Frequently Asked Questions

If the account is disputed, kindly call us to discuss the nature and details of your dispute. Alternatively, and preferably you may also email us the nature and details of the dispute. Please include the ADK claim number from the correspondence you’ve received from us when addressing your dispute with our office.

You can execute payment with our office over the phone or online. Alternatively, you can execute payment by mailing us a check or money order made payable to Abrams, Davis and Keller, Inc. Remit to: Abrams, Davis and Keller, Inc. 1201 Sussex Turnpike Randolph, NJ 07869. Please write the ADK claim number on your check or money order.

No. There is no contractual obligation required unless specifically requested by our client.

No. There are no upfront costs for us to begin our pre-legal collection efforts.

Yes. We are fully capable to manage your accounts in over 200 countries. We are also partnered with a strong network of bonded international attorneys that specialize in debt collection. These longstanding relationships with our attorneys have been established through our affiliation as an accredited member of the International Association of Commercial Collectors.

Ideally, the more documentation you provide, the more informed the collector will be to efficiently address and resolve the balance. Key documents include: statement of account balance, all invoices and credits, credit application, personal guaranty, proof of delivery, copies of check(s), internal call notes, email correspondence, purchase orders, sales agreements and any other terms and conditions that may be on file or other relevant information.

Minimally, to get started quickly, we request a statement of account balance and all contact information for the customer.

You may refer the collection accounts in whichever manner is most convenient for you. Below are some options:

Email a statement of account balance for each customer along with their contact information to this email: clientsupport@adkcollections.com

Fill out our Pre-Formatted Excel Spreadsheet here.

Fill out the Word format Placement Form here.

Fill out the Online Placement Form here.

You also may fax any documentation to: +1 973 895 4702

Upon receipt, we will email you an acknowledgement and begin immediate collections.

Yes, our minimum claim size is $100.00.

We can accept multiple accounts in a wide variety of formats. Whichever manner is most convenient for you will be fine with us. The most common format we see is to fill out our Pre-formatted Excel Spreadsheet by clicking here. If you don’t have all the information requested on the spreadsheet that is ok. Please ensure all fields are completed for the areas where you do have the requested information.

As we are a commercial collection firm, we only accept commercial (business to business) debts. We do not accept the following types of debts: consumer (personal) debts, judgments, tenant-landlord debts, liens, hard money loans.

No. All fees for our pre-legal collection efforts are fully contingent upon collection, regardless of receivable age, and are on a per claim basis.

Please call our office at +1 973 895 4700 ext 203 to discuss your specific accounts receivable situation and portfolio.

Yes. Upon client request, we can send your customer a 10-day demand. The letter is best served as a barometer to test the debtors’ intentions to determine whether they are just stalling with payment or if it is a true cash flow problem. The demand letter is most effective on accounts that are under 90 days delinquent. Our clients are welcome to use the letter regardless of receivable age.

If your in-house collection efforts are not generating a positive response after 60-90 days delinquent, it’s time to refer the account to collections. Accounts receivable is one of your company’s most substantial assets, yet they are extremely perishable. Your recovery opportunity will diminish by approximately 12% each month the receivable ages. To maximize your recovery opportunity, you’ll want to place accounts for collection between 90-120 days delinquent when Any of the following Debtor Danger Signals occur:

• Broken Promises
• Customer is incommunicado: never available, avoiding calls and emails etc.
• NSF Check(s) and declined credit/debit cards
• Phone number disconnected/postal mail is returned undeliverable
• Fictitious or otherwise unfounded disputes
• Noticeable changes with customers’ traditional payment trends and habits
• Change in company ownership and/or negative rumors within the industry about your customer

Our company motto is Maximum Collected and Goodwill Protected. Our professional staff is cognizant of the fact that a clients’ corporate image and reputation are of paramount importance. We take great pride in professionally mending and sustaining relations between our clients and their customers by “bridging the gap” and ultimately strengthening the future relationship. In fact, debtors welcome our contact and usually pay us quicker than their other debts. We implement a firm but fair approach in all correspondence and communications to ensure timely payment is made while simultaneously protecting your corporate image.

Having a partnership with a reputable and established collection firm is one of the best decisions a credit professional can make. Our services will allow you to focus more time on your key accounts and other financial priorities rather than frustratingly spending exhaustive and countless hours trying to manage and collect on past due accounts. Implementing a credit policy of referring all delinquent accounts at 90 days delinquent for collection will allow your cash flow to increase, the need for legal action will decrease, and your write-offs and bottom line year end financials will improve.

