How to Collect Credit Card Payments
- 1). Listen intently to the past-due debtor. Once you have made contact with the debtor, gather all of the facts. Find out why payments have stopped and determine, through questioning, what other debts the debtor has. Determine if the debtor is receiving unemployment or some other source of income. By speaking with the debtor you can find out if a hardship exists.
- 2). Make payment arrangements. Find out if the debtor can make the minimum monthly payment. If this payment cannot be made, the interest rate will have to be lowered. This will make sure that there is still a balance reduction after a lower payment has been made.
- 3). Turn the account over to a collection agency. Sometimes a debtor refuses to pay even after arrangements have been made. If no payment has been made for a period of 180 days, the account is usually turned over to a collection agency.
Collection agencies will start legal action and have the court send out a writ of summons. This document informs the debtor the she has to appear in court. If a judgment is rendered in the collection agency's favor, it can garnish the debtor's wages or bank account.
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