In the face of today's changing economic climate, recognizing and managing future risks becomes a priority for credit professionals. Stevens & Ricci business credit solutions can provide a business with products and services to enhance cash flow. For corporate education, see our Resource Center. For third party collection services, see our section on Commercial Debt Recovery.
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Washington, DC Commercial Collection Attorneys

Washington, DC Commercial Collection Attorneys
Running a business in the Washington, DC area can be challenging even without business debt collection issues. If you’re not experiencing the cash flow that your business requires, you may have tried a normal collection agency without receiving the commercial debt collection results that were promised. A network of corporate debt recovery attorneys could turn your accounts payables situation around by drastically increasing your collection rate. While a collection agency will show a recovery rate of about 28% in most cases, the commercial debt recovery firm of Stevens and Ricci reports a much higher 72% return. Call our Washington, DC offices today to get the corporate debt collection process started.
A Collection Attorney Will Successfully Collect Your Corporate Debts
In the Washington DC area, most collection agencies fail to recognize critical opportunities to collect corporate debts. They might make a few phone calls, but when they don’t receive a response, they quickly move on to the next account. You’ll find that the normal course of business is very different at Stevens & Ricci. If your debtor won’t return our phone calls, we will use the services of our national network of collection attorneys and private investigators to track them down and begin the negotiation process. While Stevens & Ricci concentrates on pre-litigation services, we find that the mention of a lawsuit will usually get the payment process started when all else fails. By combining collection and legal methods to cover every business debt recovery opportunity, your Washington, DC receivables will have the highest chance for successful commercial debt collections.
Washington, DC Laws Do Not Protect the Corporate Creditor
In Washington, DC, you have three years from the date the debt was incurred or the last payment was made to collect a commercial debt. If the debtor makes a verbal promise to pay, the three years starts over. If your client pays with a bad check, there’s barely any civil penalty available to compensate you for the inconvenience. When you use a Washington, DC business collection attorney, your collection time will be shortened, and you won’t have the extra burden of worrying about bad checks.
The Debt Collection Attorneys Difference
Our clients report a significant difference when they make the switch from a standard collection agency to a corporate debt recovery attorney. Not only is our service more effective, it is also less expensive and provides advantages that aren’t available to a normal collector. A collection agency is usually restricted to phone calls and letters. If our collection lawyers do not receive a response to their calls, they will use their authority with the courts to gain access to the owners and their agents. Unlike the collection agent, the corporate debt collection lawyers at Stevens & Ricci look forward to the day that your client retains legal counsel. We will seek them out immediately to start more advanced negotiation procedures. To learn more about the advantages that come with an attorney experienced in commercial debt recovery, read through the next few sections.
Pursuing Principals
Most corporate clients pay their debts without issue. This leaves the business owner that has no problem using their corporate entity to run up personal debt in the business name prior to closing or selling the operation. Because the debtor is hiding behind the corporate veil, our client is in a poor bargaining position. With no personal guarantor, they can’t collect from a failed corporate entity. By using the theory of liability, the debt collection attorney can pierce the corporate veil to pursue the principals. In other cases, the theory of alter-ego can be used to collect a debt. If corporate debts have been paid from personal funds, we can argue that the corporation is not legal and assign the debt to the business owner.
Business Sales
Liquidations, mergers, acquisitions, and bankruptcies are beyond the expertise of the typical collection agency. Instead of accepting this as an excuse to forgive a debt, the corporate debt recovery attorney can request a copy of the buy/sell agreement. This document may have a set-aside provision or reserve allowance that provides for paying unsecured debts to creditors.
Bounced Checks
While you may be so anxious to receive payment that you would take any offered check, this could create more problems. A bad check will create additional fees for both you and your debtor. If you do receive a bad check, never return it to the debtor until you’ve received payment in full by cash, cashier’s check, or money order. Keep in mind that most bad checks are written on accounts that are under a year old. Take care when accepting a check with a low number. By using the services of Stevens & Ricci, you can eliminate bad check problems. We will make sure that all payments are received in a secure manner before forwarding the payment to you.
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Washington, DC Payment Plan Strategies
With the current state of the economy, many debtors are requesting extended payment plans instead of paying in full. Most collection agencies will rely on verbal payment agreements. At Stevens & Ricci, we take advantage of this need by drafting an aggressive written agreement that will increase our client’s chances of receiving timely payments and add additional default security.
We typically include a Consent Judgment clause in the payment agreement. This allows us to convert a late payment situation into an automatic judgment against the debtor without the need for a law suit, further expenses, or any additional time. We can immediately seize their bank account for full payment upon default. Consent judgment clauses have increased our payment rate by over 40%.
If the client doesn’t have a Personal Guaranty on file, we try to get the principal to sign one. We frequently succeed in this approach because we can argue that when we offer the debtor extended terms, we should receive something in return.
Finally, we include a 1.5% per month interest rate. The debtor does not usually try to have this rate lowered, and it covers most of our client’s collection fee.

