Ethical Collections Made Easy: Our Unique PHD Approach

Do you enjoy asking people for money? Expecting someone who doesn’t owe you money to lend it can be a real burden. When they do owe you money, asking them for it reminds them of their delinquency. In either case, it’s an unpleasant, invidious task.

If you’re running a business, getting what’s owed is essential, yet collecting it risks leaving a bad taste in the mouths of customers and clients. That the money isn’t necessarily forthcoming and can be hard to track down only complicates things further.

The most determined company can struggle to collect it and, perhaps out of frustration or because they’ve seen it done in movies and think it works, they may resort to underhanded tactics that alienate people without even being effective.

Summit Collects is proud of our PHD philosophy — Preserve Human Dignity. It’s a unique approach in the world of debt collection. Not only does it leave bridges between companies and their customers and clients intact, but we also collect nearly double the industry average.

Ethical debt collection isn’t a naïve slogan. Please read on to learn how Minnesota’s friendly debt collectors are also leading the industry forward. 

Relationships Matter

Money shouldn’t get in the way of a good relationship. We understand that you’ve invested a lot of time, money, and energy into building a brand and establishing positive relationships with vendors, clients, end users, and more. Calling in debts can push some people away.

Perhaps they’re a B2B partner struggling to find cash on hand or a customer short on extra funds. They may have a decent reason why they haven’t paid you. There are different types of debt, and not all of them are unhealthy to take on.

On a human level, you may understand why they’re having trouble finding the money and sympathize with them. But you can’t just leave the debt uncollected. Summit AR can take it over from here, so you can focus on your business without having unpleasant, risky conversations about money that risk diminishing or even severing important connections.

We Are Better at Collecting

Summit AR’s trained staff have specialized skills you’re unlikely to find in most company’s HR teams, or even other debt collectors. In their training, our staff learn to be friendly, courteous, and just generally helpful, all while learning negotiation skills.

When they speak to debtors, the goal is to solve the situation so both sides can move forward. Of course, they’re on your side and aim to collect the debt! But they try to help the debtor pay what they can to resolve the situation. We know which buttons to press to get the ball rolling.

For example, we have good relationships with all the major credit bureaus in the US and report the debts to them in a timely manner. In our experience, this is a major lever to pull, as it can affect their credit rating. Many debtors make a simple calculation: if paying the debt is more affordable than paying more to secure a future loan, they’ll pay the debt as soon as possible. You don’t need to be rude or discourteous to people to get them to pay up.

Debt may seem like an abstract problem when you see the numbers in a spreadsheet, but we believe that there’s always a person who picks up at the other end of the line that can be reasoned with when you speak to them respectfully.

Difference-Making Skip Tracing

What about debtors who are more determined to hold out? The longer the money is out of your accounts, the more trickle-down problems it causes your business. You need money to pay staff, electricity bills, and for a rainy day. Yet some debtors go to extreme lengths not to be found, like relocating or changing the name of their business.

Summit AR is a Minnesota debt collection agency with its own fully licensed private investigator, which is a very rare thing to find in the entire country. If somebody doesn’t want to be found, we’ll locate them and their assets sooner and without diverting money, time, and energy from your business operations.

When you are legally and ethically in the right, you don’t need to berate or be rude to people to get their attention. We simply find them and use our experience and training to push the right buttons.

No-Complaint Policy

Our PHD approach is ultimately about avoiding complaints from all sides. Most commercial debt collection agencies focus narrowly on recouping the debt and lose track of the larger picture. Every business needs money on hand for cash flow, operating, and overhead expenses, but aggressive tactics also undermine these things.

Sadly, the underhanded debt collection methods seen in movies sometimes occur in real life. Summit AR will never conduct itself in a way that reflects poorly on your business, such as using robocalls, late-night calls, or even rude language.

Surely nobody would resort to such ugly methods unless they were more effective, right? Wrong! It may seem counterintuitive or hard to believe, but hiring ethical debt collectors is the best way to not only keep relationships intact, but also to get more of your debt collected effortlessly and sooner.

Our online testimonies and an A+ rating from the BBB support that our approach is working and has worked for years.

Transparency Matters

Debt collection isn’t an either/or proposition where the money is or isn’t in your accounts. It’s a gradual progress that companies want to track and monitor. If the money isn’t in their possession yet, they need to know where it is.

That’s why Summit AR offers a secure, comprehensive portal that is accessible 24/7 and gives business owners eyes on their debts. View the status of an account, place new accounts for collection, download custom reports, and more. 

Whether you’re wondering about the dos and don’ts of debt collection from an ethical or business perspective, it amounts to the same thing. Treating people with respect and dignity is aligned with your business goals. That’s Summit AR’s approach, and we’d love to show you how successful our PHD approach can be.