TASCollect Ezine

July – September 2020

2946 new personal insolvencies across Australia in the September quarter 2020. These were comprised of:

• 1676 bankruptcies, down by 54.6% on the September quarter 2019.
• 1247 debt agreements
• 23 personal insolvency agreements

Bankruptcies in the September quarter 2020 were at their lowest level since AFSA’s current records began in the September quarter 1986. There were falls in all states and territories.
Personal insolvencies in Australia were down 50.9% compared to September quarter 2019. Tasmanian Personal insolvencies were down 61.9%.

26.3% of Bankrupts entered a business related personal Insolvency.

At Tasmanian Collection Service we don’t close your file unless it’s paid in full, you ask us to close it or it becomes ‘Statute Barred’.

When a debt is referred to TCS we work hard to recover it in the best way that we can until all efforts are exhausted. We then ‘defer’ the file pending any future information.

Because TCS acts for a high proportion of businesses and property owners in Tasmania, in 85% of cases, when you refer a debt for recovery, we will already have information about the […]

The Statute of limitations is the law setting out the maximum period of time that a debt can legally be pursued for payment. Once this period expires the debt becomes “Statute Barred” and it is impossible to take legal action to recover it. These time periods vary between Australian states and territories so understanding the jurisdiction a debt was incurred in is very important.

For simple contracts in Tasmania a debt may be pursued within a period of 6 years and the time frame for when the limitation period commences […]

Poor accounts receivable practices such as extending credit to unqualified customers, not collecting the correct customer information, not invoicing regularly, failing to follow up on overdue invoices or not following through when questions are raised by customers can all contribute to the erosion of an organisation’s major asset. Its debtors ledger.

You may be a business that has been adversely affected during the current pandemic or you may be a business that has thrived. Either way, ensuring you have the right processes […]

The following article has been prepared by Will McShane, currently the Chief Operating Officer for Kriticos Nominees, a locally owned family company which owns a number of uniquely Tasmanian businesses in the Tourism, Hospitality and Financial Services sectors (including Tasmanian Collection Service).

Will spent a decade operating the Treasury of the locally operated MyState Bank (and ASX listed MyState Limited) and experienced one of the most volatile times for the finance sector, the Global Financial Crisis. For many of us, this is the first time we have experienced such a […]

When you refer a debt for collection it is important to note that except in certain circumstances recovery action should not be pursued against a “minor” – that is a person under the age of full legal responsibility.

Before a debt is referred to Tasmanian Collection Service for recovery action the onus is on the creditor to ensure that they are referring a debt that can be legally recovered.

An example of this might be a doctor’s surgery who work with patient files. The […]

Have you been approached by a Credit Repair company asking you to assist in having your customer’s credit history cleared?

At TCS, we are often approached by these companies. In most cases TCS has initiated legal action on your behalf and a Court Judgment has been recorded on your customer’s credit file as a result.

The Credit Repair company will often make comments along the lines “as the debt is now paid in full, we require you to sign a Consent Order to have the matter set aside”.

As we know, a […]

Despite troubling times we have not seen a huge drop in the number of payments made during the pandemic period of March – May 2020. We noted a small variance in April, in the number of payments received but this recovered in May.

The current events associated with the COVID-19 pandemic are confronting for all Australians and Government actions require all of us to make changes each day.

Tasmanian Collection Service has a Business Continuity Plan that addresses the risk of a pandemic. In order to help keep our staff and clients safe, whilst also ensuring there is no disruption to the services we provide, we now have a significant portion of our staff working remotely. We have had flexible working practices in place for a number of years, so we are […]

Our clients are becoming more aware of the requirements around dealing with customers who are at risk of or who are experiencing hardship and or financial vulnerability.

TCS is committed to a best practice approach to debt collection and as a result in November our collection team participated in best practice training on supporting customers through hardship & vulnerability via eMatrix, a firm specialising in this subject.

The training included how to identify vulnerable customers, identifying and understanding the best questions to ask to negotiate the best outcome for both the […]