Reprinted by permission of The Kaplan Group
We recently were contacted by a prospective client who was owed over $30,000 for a consulting project. They had a solid contract with their customer and proof that they had performed the work. They had written acceptance of the work product from their customer and a written promise to pay. But six months had gone by with no money.
We were happy to take the claim. But within minutes we knew there was no hope. When we investigated the company name we could not find it as a registered entity. We then did some research on the ‘company’ owner. He had nearly a dozen different entities and dbas registered in his name. Each used the same address – a mail box at a UPS store. Worse, he had 20 judgments outstanding for $2 million dollars, including one from less than a year ago for over $800,000. Plus, he had nearly a dozen tax liens for almost $500,000. The record made it clear that for the last 15 years he doesn’t pay his creditors or the government.
Dean Kaplan is Principal at The Kaplan Group. Dean’s expertise is widely recognized in the debt collection industry. His advice has been published in a number of industry newsletters such as Credit Today and InsideARM and he is a frequent speaker at industry events.
