Is it time to call TrustBridge Legal?

Outstanding debts can weaken a company by constricting cash flow, making it hard for small businesses to operate efficiently. TrustBridge Legal understands the importance of cash flow, maintaining a reasonable accounts receivable balance, working to eliminate outstanding debts, and resolving breaches of contract. We provide an effective and economical solution to monetizing your past due accounts receivable and maximizing cash flow. Our founder’s background in business as an owner and consultant led to his development of debt collection techniques that are targeted specifically at recovering corporate debt as quickly as possible with a minimum of interference with ongoing customer relationships.

Our work is performed on a true contingent fee basis – if we don’t collect, you pay nothing. And unlike many collection agencies and large law firms, we don’t ask for retainers or expenses up front. Whereas most collection agencies charge an increasingly larger percentage as the debt ages, we charge a flat 20% fee on any recovery that doesn’t require litigation, no matter how old the debt may be. This structure doesn’t penalize businesses for taking time to collect their debts on their own before employing an outside debt-collection service.

Our process

We strongly believe in the retention of customer relationships whenever possible. If you choose to place an account with us for collection, we will respect those relationships and treat the debtors with the same value. However, we also recognize that not all debts or debtors are the same and that some require a more aggressive collection approach. The choice is completely up to our clients – we will handle the situation exactly as you direct.

While our efforts are ongoing, we will provide brief monthly updates of all debts placed with us, which will include a summary of all activity on the account since the previous update. Since much of the collection process takes place outside our office, if we are not available to speak to you about your case, you can rest assured we will respond within 24 hours of your voice mail or e-mail.

If we are able to collect your debt, you will be the first to know. An estimate of the time required to complete processing of your payment is provided so you know as soon as possible when to expect your money in your hands. Once funds are recovered, we notify you immediately and provide a full accounting of all costs and expenses along with your prompt payment.

Getting started

TrustBridge Legal only accepts accounts where:

• the debtor is still in business and located in the United States,
• the debtor has not filed bankruptcy and is not in receivership,
• the claimed indebtedness is less than 4 years old and fully supported by valid documentation,
• the contract or agreement with the debtor does not mandate mediation or arbitration, AND
• the amount in controversy is $500 or greater.

If your claim satisfies those requirements, we’ll execute a service contract signed that provides all of the relevant terms of the agreement between your company and TrustBridge Legal to allow us to handle the collection of your debt. Just contact us and we’ll send one to you.

Next, we will need as much information about your claim as possible. You should provide us with valid documentation in support of the claim, such as:

• a copy of any contract or agreement with the debtor
• a personal guarantee signed by an agent of the debtor
• copies of invoices or statements of account sent to the debtor
• correspondence between you and the debtor related to the debt

We should also receive information about the debtor, including its name, address, telephone number, e-mail address, website, and any other information that might be relevant or helpful to the pursuit of your claim.

The difference is in our fee structure

Many collection agencies urge you to place accounts with them as quickly as possible so that you save on fees, which increase the longer a debt ages. What they don’t tell you is that newer debts are much easier to collect, so they bolster their revenue with fees that you could have avoided had you not placed the account with them and focused efforts on collecting the debt yourself.

Likewise, older debts tend to be more difficult to collect because over time the debtor may go out of business, file bankruptcy, or its assets get distributed or otherwise shielded from liability. For these reasons, traditional debt collection agencies charge higher fees for older debts, but this structure penalizes businesses for trying to collect debts on their own and avoiding fees altogether.

Our approach is different. Our fee structure is based on the level of involvement we have in your claim, not the age of the debt. This structure encourages you to try to work out the situation with the debtor before turning to us – and we believe this results in more customer relationships being salvaged and maintained.

If you choose to use us to collect your debt, we won’t charge you any up-front costs. No up-front retainers. No up-front requests for expenses. Nothing. Simply provide the information we need to get going, and leave the rest to us. You only pay us if we recover your debt. That fee is a flat 20% of any recovery obtained that doesn’t require litigation.

If we are unable to recover in a reasonably timely manner and have exhausted all efforts short of litigation, we will discuss next steps with you. You would likely have three options: (1) abandon all debt collection efforts and write off the amount in controversy as bad debt; (2) find a debt collection agency or another law firm to take the case; or (3) allow us to employ one of our litigation partners to take the case to court. In any event, the agreement with TrustBridge Legal for that particular project would be concluded.

So if old receivables are weighing down your cash flow, and you’ve done all you can to work with your customer to get paid but haven’t seen the money, it may be time to find a trusted partner to help you convert that debt to cash to keep your business humming. TrustBridge Legal can be that partner.