Of course I would say they should be legal, because in fact, I own one. But if you have answered no to this question, I plead with you to try owning a small business and having a customer skip out on a bill. There has never been a stronger advocate for a collection agency than a small business owner who has put time, energy, not to mention their own money into a project and watch someone walk away from their bill. A larger company has never told them that they will get away with it because of their size. Small business owners have to pay bills and cover expenses, compensate their employees and generate some sort of profit in order to stay in business.
In order to maintain a company, money must be made. Services are provided, products are sold, and in a perfect world, invoices would be paid, bounced checks would not occur and there would be no credit card chargebacks. But these things do happen, and a business owner needs to focus on what they do best. Run their business. They should not have to chase people down to collect money on a debt that went unpaid.
So who does this? Collection agencies. As collection agent was just listed as one of the top eight professions, now there is more of a need than ever. And if someone owed you money, who would you want to collect it? A trained professional who focuses solely on resolving debt. Or would you just give up on it? Those who do not believe in collection agencies do not own businesses. They have never gone to sleep wondering how they will pay their bills because others have selfishly eluded their owed debt. With one out of every four Americans being past due ninety days on at least one household bill, the people this money is owed to are cracking down and enlisting collection agencies to reduce their bottom line.
There is a common misconception that collection agents are the anti-Christ, that they are bloody fanged, decrepit mongrels sent here to rob us of our hard earned money. But they are just human beings. They are just like you, working to put food on the table and support their families. Sure, there are some who are unscrupulous. There are agents who treat honest people in need of relief who are not “professional debtors” without courtesy. But jerks exist in every business category. It is easy to pass the buck and blame collection agents, but the real factor is, whom are they calling? People who thought they could get away with not paying their bills.