What if the servicer's attempts to collect payment are unsuccessful?

If the servicer assigned to your debt fails to collect payment for your debt and you're unsure of what your next steps should be, read on.

Unfortunately, sometimes our Assist and Collect servicers are unable to successfully collect payment on your debt. The reason for failure can vary but typically occur when the debtor disputes the claim or all collection efforts have been exhausted by the servicer.

When an account with our Collect service is disputed, the agency will follow the appropriate debt collection compliance laws outlined by the United States Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Below are a few notes on how this affects your specific debts.

Consumer Debts

For consumer debts, this generally means the agency will respond to the dispute with the proof of debt you provided (invoice, signed contract, etc.). From there, the debtor has 30 days to respond. If they do not respond to the agency within 30 days or continue to dispute the debt, the agency must cease all outreach to the debtor, as it could be considered harassment.  In these cases, the account will be closed by the agency working them and CollBox will be updated accordingly (and we'll notify you by e-mail when this happens).

As for the next step, we recommend contacting an attorney about filing a lawsuit or perhaps exploring small claims court.

Commercial Debts

When a commercial debt is marked as failed, it means the agency officially exhausted all of the collection tools at its disposal. We recommend asking your assigned agent about the legal services their office offers and recommend (if any), or independently contacting an attorney about filing a lawsuit. Depending on the balance, you could also explore small claims court. In these cases, the account will be closed by the agency working them and CollBox will be updated accordingly (and we'll notify you by e-mail when this happens).

Assist

If an account in our Assist service was canceled by the A/R specialist it will likely be for one of two reasons:

• The customer disputed the debt
• The specialist was unable to successfully make contact with your customer within 60 days of placement

We've learned that the reasons above are both clear signs that an account is a better fit for our Collect service, as these stubborn accounts require standard collection handling for successful recovery instead of gentle reminders from your A/R Specialist.

To move an account from Assist to Collect:

1. Go to the yellow Collecting section of your CollBox dashboard and select the Assist placement you’d like to cancel
2. On the placement information page, you’ll find a 'Cancel' button next to the 'State' of the placement. Click that, then click 'OK', resetting the account to the Past-Due section of your dashboard
3. Go to the red Past-Due section and select the account
4. Click 'See Recovery Options…' and follow the prompts to submit the account to collections as you normally would

If you have any questions or would like the details of why your account was closed, we encourage you to reach out to your servicer via the Message Servicer feature in-app or to reach out to us directly via chat or by e-mailing us at help@collbox.co and we'll get you taken care of right away!