Posted on June 30, 2009 at 3:05 am why are they that persistent? and how much do they get back from it? is debt collection really a lucrative business?

Posted on June 30, 2009 at 3:09 am i guess you may call it a lucrative business, since there are so many of them nowadays, legitimate and scams alike. they remind me so much of the tax collectors of the Hellenistic world, the way they are much hated by people! anyway, they get literally pennies on the dollar and are going after old, written off credit card debts from creditors. 

Posted on June 30, 2009 at 3:20 am according to the site that i was reading two of these collection agencies (or scavenger debt collectors) have actually made it to the Fortune 500 list. we could be talking about two levels of collection agencies here. when the creditor is unable to collect the debt, they pass it on to collection agency 1, and if it can't collect too, it gets sold to collection agency 2 (or the scavenger debt collectors)to answer your question, how much do they pay on a debt, and to add to what blur has said, these agencies buy old debts for pennies on the dollar----and now to answer the question, is it a lucrative business, how so?--how they earn is, they would try to collect the full amount from the consumer plus interest.

Posted on June 30, 2009 at 9:07 am So first we need to distinguish between collection agencies and junk debt buyers. Collection agencies typically are assigned debts by the original creditor. They usually get to keep between 10-20% of whatever they collect, and any remaining amounts must be sent back to the original creditor. Debt buyers purchase large protfolios of old debts for pennies on the dollar. They can potentially make a ton of money because they don't need to collect much to turn a profit on a single account. For example, if they purchased an account for 8 cents on the dollar, and they settled the debt for 20 cents on the dollar, they made more than a 200% profit on one account alone. Since portfolios may contain up to a thousand accounts, you can see how profitable this could become for these companies.

Posted on June 30, 2009 at 4:05 pm Exactly. So if you have past due credit card accounts that have been purchased by a debt buyer it is the perfect time to try and negotiate and settle your accounts.

Posted on July 1, 2009 at 1:46 am In an attempt to collect or make money, many of them resort to scare tactics and unfair/abusive practices. That's why the government, through the FDCPA or the The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, came up with a specific list of what the collection agencies can and cannot do.

Posted on July 10, 2009 at 3:16 am

Posted on July 28, 2009 at 12:21 am How much do debt collectors pay for a debt?Okay the knows that it is impossible to collect 100% of the debt, so it sells the debt to the debt collectors for a discount. The more "risky" the debt the cheaper it is to buy it. Some of the more savvy debt collectors buy debts for thirty cents on the dollar. As an example on a $100,000 debt: The debt collector can buy that debt for $30,000.00 from the bank and in return they can have all the rights to collect the whole $100,000.0. 

Posted on July 28, 2009 at 12:29 am Do debt collectors pay for student loan debts?

Posted on July 28, 2009 at 12:32 am I really am not sure, but I think so... private loan lenders do sell severely delinquent student loan debts to debt collectors, private loan lenders that is.