Unlike all other collection agencies and law firms, we are specialists within your industry. When accounts are sent to us for collection, we can quickly diagnose the debtor’s financial situation and business circumstances. Furthermore, we develop information from our other clients within your industry. Our collectors manage our clients’ accounts receivable from an Industry Perspective. What this means to you is we anticipate and effectively overcome all disputes or obstacles otherwise allowing us to recover your lost revenue not only faster but also at a much higher percentage than our competition.

Whether your accounts receivable situation requires a soft friendly reminder approach using our diplomatic-audit type collection methods, or you require an immediate law suit to be filed, all our proven methods of successful collection are highly adaptable and we will professionally accommodate your situation and request. We are consistently on a relentless pursuit of your accounts receivable to get you paid first, while always preserving the good reputation your company has established with your customer.

We are an accredited and proud member of the International Association of Commercial Collectors (IACC). The IACC is an international trade association comprised of commercial collection specialists located throughout the world. To become a member of the IACC, collection agencies and collection law firms must pass and abide by a set of rigorous and stringent standards regarding a Code of Ethics, professionalism, experienced owners, and financial bonding. The IACC will also check client references of accredited members. Abrams, Davis and Keller, Inc. has met these requirements and has been a longstanding member for several years.

Additionally, our company is fully bonded, insured, and we also maintain a separate blanket client trust bond for additional client protection.

If you are currently working with another collection agency(s) we highly encourage you to compare our services and evaluate the performance based upon the 4 R’s of Collection:

• Recovery – Percentage of accounts placed for collection vs. being collected
• Remittance – Turnaround time for the agency to remit collected funds to you
• Reporting – How often are you updated? Do you receive detailed status reports or a generic monthly statement? Do you have online access to view the status of the accounts? Are you able to speak directly with the collector working your files or do you have to speak with a “customer service” rep that can only read you the collector call notes and attempt to “interpret” what’s really going on with your accounts. Being able to speak directly with the collector handling your files is important.
• Rate – What fee are you paying

There are several key differences in using a collection agency in contrast to going direct to a law firm. Here is why it’s usually best to partner with a collection agency first instead of going direct to an attorney:

Attorneys:

• Most attorneys simply don’t have the time to make numerous phone calls, send multiple emails, letters and faxes nor skip trace and conduct thorough research. Rather they’ll typically send a few letters and if the payment remains neglected they’ll submit their suit requirements to you. You will then have to pay upfront costs to sue and if they do collect, contingency fees are higher than a collection agency.

Collection Agencies:

• We are persistently calling, emailing, faxing, using social media and mailing collection efforts to establish contact with the debtor. Our phone calls are multiple, consistent, and Extremely Persistent. Phone calls are the most successful way of collecting and negotiating debts.
• We use extensive skip tracing means to locate debtors that have 'disappeared.'
• We are often able to negotiate settlements on behalf of our clients thereby avoiding filing suit.
• We will collect more money for you and faster than attorneys.
• We provide prompt updates to our clients and are prompt in responding to client requests we may receive.
• If we are unsuccessful in our efforts, we have an extremely strong network of debt collection attorneys domestically and internationally to advance suit.
• The costs associated with using a collection agency are much lower than engaging a law firm.

Attorneys are law specialists, they are not “industry specialists.” As being “industry experts” ADK is extremely familiar with the dynamics, terms and conditions, trends, typical issues and disputes within your industry and how to effectively address and resolve accordingly.

If, we are unsuccessful in our efforts and based upon our research determine it feasible to advance legal action, with your authorization we will advance our file to a local attorney within our global network of specialized attorneys, who will zealously advance accordingly.

This is a common occurrence. We highly recommend referring your customer back to our office and informing us accordingly. By doing so this will strengthen both our and your credibility and will alleviate any confusion as to whom the customer is to work with in resolving the balance due. We also may have in-house industry specific data, credit, asset and other financial information about your customer that may confirm they can pay the account in full rather than making partial payments. By engaging in discussions with your customer you may be jeopardizing your recovery opportunity by accepting partial payments and/or smaller payments than we would’ve otherwise been able to collect.

You will be immediately notified of the date and amount of each and every payment. We also have a variety of different reports that can be run. We find that most of our clients prefer to use our online client portal to view the status of their account by clicking here. By visiting the client portal, you may run a Debtor Status Report on either open accounts, closed accounts or on all accounts both open and closed. The report may also be revised for other specific criteria such as date of placement and other parameters. You may also print and/or download the report to your computer in a variety of formats such as Crystal Reports, CSV, Excel, PDF, Rich Text Format, Word, XML and others. If the contact information for your company has changed you may also update your company contact information in the client portal.

