Disputing a bill is not terribly uncommon, and in some cases makes sense. Billing errors can happen, and it’s fair to have them resolved before paying. But imagine claiming you don’t need to pay ANY bills—or even your rent—ever, because you have special status or philosophical separation from your “debtor self” that renders financial obligations null and void. Such are the type of stances taken by people called “Debt Protesters,” despite that their tactics never succeed. Often predatory online fraudsters are guiding their actions, attracting people in debt and promising relief—for a fee. In reality, the consequences can be severe, and invariably the protester’s situation only gets worse. It’s been going on for decades, and at MetCredit we have experts who deal with countering frivolous lawsuits and fraudulent registrations of interest against businesses who are legitimately owed a debt. It's a bizarre and fascinating world, and in this episode host Bryn Griffiths takes you inside it with help from Tim Browatzke, MetCredit’s Manager of Corporate Integrity and Legal Strategies, and Sean Butt, a Toronto-based lawyer who specializes in the unusual field of Canadian law on behalf of businesses and financial institutions. If you've visited websites promising to help you escape debt for a fee, this episode can help you avoid consequences that can be much worse than the actual debt. If your business has been impacted by tactics of Debt Protesters such as “Sovereign Citizens” or “Freemen on the Land,” you will find Sean and Tim’s advice helpful. And everyone else will be enlightened—and relieved not to have to deal with such lunacy! It’s an important reality check for anyone involved in granting credit.Canada’s National Collection Agency: MetCredit.com

Overdue Advice

Debt Protesters: Can Debtors Turn the Tables on Collections?

Consumer debt collection is delicate business at the best of times. Throw in a global pandemic where people’s livelihoods are in doubt, and it becomes exponentially harder. For telecommunications companies, the question becomes more than ever how to help customers, who need their phones and the Internet to work and function, but many of whom are struggling to pay for other essential services—like food and housing. In this landmark episode, host Bryn Griffiths brings together 3 individuals in directly competing roles for Rogers Communications, Telus and Sasktel, and discovers a remarkable amount of common ground: Michele Murray of Sasktel, Anthony Sabatelli of Rogers Communications and Raphael Karamichailidis of Telus. All three work in leadership roles involving account recovery at their respective companies, and Michele is also the director of the Telecommunications Risk Management Association of Canada (TRMA Canada), a non-profit corporation formed by telecommunication industry leaders to promote cooperation among Canadian Telecommunication companies in reducing fraud and bad debt.It’s a deeply engaging episode, tackling tough questions and outlining the importance of assisting the customer in recovering debt: something our teams at MetCredit focus on not only when representing these three corporate clients but for every organization that engages us.

Compassion in Debt Recovery, with Michele Murray, Anthony Sabatelli & Raphael Karamichailidis

We talk with consultant Domenic Rubino who works with struggling construction companies and sets them on a new path with efficient, effective systems and processes.

Planning for an Uncertain Future with Domenic Rubino

In normal times it was often difficult for your customers to access credit if they were already in debt. In pandemic times, it feels like a lost cause. But it's not. Jayde Samarzija of JMS Mortgages is busier than ever, and focused on helping your customers in critical debt create a hopeful financial future.

Accessing Credit Solutions In A Pandemic, with Jayde Samarzija.

In this episode we're speaking with MetCredit VP Marc Billard. We review the start of the pandemic to explore how it affected MetCredit and its clients. We finish off with a conversation about the present and how the financial future might unfold.

Recovering from COVID with Marc Billard

“House poor” is more than just a label - when it happens, it’s a real crisis. Quinn Yule is a collections manager at Met Credit, and Zak Abdi is a collections advisor. When debt situations get serious or complex, they’ll refer the file to Jayde Samarzija - a mortgage broker with Canadian Financial Solutions.

Solutions for Unsolvable Debt with Jayde Samarzija, Quinn Yule, & Zack Abdi

MetCredit is creating a new collection team for a significant new client, and Murat Akbay was promoted to manage it. Murat talks about how training works, why collections is so effective for businesses, and why he needs you on his team.

