It’s every business owner’s dream to maintain excellent customer relationships, yet in business, we unfortunately sometimes are forced to ask ourselves “should I hire a debt collection lawyer?” as a last resort to unpaid debts.
Having to embark on aggressive debt collection measures like involving a debt collection lawyer only comes as a last resort adopted out of necessity. As much as you would wish to preserve the relationships, the business needs to collect debts from defaulters to finance operations and avoid running into losses.
While it’s normal for customers to get into financial hardships, making it difficult to honor their payments as agreed, involving a third party becomes essential when a customer fails to cooperate. Nonetheless, pursuing debtors is quite stressful, not to mention how time-consuming it can get.
Is a Debt Collection Lawyer Really Necessary?
Owing to the highlighted frustrations, you might be tempted to use excessive pressure to compel a customer to pay (either personally or through a debt collector), a move that can plunge you into legal troubles. The probability of not recovering the debt despite the efforts is also high.
While staying abreast with the debt collection regulations (Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act, etc.) can help you avoid legal pitfalls, it can be time-consuming as a business owner. That’s why hiring a debt collection lawyer becomes necessary.
For instance, working with a law firm such as Hanna & Jarbo can be a pretty convenient and inexpensive solution, as you don’t have to pay any legal fees until we collect the debt or win the case if it gets to that.
What Does a Lawyer for Debt Collection Do?
Generally, a debt collection attorney enables you to develop effective strategies to recover defaulted debts from your customers or file a lawsuit once you exhaust all the available recovery options. They achieve this by;
- Issuing a demand letter – Once you hand over an account to the lawyer, they will prepare a demand letter in line with Michigan Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and serve the debtor.
- Negotiating with the debtor – In some cases, the lawyer might visit the debtor and arrange a manageable repayment schedule. If the debtor is unreachable and all ordinary means to trace them fails, the lawyer has the authority to skip trace them and commence the debt recovery process.
- Initiating the court process – If the debtor fails to honor their word after the negotiations, the attorney will then prepare the necessary documents and file a case in the court.
- Applying for wage garnishment – In case the debtor fails to wield the judicial letters, the lawyer can seek a wage garnishment order from the court. This is usually a court order authorizing withholding a certain percentage of the debtor’s salary by their employer and remitting the same to you (the creditor).
Reasons to Get a Debt Collection Lawyer
As earlier mentioned, hiring a debt collection attorney can help you successfully recover debts, thereby avoid resorting to potentially unlawful practices. Here is a rundown of reasons why getting a lawyer for debt collection is essential.
Attorneys Are Experts in Debt Collection Laws
Hiring a debt collection attorney gives you an upper hand, as they are well conversant with the laws governing fair debt collection practices in Michigan and nationally. An experienced attorney has the skill to compel the client to pay and exploit all the available legal provisions to recover the debt. In other words, the attorney will diligently employ the full force of the law to get your money back without plunging you into legal messes.
Judicial Letters Can Be Intimidating
If the debtors have been ignoring your messages and calls, serving them with a demand letter or a letter before action can intimidate them, compelling them to honor their repayments. As they understand the implications of a potential lawsuit, such as footing the court fees, lawyer fees, etc., in addition to repaying the debt, they’re most likely to go out of their way to repay the debt.
Convenient Payment Arrangements
Michigan debt collection lawyers have various fees schemes to choose from when charging for their services – contingent fee, flat fee, hourly fee, etc. However, at Hanna & Jarbo, PLLC, we charge our clients on a contingent fee basis, which is manageable.
We understand how unpaid debts put a strain on the business, and for most creditors, they would rather opt for other means of recovering their debts than the legal way due to the hefty fees involved. With this understanding, we offer our clients a manageable payment option, whereby they don’t get to pay a penny until we recover the debt or win the case.
Interested in learning more about how we can help? Call us now at 248-209-6486 or submit your case details on this form here.
Reasons NOT to Get a Debt Collection Lawyer
While getting a debt collection lawyer grants you a stress-free debt recovery process, there are situations where the move wouldn’t be realistic. For instance, hiring a lawyer may not be ideal if the debt involved is too small to cover the process fees. Besides, you don’t want to initiate the complex legal process that might end up costing you more resources (especially time) than what you’re owed.
Why You Should Work With Hanna & Jarbo
Any debt lawyer can represent you, but you need to be confident that engaging them will lead to a successful recovery. While every case is unique, making the outcome uncertain, you can never go wrong by looking at a law firm’s track record.
At Hanna & Jarbo, PLLC, we have a track record of achieving 85% debt collection in every case. We have helped many creditors – suppliers, landlords, lenders, judgment holders, contractors, etc., collect their debts successfully. Once you entrust your debt collection to us, you have a guarantee of a more than 90% case success rate.
Specialty Practice Areas
The benefit of working with Hanna & Jarbo, PLLC debt collection attorneys, is that you get a team of highly specialized lawyers to handle your case. While some debt collection lawyers represent both creditors and debtors, we only focus on creditors, which has helped us hone our expertise in this field.
Our specialty practice areas include:
- Auto loan and deficiencies
- Charged-off or non-paying commercial credit portfolios
- Construction debts
- General loans, notes, and credit lines in default
- Landlord-tenant debt & money judgments
- Returned checks (including charge-back credit card payments)
- Secured and unsecured judgments or liens
- Supplier account receivables
Testimonials
After a few weeks of switching from our previous debt collection law firm to Hanna & Jarbo, the checks started flowing in. We had despaired with the accounts as previous recovery efforts were unsuccessful. But since engaging Hanna & Jarbo, we are impressed with their work. ~ Debora
Benefits of Working With Us
- Hands-on case handling
- High collection rate (85%)
- High case success rate
- Pay us when we collect at a pre-agreed rate
FAQ
Do I need a debt attorney near me?
- While any debt lawyer licensed to practice in Michigan can represent you, hiring a Michigan-based attorney can be both convenient and affordable.
Is skip tracing legal?
- Skip tracing involves accessing someone’s private information to track their whereabouts. While anyone can achieve that with the right tools, this is usually illegal unless you have a license. Examples of licensed professionals include; attorneys, private investigators, bounty hunters, etc.
Hand Over Your Debts to Hanna & Jarbo, PLLC Debt Collection Attorneys
Debt collection doesn’t have to be a stressful process. Enlist our help at Hanna & Jarbo, PLLC, and let us take the load off your shoulders.