A debt collection firm in Lithuania has hired the country's most famous self-styled witch to track down deadbeats. A spokesman said the new employee will use her "powers" to heal those "suffering from psychological impact of bankruptcy and depression."

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=99451294

It can happen on two fronts.

Either a legitimate company makes a mistake or a schemer is simply looking for ways to access your pocketbook.

We got a complaint about a company called NCO Financial Systems.

The company reportedly calls victims daily asking for repayment for a debt they don't owe.

In fact, the Federal Trade Commission fined NCO $.5 million for reporting inaccurate information to credit bureaus.

• Earn
• Spend
• Can save

• Contact your creditors
• Explain the problems you are facing
• Work out a modified payment plan for a more manageable one

• Individuals
• Sole proprietors
• Partnerships
• Corporations

• Recovering debt from the second party agency/Debtor
• Maintaining cordiality in customer relations

• They are not a party to the original contract
• They are  assigned accounts by the creditors directly for a contingency-fee
• They may initially cost nothing to the creditor/merchant, except for the cost of communications
• They charge the creditors  depending on the individual service level agreement /SLA
• They charge a percentage of the debt upon successful collection known as the Pot Fee/No Collection - No Fee terms ranging from 10% to 35%
• They are  entitled to this fee should the creditor decide against the collection before its complete recovery
• Some  may offer a flat fee, around $10.00, as a pre-collection/soft collection service

• Pay the amount owed directly to the creditor
• Risk a collection action and negative credit report in case of failure to oblige

• Maintain a file for all the correspondence and the communication with the debt collector such as the  Validation, Verification and Cease & Desist order
• Make photocopies of all the communication with the debt collector like the Validation, Verification and the Cease & Desist orders
• Send  a photocopy each of all the communication with the debt collector like, the Validation, Verification, Cease & Desist orders via Certified, Return Receipt Priority Mail with a USPS Tracking Number to him
• CC to the Attorney General in your state and to the one in the state of the debt collector
• Include the USPS Tracking Number for all parties in the letter so the debt collector would know that you are not lying
• CC  to the Bar Association for your state and to the one for the state of debt collector
• CC to the local TV consumer investigative reporter for your state and to the one for the state of the debt collector
• Include the C C  in bold letters on all documents sent to the debt collector with the USPS Tracking Numbers
• Follow through with his threats to contact the Bar Association

• The industry The industry directly and indirectly, has supported a total of 426,700 American jobs with a payroll to the tune of $15 billion in 2005
• In 2005, the collection industry returned $39.3 billion to businesses that helped extend consumers credit
• Debt collectors saved the average American household $351
• The $39 billion returned to the U.S. economy was three percent of all U.S. corporate pre-tax profits
• Many companies would other wise have ended up  bankrupt if it was not for the debt collection services
• The fastest growing users of third-party debt collectors are the local, state and federal governments
• Federal government sought help  from the private collection agencies in its 2005 fiscal year for $13.7 billion in delinquent receivables 
• The private collection agencies recovered $603.1 million in 2005 for the federal government, up from $351.3 million in 2000

• 19 bags of groceries
• 155 gallons of gas
• More than four months of electric bills