Collection Agencies / Debt Collection Merchant Accounts
While the common perception of a debt collector or collection agency is that of a shark attacking poor innocent people, the reality is that such businesses exist because many people do not pay their bills. It’s estimated that there are roughly 30 million Americans who currently have at least one debt in collection. Because of this fact, business is booming in the debt collection field as is seen in the $40 billion that was collected by agencies on roughly $150 billion worth of debt in 2010 alone. While this niche of an industry is growing, banks still consider a debt collection agency to be a high risk merchant, meaning that it can be difficult to find a merchant account provider. Merchant Processing Advisors specializes in high risk merchants, we can use our extensive list of contacts throughout the world and find a payment processor that can either be domestic or offshore if needed and offer highly competitive rates.
A debt collection agency can be a highly profitable business that can be run out of a person’s home. The number of debt collection lawsuits has risen dramatically, from 4400 in 2007 to 9300 in 2009 and then to 12000 in 2010. The process of debt collection is that a business buys a debt from the source for pennies on the dollar, and they then seek out to collect that debt. As the debt collection agency only paid a few cents on the dollar, they can afford to be flexible and offer reduced payments to clear the debt. As an example, one company bought 658 debt portfolios for 2.5 cents for each dollar, and they then settled those debts for an average of 7.5 cents on the dollar. While that five cents may not seem that much, you have to remember that the debt portfolios bought were worth a face value of $16.4 billion.
Merchant Processing Advisors knows that debt collection agencies need special services and features to operate their business. Chief amongst these is the ability to take card-not-present transactions in order for them to process payments over the phone. Merchant Processing Advisors can find multiple merchant account providers and can offer virtual terminals and payment gateways that allow their clients to process payments in a secure manner. As a debt collection agency is a high risk merchant due to the increased chances of fraud or chargebacks, Merchant Processing Advisors can find merchant account providers that offer specialized features to protect businesses from such occurrences. Contact us today to begin your application process or fill out our high risk merchant account application today. We will contact you within 24 to 48 hours with competitive rate quotes.
Our services are provided at no additional cost to you.