Cali Collection Company Attempts to Get Fit And Healthy

May 16, 2010 by  
Filed under Business

A collection agency based in California produced a plot to motivate and educate employees to live healthier lifestyles in early January. There are twenty eight employees at the agency; more than half are currently participating in the initiative.

All of the parties involved have made a goal to lose ten percent of their total body weight by the end of June. Every Monday morning weigh-ins are scheduled and employees have an opportunity to win two cash prizes for losing five percent of their body weight by the end of March, and then another five percent by the end of June.

The Agency’s executive alleged that he had been considering the initiative for quite a while. He says it’s perfect for the stereotypical office setting that is fraught with unhealthy eating, and employees taking breaks to get fast food. He made note of the fact that trying to make employees lose weight was more cost efficient than actually obtaining health insurance for his workers.

In a ploy to get employees to live healthier, the agency has sporadic lunches and “education track meetings” once a week. The meetings are supposed to assist employees target and plan for their weight loss goal. So far the program has been a success. The collection company has collectively lost 72 pounds to date. That’s the size of a small child.

The program works to produce a better all around worker. It follows that a worker that is less stressed will be more efficient and motivated. While a really relaxed debt collector does not seem like they would be the most efficient worker, it all seems like a good idea. As the government tries to sort out the health care system, perhaps it is time that more companies like this take this route. If employees cannot get health insurance, health initiatives and goals at work could be the next best solution.

Rapid Recovery Solution is a third party debt collection company. lawyer based and equipped with skiptracing tools. You are welcome to reprint this article – but get your own unique content version here.

Knoxville Police Try To Collect On Unpaid Tix Pt. 2

April 24, 2010 by  
Filed under Finance

“You will see a numerous violations at the same intersection, so you know that they are traveling the same route every day.” Lasercraft, the red light system receives a portion of the fines collected to operate the program. Lasercraft gets compensated with eighty percent of the fees up to $4,500 per month and the city gets a hold on the twenty percent that remained. Above $4,5000, monthly collections are evenly split between the city and Lasercraft. The city’s share goes to the city’s general fund, not the Police Department.

During the time that the camera system was operated by RedFlex Traffic Systems, Inc in 2008, the city’s split of the collections obtained was $1,179,352 and RedFlex’s take was $2,007, 831.After the city transferred to Lasercraft in 2009, the city collected $1,143,072 and Lasercraft got $1,874,989.30 The fact that the collection rate is dropping demonstrates that there are less citations being issued because more drivers are stopping at the red lights where the cameras are located.

The police department believes that the red-light camera program has been an enormous success because it has reduced crashes at the intersections with the cameras. In the year of 2009, the entire percentage of crashes at these intersections went down by ten percent over 2009\8 and remarkably, side impact and front impact collisions were down by thirty percent, which is a consistent result for every year of the program. The police officer states that “It has made our roads safer. I believe that public safety has genuinely benefited. We chose the most troublesome intersections based on crash information.”

Additionally, the city of Oak Ridge utilizes red-light and speed enforcement cameras, and utilizes RedFlex. And much like Knoxville, citations are going down in Oak Ridge too. According to RedFlex, the whole amount due for Oak Ridge violations in March was $69,900. The total amount due from June 2009 to March 2010 was an impressive $866,163.25. This amount includes any fees that might have been assessed, including late fees, rejected payment fees, administrative hearing fees, and on line convenience fees.

A bill that is currently making its way through the state House that would end operation of red light cameras and continue to let municipalities hire collection agencies to pursue the dlinquent fines. But, lawmakers claim that failure to pay the fine would not be reported to credit rating agencies to hurt credit ratings. Under the bill currently, there would be no extra fees for late payment.

Mallory Megan works for a debt collection agency. She also composes articles on business, finance, consumer spending and collection agencies. Get a totally unique version of this article from our article submission service

Spanish Collection Agency Humiliates Debtors Into Paying Up

March 2, 2010 by  
Filed under Debt Consolidation

Would you be mortified if a man in a tuxedo and a top hat followed you into a restaurant and silently joined your lunch date? How about a trio of men with more to love dressed like superheroes asking your neighbors for donations to assist you in your financial situation?

In Madrid, make sure that your bills are paid or you might be visited by one of these crazy characters. The recession has slammed Spain. Official figures show that the unemployment rate has sky rocketed, reaching 19.3 percent. That\’s one of the highest rates in Europe. About four million people aren\’t working. That\’s the same number of jobless people as France and Italy combined. One business is flourishing however, that business is debt collection.

Spanish law is pretty lax when it comes to debt payment. They allow 95 days to settle bills unlike the 30 in other parts of Europe. This, coupled with the fact that Spanish courts give the matter low priority put collection agencies in high demand.

One agency, El Cobrador del Frac – which translates as \”The Debt Collector in Top Hat and Tails\” – has more than 250 collectors, and an equal number of secretaries and investigators.Their goal is to work out some deal and retrieve money, not to go after people without the means to pay.

For them, new business is coming from constructive trade which is suffering from a huge slowdown. Homeowners owe money to contractors, contractors owe money to construction companies, construction companies owe equipment makers, and so on and so forth.

Last year, the agency was contacted by a wedding company who had a couple who did not pay the $83,000 bill for their extravagant wedding. The agency got their hands on a wedding guest list and began calling up guests one by one on the phone and asking them if they had the chicken or the lobster, and then asked them where to send the bill. Eventually the shamed couple paid up.

These ideas are interesting, (I guess that\’s one way to describe it) but they won\’t be this effective in due time. In this time of crisis, too many people have debts and they honestly can\’t pay. And to these people, it doesn\’t matter how much you humiliate them.

Mallory McGuinness is employed by a debt collection agency. She also composes stories about business, finance, consumer spending and debt collection. Get a totally unique version of this article from our article submission service