Dear Editors,

I have been soliciting your posts for two days now. There are 34 of you as of 6PM Tuesday, still coming in regularly, to my amazement. I am traveling to work in two days and I'm a photographer. I am going to go ahead and pull down my post right now.

I'm going to be honest with you right here: It's going to take a good awhile to get back to you. If I had known I would draw this response I would have definitely delayed the posting for after the one and a half week trip I am taking beginning on Thursday in Philadelphia and hitting points north along the east coast, where I am from.

I would like to say, however, that you are amazing - in number. And in qualification from what I have seen, when not being totally overwhelmed with the body of you. And that I can see you are inspired by this project. I am inspired by your response to the project. Thank you for what you have already put in just prepping the paperwork to send my way.

I see this project as needing a lot of editors, but you'll forgive me if I gave the business guy the first interview. That photograph above, taken today, is my perspective across the way from Banker Rachael Kohler of Bremer Bank assisting me sending a rather large check to some current employees. I need an employee who can at least pay for hisherself. I hope you understand.

All I can say is be merciful, patient, and generally un-editor like with me.

unless you think I'm too over my head,
whoever finds this first let me know,
-Tobin

ABC News: Senate Close to Passing Housing Rescue

Here is the link.

for those who don't know: I do keep many articles regarding economics archived publicly online at a social bookmarking website called del.icio.us/creditland - I don't know why it has so many subdomains, but it works well.

My favorite feature which I rarely use, but will insist Brady, who just got hired today for Sales Support use for research, is that each bookmark links to other poster's who have the same bookmark. You can then look at what they have bookmarked which may be of interest to you.

It's both convoluted and useful - viva the web.

minnesota monitor gives a shout out | june 24 media monitor roundup

The Minnesota Monitor gives a shout out to Creditland today, June 24

creditland beta is online | you can participate now with content for July 4 launch

You can be part of the final launch NOW by going to the Creditland BETA site.

Now, instead of finding this blog at Creditland.org you will find the teaser page to links on the right hand side. One of those links is to CREDITLAND.org BETA!

You can create your permanent user account and submit stories, give feedback. The BETA site is fully functional - most of the activity is smoothing out the interface in the administration and editing side.

Please spread the word and let people know: You can submit your real life nightmare story now and get published - do not be put off by the fact I am the primary author!

Let's get it started....

send us your old, tired and sick | internal memos, training manuals, absurd corporate memos

We'll edit for maximum protection. Send directly to the publisher your scanned item of ridiculousness - bmp, jpg or pdf preferred.

send to: publisher@creditland.org

newsletter Collect! | self-description of collection agencies

Category: Internal memos
Notes: CL is looking for training manuals, leaked memos from financial collection and other firms, and industry specific bits like this - please send to creditlandonline@gmail.com


Excerpt from Sales June 2008 Newsletter - Collect.org

What is a Collection Agency and can I make Money Doing this?
What is the main difference between first-party and third-party debt collectors? Third-party collectors are directly regulated by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), which is enforced and administered by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The FDCPA sets forth guidelines to protect consumers from abusive, misleading and unfair debt collection practices. First-party collectors are the credit grantors or your clients, business owners who have extended credit.

Third-party debt collectors work with First-party collectors or credit grantors to secure the payment of debts that have not been paid. As a professional debt collector you will locate consumers, determine why a bill or debt has not been paid and work with the debtor to get the payment. Unforeseen circumstances such as illness, death, job loss or divorce can sometimes cause an otherwise good credit risk customer to plunge into a situation where they cannot pay their bills.

A collection agency is a service business. Bill collectors act as agents for clients who could not get paid for products or services that they provided to their customers. A business places past due accounts with an agency and the agency tries to collect for them. Some agencies collect what is due on the bill and keep a commission on what they collected, and then send the client the balance of the money. Some agencies charge a flat rate for collection efforts.

Agencies can collect for hospitals, physicians, lawyers, retailers, service providers, and many other types of businesses. Any business that extends credit or accepts checks may have a need for a collection agency.

There are many laws an agency must follow when collecting debts. You should familiarize yourself with those laws and keep them available for reference. I include a listing of these laws in my book; I also include a listing of what you can and cannot do when collecting money that is owed to your clients.

Collection agencies have a terrible reputation caused by a few agencies that have created bad names in the industry. This is why you should follow the FDCPA closely. Surprisingly, not all agencies follow the FDCPA.

Some collection agencies collect in different ways, some only collect by mail, some by mail and phone and some only with legal action. You will need to decide which type of agency you want to have.

Collection agencies do not normally get paid by the hour. Instead, they work on a commission basis, therefore if you do not collect, you do not get paid. Commissions range from 25% on young accounts to 50% on those that are older or small balances. For instance, a collection service that gets the debtor to pay a $1,000 medical bill will earn $250 to $500 depending on the age of the debt and the agreement with their client. Typical annual gross revenues range from $30,000 to $60,000 based on a 25% commission for collections of $10,000 to $20,000 per month (the average for a small collection service.)

This article is taken from "Starting a Collection Agency, How to make money collecting money 3rd edition", by Michelle Dunn. This book is the only award winning, comprehensive book on how to start and manage a collection service. Available at http://www.MichelleDunn.com

assume any corporation collecting information is sharing it with other corporations | even perceived competitors

The insurance industry wants to know what your HMO knows.

The credit industry wants to hear from the card you paid late so it can Universally Default you.

As DeNiro says in that bad/good movie "Heat," "Assume they know everything."

In other words, when you give out information - assume you are giving it to the person in front of you, their superior, the corporation who runs their superior, every management decision that will be made after the current management leaves and their crappy replacements come in, and most of all: Your information will be used by any corporation for this purpose: To increase their bottom line.

If that means selling your information to a competitor and that's what the board tells them to do when they go bankrupt (a corporate fire sale), than your information gets disseminated.

The only guarantee from Corporate America is this: They will use anything they have, they will do anything within their power in order to fulfill their only mission: Increase quarterly profits.

If that doesn't scare you, it should.