Commercial Debt Collection and Recovery Attorneys in California
My clients are businesses that need an expert for California debt collection and recovery and I provide professional, fast, risk-free results. My proprietary system and expertise allow you to recover cash and profitability while freeing time to increase your market share. We’ll professionally represent you to collect receivables from delinquent California customers. To date, I’ve recovered over $75M for my commercial clients, and usually the fund recovery is complete within 45 days.
Stevens & Ricci and California Debt Collection Attorneys Can Help You Collect Past Due Receivables Faster
Whether you are considering using a California collection agency or one of the California Debt Collection Attorneys to assist in collecting past due payments and receivables, we offer options and guidelines to help you. Stevens & Ricci offers both collection agency and California collection attorney services via our legal team partners. Oversight and strategy between the two is included in contingent rate until funds are 100% collected.
Through our National Data Center located in Pasadena and with affiliate offices in Anaheim, Bakersfield, Concord, Escondido, Fair Oaks, Los Angeles, Martinez, Newport Beach, Oakland, Riverside, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Santa Ana, and Woodland we have California businesses covered. We cover all major Southern California counties such as Orange County, Los Angeles County, Riverside and San Bernardino counties and major Northern California counties. Our local private investigators are dispatched as needed to assist our legal personnel and/or our collectors and negotiators to get the debtors attention, get them concerned, and set the table for negotiations. This process helps us collect payments quickly for you.
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Stevens & Ricci National Data Center
3202 E Foothill Blvd
Pasadena, CA 91107
(818) 280-9677
California Debt Collection Attorneys
Trying to collect your own corporate debts in California can be a challenge. You may not receive substantially better results by contracting with a standard collection agency. When you choose to use the services of California Lawyers for Business Debt Recovery instead, you will have the advantage of the best recovery process available. The commercial debt recovery firm of Stevens and Ricci has a 72% recovery rate and can usually provide results in less than 45 days. Compare these numbers to the much lower 28% rate that the typical collection agency offers and the much slower collection time. If the business is located near Los Angeles, San Francisco, Newport Beach, or other major cities in California call our offices today to start the corporate debt collection process.
The Business Collection Attorney Difference
Whether you are operating a company in Sacramento or San Diego, CA, hiring a California Debt Collection Attorney will make a big difference to your cash flow. While collection agencies often miss critical opportunities, debt collection attorneys take advantage of every possible method to collect your debt. A standard debt collection agency will make a few phone calls. They may quickly give up when they do not speak to someone or receive a response to their messages. In stark contrast, the business debt collection team at Stevens & Ricci will stop at nothing to locate the debtor and begin negotiations. Our national support network includes collection attorneys in every state as well as private investigators. While we concentrate on pre-litigation services, we have found that a discussion with a licensed collection lawyer carries much more weight than a phone call from a collection agency representative. Just a hint of a lawsuit is usually enough to begin the payment process. When you use Stevens & Ricci’s services, you will be able to leverage the combined experience of expert collectors and lawyers for the very best results. Call our Anaheim or Oakland offices today to discuss how we can help in your situation.
Corporate Debt Recovery in California Can Be Challenging
Whether you are operating from the San Jose, CA or Santa Ana, CA areas, the laws are not always on your side when you are trying to collect money that is legitimately owed to your company. To garnish a bank account, you must first obtain a judgment and a writ of execution. Next, the sheriff or marshal of the court must deliver the writ to the bank before collection can commence. While you can collect, your entire debt from the bank account if the funds are there, the time lag between obtaining a judgment and delivering paperwork to the financial institution will allow your debtor plenty of time to empty all of their accounts. If you use the California Debt Collection Attorneys provided by Stevens and Ricci, they will usually be able to begin the payment process without the need to go to these drastic measures that are often unsuccessful.
CAUTION
Most businesses wait twice as long as they should before turning accounts over for collection. Don’t make this costly mistake! For every 30 days, the chances of collecting drop another 12%. If you’re not ready to commit to a collection agency or attorney, I’d like to suggest a couple of NO COST options as a smart “next step”:
1. Send a strong Final Demand Letter from your company. We offer a sample Final Demand Letter template for you to download.
2. Have us send a Legal Demand Letter to your past-due customer giving them 10 days to pay or face an aggressive legal collection process.
Contact us if you have questions about a specific slow pay or no pay receivable.
Business Collection Letters: Nice to Nuclear
5 STEPS TO INCREASE CASH FLOW BY 25%
- Sample Collection Letters
Download and customize each template with your company’s logo and information - IRS Advantage™ (Aggressive)
Use this little known IRS loophole to collect your most difficult accounts – yourself - Get More Out Of Your Collection Calls
5 negotiation tactics along with call scripts for best responses to common debtor excuses - Control, Manage, and PROFIT
Discover how to create profit from slow-pay customers with these simple, proven strategies
The Stevens & Ricci Difference
The California Lawyers for Business Debt Recovery in our network will provide numerous additional advantages to your business debt recovery needs. In addition to outperforming the collection agency in virtually every case, they also have knowledge and authority that is not available to those outside the legal arena. Collection attorneys can file motions with the court to force debtors and their agents to appear and disclose sensitive financial information. When a debtor obtains legal representation, most collection agencies will immediately give up. Our commercial debt collection attorneys welcome this development. We will seek out their counsel to start negotiations that are more advanced. The following sections provide even more strategies that a normal collection company would never consider trying.