The quick and simple answer is anywhere from 1 minute to no collection ever being made. Whether an account is collectable or not is contingent upon many factors. The most important is age of placement. Based upon our reputation and previous relations, it is not uncommon for a customer to immediately pay us after our first phone call or first email. Often, it is simply the psychology of third party involvement that will motivate the customer to pay. Many debtors will simply stall and “wait” for a collection company to call them so they can see how much extra time they can buy from their creditor. We will know the full collectability within the first 30-45 days after placement.

We custom tailor our remittance process to best suit your needs. Our standard remittance process is after debtor funds are deposited into our client trust account, we wait 12 business days to fully ensure payment clears. Then, every Friday we remit checks to our clients less our fees. This is much quicker than the industry standard which is typically once a month.

In accordance with your prior authorization, we can coordinate a merchandise return in lieu of payment. We assess a reduced fee of 12% on the credited amount issued. A return fee of 17% is applied on international matter’s credit issued. No merchandise return will be coordinated without your prior explicit authorization.

Yes, you may “ask” for these, however, there is never a guarantee your customer will agree to pay the collection fees. Many view additional “collateral costs” (collection fees and finance charges) as putting “salt in the wound” and oftentimes it will create resentment with your customer when it comes to paying your company over other vendors that have not added on collateral costs to the principal amount due. We recommend your entitlement to collateral costs be explicitly stated within your company’s terms and conditions which absolutely must be properly executed by your customer.

Often, the motivation to pay the collateral costs is to continue doing business with our clients. From a legal perspective, no attorney will sue a debtor based upon a balance comprised only of collateral costs.

We don’t generally accept second placement accounts as most of our clientele partner with us exclusively for all their collection needs and have been for several years. Notwithstanding we will accept second placements based upon the following required criteria:

• Your company has obtained written confirmation from the other collection company that their file is closed.
• Debtor company must be in business and have a valid working phone number.
• A 50% contingent fee applies on any collected amounts.

We, as most collection firms will assess a reduced account reconciliation/discovery fee of 12% on such situations.

An account reconciliation/discovery is when through the efforts of our office it is determined that either; the debt has already been previously paid by obtaining proof of payment, is invalid, the balance is waived due to a deal struck directly with the client and debtor and/or we uncover there is a zero-balance due on the account whereby the account should have not been placed for collections. The same fee applies for misapplied payments, misapplied credits, or we uncover billing errors amounts resulting in a lesser amount due.

Accounts withdrawn or settled directly by creditor are subject to charges applicable to the type of service provided at the time of notice from creditor or when ADK learns of such event.

There is no up-front fee to place the account with a local attorney; both domestic and international. Our legal fee (inclusive of the attorneys’ fee and ADK fee) is 35% contingent upon collection on domestic amounts and is 45% on international amounts, either pre-or post-judgment. If the attorney is unsuccessful in their initial collection attempts, they’ll advise us of their recommendation whether to file suit or not. If you wish to file suit, there will be nominal up-front court costs and suit fees which vary depending upon the jurisdiction and size of the debt but typically approximate between $150.00-$1200.00. These fees are determined by the attorneys’ office and will be forwarded to you for your review and decision. If you do not wish to file suit, we simply notify the attorney to close their file.

Ideally, once we've exhausted our internal efforts, our clients will allow us to forward the accounts to local attorneys to further pursue as there is no up-front cost to do so. The majority of our clients have vested us with blanket authorization to both settle or forward accounts to respective attorneys.

We will conduct a thorough public records analysis for suits, judgements, liens, UCC filings, bankruptcy, disciplinary notices or official actions, professional license standing as well as searching our proprietary records for common debtor history. We’ll present you with our findings and our assessment of the viability of suit. If the debtor is confirmed out of business, bankrupt or assigned and there is no executed personal guaranty, legal action is not a viable recourse. Even if suit is recommended and pursued there is no guaranty the debtor will pay.

Ultimately this decision needs to be made by our clients based upon the aforementioned criteria. Other questions to consider are: How much does the debtor owe you? What is the cost to file suit? Is the debtor company in business? If not, is there a signed personal guaranty on file? Are there any existing suits, liens and/or judgments etc. already filed against the debtor? What is your perception and overall “feeling” that it might be collectable if legal action is pursued?

After review and pondering upon these questions a reasonable decision can be made on whether to take the next step and file suit against the debtor.