Scaling Up Collections Teams for Clients with Murat Akbay

The financial services sector is built on trust. The clearer the contract, the more trust. In debt collection experience is the currency of trust. Debt collection is a people business after all. And MetCredit's people know their business. If you tour MetCredit's offices, you'll see long time service awards of 5, 10, 15 and over 20 years experience. In business, longevity translates as consistency, reliability, and trust. In this episode of overdue advice, we talk to three of MetCredit's collections teams. Quinn Yule and Katrina Nillsen are Collections Managers; Zak Abdi is a Collections Consultant. We find out why they choose a career in collections, and what motivates them to serve their clients.

Careers in Collections - How Long Term Employees Foster Success

When you think about debt collection, you think about a phone call. There was a time when that was more or less true. It's 2020 and the telecom industry has shifted. Cord cutting means landlines aren't as available as they used to be, and there's no phone book for mobile phones. Text messaging have shifted when and where collectors can reach people. Simon Howard is the Canadian Director of Canadian Operations for Illion, an Australian company with a suite of debt "receivables optimization solutions." Simon Howard explains how Illion's tools allow collection agencies merge email, text and phone communications, and even payments by text, for more efficient and successful debt recovery.

Communication Choices for Customers - Flexible Collections with Simon Howard

Soft skills are hard. Debt collectors get results, but almost entirely through soft skills. Debt collection is, mostly, one person communicating with another. Shawn Virk is a Vice-President at MetCredit and leads the Vancouver team. He’s had special success in building a positive, safe, supportive environment where collectors can thrive, while getting outstanding results.

Team-Driven Success: Team Building with Shawn Virk

When companies are successful and reach a certain size, compliance becomes a full-time job. At MetCredit, that job belongs to Greg Hunka. Greg is the Quality Assurance Manager at MetCredit. Not only does he have to make sure collection teams are compliant with MetCredit’s own standards, and the law, and with client’s instructions. We did this interview because we wanted to get an overview of compliance - we’ll do a deep dive in a future episode. What I can say is it took weeks to get the interview setup because Greg Hunka is a very busy man making sure four call centres across Canada are all doing the right thing in the right way.

Keeping Up With Compliance with Greg Hunka

We've covered Canada, but we've never talked about the United States. Today we're talking to a collections lawyer, so let's crunch some numbers. The United States sees about three times as many lawsuits per capita as Canada. It's a tough field. David Cook is a San Francisco collections attorney with an impressive track record. He's a prolific author and penned "The Debt Collector's Handbook" published by the American Bar Association, covering every aspect of debt collection, including enforcing judgements. He worked (and won) the highest profile collections case in American History against OJ Simpson. David Cooks insights can help you understand collections, and how to avoid legal collections, in the United States. http://cookcollectionattorneys.com/ https://www.metcredit.com/ https://metcreditusa.com/

Legal Collections in the United States (and how to avoid it) with David Cook

Credit and debt collection is as much social engineering and art as it is about business and finance. The crux of debt collection is asking for the money, but it’s not like a sales job. Tim Paulsen is an Accounts Receivable expert focused on training collectors. He’s an author of several books including the Amazon 5-star rating for “Paid in Full” and “Tipping the Scales,” about maximizing collection returns. Tim is also the chair and managing director of the International Centre for Professional Collections, or ICPC. The conversation with Tim Paulsen covers a lot of ground, but we stick to his central focus: trained collectors make a bigger difference to your business’s bottom line than untrained collectors. https://trpaulsen.com/ http://www.metcredit.com

How Professional Collectors Recover More, with Tim Paulsen

George Preece is a veteran and leader in accounts receivable in Canada. George joined MetCredit last year, and we decided to catch up with him for his perspective about the differences between internal debt collections at a company, and working for an agency, like MetCredit.

The MetCredit Experience with George Preece

After hours-long searching online, you'll find very little information about estate collections. What you will learn about estate collections - collecting from the deceased - is that it's a specialized branch of debt collection, virtually no one offers the service, and if you want to learn more, you pretty much have to talk to our guest, JoJo Staples.

Debt Doesn't Die: Estate Collections with JoJo Staples

Overdue Advice is the podcast about cash flow strategies to grow your business. Each episode covers an aspect of accounts receivable. "How to avoid debt," "strategies to protect your privacy," and "what to do you when your business is dealing with outstanding revenue," are just a few Host Andreas Schwabe talks with guests like Brian Summerfelt, CEO of MetCredit, Canada's leader in ethical debt collection, to examine all sides of debt recovery.

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