Why Use A Professional Debt Negotiator?

Clarification – Professional Debt Negotiator  (pdn) versus Mediator.  A mediator tries to find a common ground between opposing parties.  The mediator does not side with one party or the other.  A PDN is hired by one of the parties in the negotiation and the PDN tries to negotiate an outcome suitable to all parties but his primary interest is that of his client, not the opposing party. 

You might be wondering why a company would go to a professional debt negotiator for help or you may be analyzing your own company’s  financial situation and wondering if its something you should do?  In the next few installments of  “the blog” I will attempt to shed some light on what good it might do you and what your options might be.  So, please come back each week to get the next installment in this series on why a company uses or should use a professional debt negotiator. 

Companies come to us in all shapes and sizes with varying amounts of debts outstanding.  While we usually don’t handle individual cases under $5,000 we do handle small cases when the company has multiple debts to negotiate.  Due to the fact that our service here is fairly new (a little over a year at time of writing) most of the companies we work for had been approached by us as opposed to them seeking us out. They didn’t seek us out because they didn’t know we existed and they didn’t know we could help them.   (what’s that saying….uh I think it goes something like “it’s not the stuff you don’t know about that should worry you, it’s the stuff you don’t know you don’t know about that should worry you”.The word still isn’t getting out there because our happy satisfied clients understandably don’t like to admit they had to use our services and thus are reluctant to refer the same.    

What tips us off about a potential client are the legal filings in the various judiciaries around the province.  We monitor the actual business to business legal filings for notice of action for debt both in the Supreme Courts and the Small Claims Courts.  (Small claims court in Nova Scotia handles cases up to $25,000.00)  It always makes me chuckle when I contact a potential client about their case and they often will ask how I know so much about their situation.  I tell them I have a cousin who is a judge at the Supreme Court and he gives me the inside track.  They don’t realize that all legal filings are a matter of public record and are available for their neighbours, bankers, suppliers and nosy people like me to see.  The credit bureaus also pick up the legal filings for their records.   Some actually get upset at me for calling them about it and hang up on me.  In most cases I have their immediate and undivided attention.  Sometimes they think that the Claimant or Plaintiff has asked me to contact them or that I am working for the plaintiff.  I have to explain that I am hoping to represent them, the debtor in the matter.  Then they open up and the story starts to unfold.  (Oh, there’s always a story and in a future installment of “the blog” I will list all the reasons people don’t pay their creditors.) 

There are three things we want to do for our clients when we take them on and on my next installment I will outline the three things we try to do for them.  Please check back next Friday when “the blog” is updated and thank you for reading. Please leave me a bloody note so I know who’s reading my blog………if you do I’ll be grateful and thank you for it.