PREPARE: Reviewing the paperwork prior to calling is important. If you know the history of the account, the promises kept/broken and payment history you sound better on the phone. Have all records in front of you, ready for reference.

ATTITUDE: Adopt a straight, professional business-like attitude. You have a contract, you delivered the goods, money is owed, and you have a right to expect payment. Never let it become personal. Don’t yell or raise your voice; and NEVER swear. Don’t threaten; legal action is your recourse.

CONTACT: Make sure you’re talking to the right person. Don’t let the individual brush you off with “You’ll have to talk to the bookkeeper.” Identify the person who will pay the bill. If you cant get through after several calls, tell the secretary that you know your calls are being screened. Indicate the purpose of your call and if necessary give deadlines.

CONTROL: Control the conversation. Keep it focused on the debt and on the repayment schedule. Don’t let the customer sidetrack you with personal history, excuses, etc. Remember, the object of your call is to collect money, or get a commitment, not to become buddies with the customer or win arguments.

FLEXIBLE: Always be prepared to adapt to any situation. Try to think about the kind of customer you are dealing with and work to overcome the obstacle. Be prepared to accept a reasonable payment plan or settlement, and a willingness to deal with a customers circumstances.

NOTES: Always keep detailed, accurate notes of every contact with the account. Probe for further information on the customer. Notes of these contacts will help you in subsequent phone calls, and may be invaluable in litigation. Accurate notes will also help in further credit decisions, or in cases where skip tracing may be needed.

PRODUCTIVE: All call should be brief and to the point. This is a business call, not a social hour. View your efforts on a ratio of time expended to results achieved. A long conversation typically means the customer is stalling you, or trapping you in the buddy syndrome.

PRECISE: Never leave a contact open ended, such as “Well talk next week,” or “Ill send what I can.” Every contact should result in a commitment to payment. A specific amount, by a specific date, even the check number the customer is using to pay the debt.

TIME: The longer an account is held, the less likely it is that it will be recovered. If payment or a payout is not arranged within 90 days, place the claim with a collection agency or start legal proceedings.

PLACEMENT: The best collection agencies do not need to pay money to get your information. Just type in “Collection Agency” to any search engine and pick a firm that ranks organically.

Mallory Megan is employed by a collections agency that works with a debt collection lawyer. Also, she writes stories on business and finance, the credit industry and collections agencies.

First, it is very possible that cardholders might find that they are being hit with an assortment of charges and new fees. This is because creditors have already been implementing new fees aggressively or raising ones that already existed to try to make up for any revenue that could be potential lost as a result of the CARD Act.

Some types of these fees are Discover’s new 2% fee on all purchases made outside of the United States of America, and an increase from 3% to 5% fee for rolling over a balance from one credit card to another.Because there are no restrictions on the types of fees creditors can implement, cardholders should pay extra close attention to the “Terms and Conditions” section of their statement so they know what exactly they are being charged for.

In addition, credit will be harder to come by. The amount of credit that was available to consumers by card companies went down about 7% between March and September of last year. And it will only tighten further. According to the CARD Act, credit card companies are going to be extremely restricted in their marketing techniques that target college students, which can potentially cut down on an important part of their business.

So, consumers with a mediocre or bad credit history will find that it is much more difficult to obtain a card or have their credit limit extended.

Fewer rewards are also expected. Issuers are becoming more cheap with their benefits in an attempt to save money. For example, American Express recently told its consumers that they would not be able to accumulate reward points on their purchases if they were late with a payment. To avoid missing out, analysts caution that cardholders should carefully read any notices they get from their credit card company about changes to their rewards or loyalty program.

Mallory McGuinness works for a debt collection agency. She also does articles on business, finance, consumer spending, and debt collection.

Broad in scope, the Red Flag rules define financial institutions as any organization engaged in insurance, banking, or similar activities, and a number of the definitions come with the breathing room to expand compliance demands. Any consumer account involving multiple payments or transactions that is offered to these organizations can potentially be subject to the rules.

The rules in a nutshell state that any financial institution or creditor that might be subject to a reasonable and foreseeable risk of identity theft should master an identity theft prevention program in order to remain in compliance. These programs should include identification on any activity that may be seen as identity theft. They should pursue red flags that have already been identified, and should take action to prevent and mitigate theft. Finally, period review and updating of red flags are necessary to comply with the Red Flag provisions.

Also, the Red Flag provisions mandate that an institution’s identity theft prevention program will be managed and written by senior company management. Training and overseeing this service are required.

Identity theft is a destructive and expensive issue; business and consumer losses came to about $56.6 billion in 2005 alone. But when you consider just how harmful identity theft can be to a business, not complying with these regulations can be even more expensive and harmful. Potential losses, costly investigations, regulatory fines and potential lawsuits are all negative consequences of non-compliance. It seems as though their best bet is to follow the rules.

Mallory Megan works for a debt collection agency. Also, she writes stories on business and finance, the credit industry and debt collection.