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Although we have experienced tremendous success with the letter package and credit bureau reporting, there are some debtors that respond to personal contact. Our call center is available to communicate directly with your debtor if you feel it would be helpful. Frequently, a telephone call as a follow up to the initial letter may be the one extra step required to make a collection successful.

Our experienced collectors will make a "courtesy call" to your debtor approximately 3-10 days following the mailing of the second letter. The purpose of this "courtesy call" is to impress upon your debtor the seriousness of your claim and your desire to resolve it as expeditiously as possible. It is not our intention to harrass, threaten or scare the debtor. Every call is handled with the utmost in professionalism and in compliance with all collection laws.

Simply provide us with your debtors' telephone number and best time to contact him and leave the rest to us. We will make up to four attempts to contact the debtor on your behalf. He will be notified that he is being called by a collection agency as a follow up to the letter he had received from us. We will state that we are calling as your representative and that this is merely a "courtesy call" to explain the importance of your claim. The debtors' response will be logged in the debtor profile journal and be e-mailed to you. You will be notified immediately of any offer for settlement, payment arrangement or dispute of your claim.

As a full service debt collection agency, OldDebts.com wants to make available every opportunity for a claim to be resolved quickly and professionally. The "courtesy call" option is available on any claim but must be selected at the time the initial letter package is purchased.

Using the Internet to Manage Tenants for Peak Cash Flow

Traditionally, the business of managing residential rental properties has been known as “property management,” and the focus has been on brick-and-mortar issues ranging from garbage collection to building maintenance. But that emphasis has neglected the very lifeblood of the rental property business: the tenants who actually pay the freight.

In today’s skittish economy, the need to ensure a steady cash flow from renters is at least as great as the need to control property expenses. That means it is imperative to couple property management with tenant management — a cradle-to-grave term that embraces tenant screening and rent collection as well as the process of recovering monies from delinquent tenants.

The challenge of tenant management is not only to put good procedures in place but also to avoid getting bogged down in paperwork and all the other chores associated with executing those processes. One path that has recently become available is the use of Internet-based services that automate key portions of these processes to save time and frequently produce better results.

Let’s consider each phase of tenant management and how the efficiencies of the Internet are making the job easier.

Tenant screening: Until recently, this was strictly a manual process that required laborious reference checking either by the property manager or by an outsourcing service. There are a variety of problems with both approaches. First, the property manager typically lacks the sophistication to do a thorough evaluation. Second, the process takes several days and often much longer. Third, it leaves property owners and managers open to charges of discrimination.

The first online service to eliminate all of these impediments is Tenant Alert.com (www.TenantAlert.com ). This Internet-based real-time tenant screening service features an exclusive colorblind scoring system called MatchMaker that enables landlords to establish their preferred tenant profile based on more than 20 different parameters. The system evaluates each applicant according to those criteria and instantly returns a “recommend” or “not recommend.”

The service also provides national consumer credit reports and a special scoring system that helps lower landlords’ risk by instantly evaluating the credit criteria provided by the credit bureaus. In addition, it checks applicants against an 11 million+ nationwide eviction database that is the largest in the industry, covering money judgments, possession-only judgments, skips and property damage claims; and performs automated criminal background searches that include cross-checking against sexual offender and terrorist databases.

Registered TenantAlert clients can also use the service to instantly report delinquent tenants to Experian, Equifax and TransUnion as well as the Delinquent Tenant Cooperative, and consult the Cooperative to check any prospective tenant and report any previous tenant at any time.

Rent collection: Another improvement in rental management that has been made possible by the Internet is an automated service designed to help ensure timely rent payments by invoicing tenants every month. This provides an easy reminder that payments are due, elevates rent payments to the same level of importance as car payments, and adds professionalism to the business of apartment management.

TenantMail.com (www.TenantMail.com), the first service of this kind, enables apartment owners and management companies to register and input their rent roll online for free. The service then automatically prints and mails invoices with a return envelope and tear-off payment stub every month for as little as $1 per unit. Custom messages and notes can be added to the invoices for no extra charge.

The beauty of the system is that all processes are automated. Changes in tenancy, rent or dates can be recorded online through the owner or manager’s personal TenantMail account, which can be accessed at any time. The day before printing the month’s invoices, the service even e-mails apartment owners and managers with a list of critical information that will appear on each invoice in case changes must be made.

To streamline the administrative process even further, landlords that are using TenantAlert for screening purposes can add any newly approved tenants to their TenantMail account with just a few mouse clicks.

Rent recovery: Beyond tenant screening and invoicing, the Internet also has opened new options in delinquent rent collection. In addition to traditional contingency-based rent collection services, landlords now have the ability to utilize a Web-based flat fee service that can significantly reduce the cost of pursuing delinquent tenants.

Available through Rent Recovery Service (www.ABadTenant.com), this new flat fee alternative allows property owners to initiate debt collection proceedings simply by setting up an account and inputting information about delinquent tenants online. The tenant then receives one or more collection letters, depending on the option selected, with instructions to pay the property owner directly. The service also automatically notifies the three credit bureaus and the Delinquent Tenant Cooperative of the delinquency.

If the tenant pays the debt, the property owner receives 100% of the amount due, eliminating the need to split the proceeds with the collection agency. The only costs are $16.95 for a one-letter package or $26.95 for a three-letter package that includes an initial letter, a warning letter and a final notice.

If the collection letters sent under the flat fee program fail to secure payment, the property owner or manager can switch to Rent Recovery Service’s more aggressive contingency collection program with one mouse click. And thanks to strategic alliances with TenantAlert.com and TenantMail.com, users of those services can access both Rent Recovery Service’s flat fee and contingency programs by clicking from one site to the next.

Conclusion: The Internet therefore offers new opportunities for efficient tenant management. Property owners and managers can now screen, invoice and initiate collection action against delinquent tenants quickly and cost-effectively through these new online services. It’s just another way that technology is changing the way the world does business.