frees you from the hassle of having to collect from your delinquent debtors, allowing you to focus on what’s more important– your business. But hiring a commercial collections agency can offer you more than just convenience. Doing … Read more
In movies and pop culture debt collectors are almost always portrayed as the bad guy. That’s in part because a lot of people have had really bad experiences with personal debt collection, known in the collection industry as “retail debt collection.” If another business owes you money portrayals of debt collectors in pop culture, … Read more
In our last blog post we talked about how to make sure you get paid even after you fire a client. For the most part we focused on what happens when you terminate the relationship because they are no longer a good fit for your company. Another common reason for termination is that the … Read more