Principal Identification
The theories of liability and alter egos can be successfully used by debt collection attorneys to collect debts from the owner of the business. Much of the corporate debt that goes into collection is fraudulent. Sometimes, a dishonest person will run up debt in the corporate name, and then close or sell the office without filing bankruptcy. By hiding behind the corporate veil, the debtor has put the creditor in a poor bargaining position because there is no personal guarantor, only a failed corporation. The theory of liability will often allow the debt collection attorney to pursue the principals. The alter-ego theory can also be used to collect debts in these situations. When a business owner uses non-corporate funds to pay for business expenses, the attorney can argue that the business owner personally owes the debt because the corporation was illegal.
Consent Judgments
When a debtor cannot pay in full, they will often agree to a short-term payment plan. The debt collection attorney may be able to strengthen this agreement by creating a consent judgment. If the debtor can be persuaded to sign it, the creditor will be able to obtain an immediate judgment if even one payment is missed. This process allows the debtor’s bank account to be seized without the need to spend additional time or money in the courtroom. In most cases, we already know the banking information from previous documents and can immediately seize the funds to pay the debt. A consent judgment dramatically increases the chances of payment for our Los Angeles and California clients and puts them in a better position than most secured creditors.
Business Sales – Advantages of using California Lawyers for Business Debt Recovery
In the event of a full liquidation, most collection agencies would be at a loss. The same would hold true for a bankruptcy, acquisition, or merger. A commercial debt collection lawyer can often obtain the buy/sell agreement from the owners or their agents. Many of these documents provide set-aside provisions or reserve allowances for paying secured creditors with open balances.
Local California Case Studies
- Client: Medical Device Maufacturer, MA
- Debtor: Outpatient Surgery Center, CA
- Amount owed: $85,583
Conclusion: The ability to go “outside the box” using contingent Los Angeles based Collection Attorneys with strong negotiation skills can turn debts into dollars where others cannot. A contingent Collection Attorney model is far superior to the standard collection agency process for commercial accounts of any size in all 50 states.
Full Story
One of our clients sold surgical equipment to a surgery center that operated in Los Angeles California. Soon after the sale, the surgery center closed its doors, disconnected all phone numbers, and left no further contact information. Due to the fact that the surgery center was a corporation, no personal guarantor was available to pursue for the debt. When our client spoke to another vendor that was owed money by the surgery center, they were told that a collection agency had advised them that the debt was noncollectable because no one could be reached. Our client decided that there must be a way to collect and contacted one of the Stevens and Ricci California offices.
Our Los Angeles collection attorney began by talking to sales representatives at both our client’s company and the other vendor’s business. During the interview process, it was disclosed that a local hospital administrator was a friend of the owner of the failed surgery center. From this contact, we received the name and number of the owner’s private medical practice.
During a phone call that reached the debtor personally, we found out that they were reorganizing the surgery center and planned to reopen as a new corporate entity with new investors. We convinced the doctor to sign a Letter of Responsibility for the purchased equipment.
In this case, the debtor did not have a legal responsibility to pay the original debt, but we were able to recover the full amount due with interest. Our sensitive treatment of this case allowed the debtor to retain his reputation, and he remains one of our client’s valuable customers to this day. The outcome would have been very different if our client had relied on the advice of the collection agency.
- Client: Cement Supplier, AZ
- Debtor: Soil Stabilization Contractor, CA
- Amount owed: $20,568
Cold Case Collected Thanks to Credit Bureau Reporting Conclusion: Reporting your past-due debtor to the commercial credit bureaus will affect their ability to obtain credit, operating capital, and vendor trade purchases. This can ultimately apply collection pressure also as they realize this negative impact and try to have the item removed by contacting the collection firm that reported them.
Full Story
Summary: A cement supplier placed an account with our firm for $20,568 against a soil stabilization company. The amount due wasn’t for the materials, they paid that. It was for sales tax which the debtor claimed should have been paid by the client. Evidently, there was some confusion with the verbiage between the credit application and the invoices.
Despite our best efforts it went uncollected and went into the cold case file. We reported it to the two major commercial credit bureaus, as we do all accounts, and for the time being moved on to more pressing issues. This was a disputed account and the debtor had fairly strong contention points and defensible statements.
A few years later, the debtor called the offices of Stevens & Ricci to inquire as to the nature of this item on their credit report. They didn’t know what it was for. Our office staff replied they would have one of our Los Angeles Collection Attorneys review the matter and respond back to them.
The attorney contacted the debtor who requested proof from our client that the sales tax was actually paid. A change of tune: before they wanted the client to absorb the sales tax as a discount and for failure to communicate the sales tax issue.
The matter was resolved with the debtor settling for $16,000 paid in full to clear the item from their company’s credit report. This account was several years old and was settled because it was handled by a professional Los Angeles based collection attorney working as a subcontractor of a Broker/Forwarder in the debt collection industry. Our client paid a normal contingency fee – no legal costs or fees. A retraction letter was issued by the Stevens & Ricci collection attorney partner to both credit bureaus to clear the matter as per agreement. Case closed.
Conclusion: Reporting your past-due debtor to the commercial credit bureaus will affect their ability to obtain credit, operating capital, and vendor trade purchases. This can ultimately apply collection pressure also as they realize this negative impact and try to have the item removed by contacting the collection firm that reported them.