What to do if you suddenly called from a collection agency? How to behave? Why are they threatened by non-payment of debt? Why did the collectors have your debt, although you borrowed money from a bank? Many such questions are of daily interest to users. Let's try to find answers to them.
"The first collection bureau" - what is it?
This is a limited liability company. It has absolutely nothing to do with state bodies, and therefore also does not have the authority to collect debts from non-payers. The "First Collection Bureau" of debtors, of course, is negative. Positive feedback can only be written by discoverers, and these are usually banks. Most of the residents of Russia still do not understand why there is such a link between the bank and the debtor as a collection agency.
The work of a collection agency is to purchase from banks for 7-12% of the initial debt of receivables. In other words, debts of non-payers are acquired. Moreover, collectors buy all debts indiscriminately: from several thousand rubles to amounts exceeding 100 thousand rubles. Debt is acquired with pleasure, which has already outlived several limitation periods (ID is 3 years). Then interest, fines and other fees are charged on this debt, so that in the future, using the legal illiteracy of the debtors, try to recover it.
The "First Collection Bureau" reviews of debtors who were able to defend their interests, has a different nature: from negative to indignant. And the reason for everything is the debt that was not paid on time.
The emergence of collection agencies and their work
The first collection agencies began to appear in Russia not so long ago - 10-15 years ago. And they came to us from abroad. In many states where collection agencies operate, their activities are regulated by laws and regulations. In Russia, collection agencies terrorize debtors by resorting to various methods: calls at any time, SMS bombing, threats to the life and health of the defaulter, as well as promises of causing various kinds of harm to the debtor's family and friends. The glaring cases that occurred in 2016 finally pushed the State Duma to adopt a law that could regulate collection activities, as well as limit aggression on the part of its employees. The first collection bureau has negative reviews, like all organizations of this kind, about its work with debtors.
Methods of working with the debtor
The whole essence of the work of a collection agency is to “knock out” debt from the non-payer. And collector methods are not always legal.
At the earliest stage, when collectors only acquired the debt of a deadbeat, as much information as possible is collected about it. Calls are made to all telephone numbers that the borrower left to contact him when applying for a loan. The first stage is easy, here the employees of the collection agency should most gently persuade the debtor to pay off the debt. The policy of persuasion includes “valuable” advice from the employees of the bureau, in which they offer to borrow money from friends or relatives, arrange another loan, sell something “unnecessary”, but close the debt to collectors. If the debtor is not in a hurry to use such “valuable” instructions, but continues not to pay the debt, or allows himself unflattering reviews about the collectors and the banking system in Russia, then here the conversation with him immediately passes to another plane.
Threats to the telephone
The "First Collection Bureau" has received unsatisfactory feedback from debtors about methods of working with them.Refusing to voluntarily repay their debt, the non-payer runs the risk: collectors are able to find the phone numbers of his close relatives and friends and start sending them mass SMS messages, in which they will tell in detail about who, how much and to whom they owe. And if relatives are able to understand, then not all acquaintances and friends will react in the same way. There are frequent cases when collectors found information about the debt and sent it to friends via the Internet.
Visiting groups
Exit groups that are threatened in a conversation by employees of the First Collection Bureau can actually visit the debtor. Previously, a letter will arrive at the postal address, in which there will be a date and time when the group arrives. Also, the letter will contain information from which it follows that in order for the debtor to not obstruct the exit team, a local inspector will be involved. The purpose of the visit is a preliminary inventory of the property of the debtor. Here is a violation of Article 25 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, which states: "no one can enter a house without the will of those living in it." Since there was no court, accordingly, no court decision was issued and, therefore, the entry into the home of the debtor is unlawful.
If the visiting team insists on an inventory of the property owned by the debtor, then a violation occurs Law “On Enforcement Proceedings”. Only bailiffs have the right to describe the property of the non-payer and only in the presence of legal documents.
The most reasonable thing is not to open the doors of the so-called visiting group at all. But the debtor must be prepared that when the collection team leaves his house, insulting inscriptions about him and his duty may appear on the walls of the entrance, doors.
Summarizing the above, we can conclude that about the "First Collection Bureau" the feedback of the debtors is not the best. According to the actions of the employees of this collection agency, it is clear that they are ready to take any unlawful actions, if only to force the non-payer to pay off the debt.
"First Collection Bureau": feedback from debtors. Do they work legally?
From article 382 p. 1 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation it follows that "the creditor, with the written consent of the borrower, has the right to transfer its rights and claims to third parties under the assignment agreement". If the loan agreement includes a clause stating that in case of non-payment of the debt, the creditor has the right to transfer his debt to a third party and the debtor signs it, then he expresses agreement with this procedure.
It follows from Article 382, Clause 2 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation that "if the loan agreement does not contain a wording on the transfer of debt to a third party, then such a transfer is illegal." But there is a reservation that such a transfer of rights will be deemed invalid if it can be proved that the second of the parties knew or should have learned about the lack of permission from the borrower.
Reviews of employees of the First Credit Bureau
When you study the reviews of employees on the Internet about the First Collection Bureau, you understand that as a bureau behaves with debtors, it also treats its employees. In one of the anonymously published posts, a former employee of this company complains about the repeated illegal deprivation of a bonus. Another employee is unhappy with the low remuneration of her work and attitude from her superiors. There are a lot of such responses, if you read the reviews of employees about the “First Collection Bureau”, it becomes obvious that this is not the place where you want to work. And this is not surprising.
"First Collection Bureau": certificate of debt closure. What is it?
After making the last monthly payment, few borrowers take a certificate from the bank stating that its debt has been paid in full and the bank has no complaints against it. And in vain. So it is necessary to do to everyone who took a loan.The thing is that the bank is not profitable if the client closes the account, therefore, having paid the last payment, the borrower is surprised to find that he again owes the bank a certain amount. For what? If the borrower’s account is attached to services such as SMS informing about the withdrawal, crediting, payment of funds, then they must be disabled when the client makes the last payment. If this is not done, the monthly payment for the connected services will be debited from the client’s account, since there is no money in the account, a debt will appear, on which the bank will continue to charge fines. And, most likely, after that the debt of a law-abiding borrower will be sold to collectors.
If the borrower is safe and has taken such a certificate in advance from his creditor bank, then you can not respond to calls and letters from a collection agency.
Is it worth it to pay collectors?
If the debt of the borrower was acquired legally and the statute of limitations has not expired, you can either make a payment yourself, or wait for the court, and already pay it by decision. The last question about the "First Collection Bureau": "How to pay a debt?" It's simple. When collectors acquire a debt from a bank, they report this to the non-payer by sending him a letter. A receipt is enclosed in the letter containing the details for which payment must be made.
