How to Write Debt Collection Policies and Procedures

It is advisable for every third party debt collection agency to have, in writing, and to follow a set and well-enforced code of policies and regulations. If written correctly, policies and procedures will allow your business to function more smoothly and efficiently, will protect you and your employees from violating local, state, and federal laws, and will positively affect the overall health and wellbeing of your business. The key phrase there, however, is “IF written correctly.” Poorly written policies are not going to help your business and may hurt it, so it is very important that you are careful to correctly create your policies and procedures.   

Limit Access

To start off with, one of the most important things to keep in mind is that not every employee needs to see every single policy and procedure that you have in place. In fact, letting all employees have full access to all policies and procedures can cause problems and complaints and dampen workplace morale, especially since many policies and procedures will be in the best interest of the company and not of each individual employee.

Thus, once you have written your policies and procedures, go over them and determine who needs to see what and then release information to the appropriate people as you see fit, always keeping in mind what will be best for your business as a whole.

Consult a Legal Professional

It is also wise to consider consulting a legal professional when it comes to writing your policies and procedures. A lawyer can help to ensure that all of your policies and procedures are within the bounds of the law and that you will not find yourself in trouble for enforcing them.

You can actually hire a legal team to write all of your policies and procedures for you, with your input of course, or you can save more money by writing them yourself and having a legal professional look over them for you and offer suggestions and corrections as needed.

Consider the “Ws”

Finally, as you write your policies and procedures, don’t forget to ask yourself these “w” questions and to make sure that you know the answers:

l  Who will carry out/enforce the policy/see that it is enforced and followed?

l  Why is the policy important?

l  What will be done if the policy is violated?

l  When and in what circumstances does the policy apply, and are there any exceptions?

l  Where and in what ways does the policy impact the company?

Writing policies and procedures is not easy and will definitely take a lot of thought and careful planning. However, having them in place can greatly help your business, even and especially during rough times, making all of your hard work worthwhile.