Washington, DC Commercial Collection Attorneys

Running a business in the Washington, DC area can be challenging even without business debt collection issues. If you’re not experiencing the cash flow that your business requires, you may have tried a normal collection agency without receiving the commercial debt collection results that were promised. A network of corporate debt recovery attorneys could turn your accounts payables situation around by drastically increasing your collection rate. While a collection agency will show a recovery rate of about 28% in most cases, the commercial debt recovery firm of Stevens and Ricci reports a much higher 72% return. Call our Washington, DC offices today to get the corporate debt collection process started.

A Collection Attorney Will Successfully Collect Your Corporate Debts

In the Washington DC area, most collection agencies fail to recognize critical opportunities to collect corporate debts. They might make a few phone calls, but when they don’t receive a response, they quickly move on to the next account. You’ll find that the normal course of business is very different at Stevens & Ricci. If your debtor won’t return our phone calls, we will use the services of our national network of collection attorneys and private investigators to track them down and begin the negotiation process. While Stevens & Ricci concentrates on pre-litigation services, we find that the mention of a lawsuit will usually get the payment process started when all else fails. By combining collection and legal methods to cover every business debt recovery opportunity, your Washington, DC receivables will have the highest chance for successful commercial debt collections.

Washington, DC Laws Do Not Protect the Corporate Creditor

In Washington, DC, you have three years from the date the debt was incurred or the last payment was made to collect a commercial debt. If the debtor makes a verbal promise to pay, the three years starts over. If your client pays with a bad check, there’s barely any civil penalty available to compensate you for the inconvenience. When you use a Washington, DC business collection attorney, your collection time will be shortened, and you won’t have the extra burden of worrying about bad checks.

The Debt Collection Attorneys Difference

Our clients report a significant difference when they make the switch from a standard collection agency to a corporate debt recovery attorney. Not only is our service more effective, it is also less expensive and provides advantages that aren’t available to a normal collector. A collection agency is usually restricted to phone calls and letters. If our collection lawyers do not receive a response to their calls, they will use their authority with the courts to gain access to the owners and their agents. Unlike the collection agent, the corporate debt collection lawyers at Stevens & Ricci look forward to the day that your client retains legal counsel. We will seek them out immediately to start more advanced negotiation procedures. To learn more about the advantages that come with an attorney experienced in commercial debt recovery, read through the next few sections.

Pursuing Principals

Most corporate clients pay their debts without issue. This leaves the business owner that has no problem using their corporate entity to run up personal debt in the business name prior to closing or selling the operation. Because the debtor is hiding behind the corporate veil, our client is in a poor bargaining position. With no personal guarantor, they can’t collect from a failed corporate entity. By using the theory of liability, the debt collection attorney can pierce the corporate veil to pursue the principals. In other cases, the theory of alter-ego can be used to collect a debt. If corporate debts have been paid from personal funds, we can argue that the corporation is not legal and assign the debt to the business owner.

Business Sales

Liquidations, mergers, acquisitions, and bankruptcies are beyond the expertise of the typical collection agency. Instead of accepting this as an excuse to forgive a debt, the corporate debt recovery attorney can request a copy of the buy/sell agreement. This document may have a set-aside provision or reserve allowance that provides for paying unsecured debts to creditors.

Bounced Checks

While you may be so anxious to receive payment that you would take any offered check, this could create more problems. A bad check will create additional fees for both you and your debtor. If you do receive a bad check, never return it to the debtor until you’ve received payment in full by cash, cashier’s check, or money order. Keep in mind that most bad checks are written on accounts that are under a year old. Take care when accepting a check with a low number. By using the services of Stevens & Ricci, you can eliminate bad check problems. We will make sure that all payments are received in a secure manner before forwarding the payment to you.

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Washington, DC Payment Plan Strategies

With the current state of the economy, many debtors are requesting extended payment plans instead of paying in full. Most collection agencies will rely on verbal payment agreements. At Stevens & Ricci, we take advantage of this need by drafting an aggressive written agreement that will increase our client’s chances of receiving timely payments and add additional default security.

We typically include a Consent Judgment clause in the payment agreement. This allows us to convert a late payment situation into an automatic judgment against the debtor without the need for a law suit, further expenses, or any additional time. We can immediately seize their bank account for full payment upon default. Consent judgment clauses have increased our payment rate by over 40%.

If the client doesn’t have a Personal Guaranty on file, we try to get the principal to sign one. We frequently succeed in this approach because we can argue that when we offer the debtor extended terms, we should receive something in return.

Finally, we include a 1.5% per month interest rate. The debtor does not usually try to have this rate lowered, and it covers most of our client’s collection fee.

Connecticut Commercial Debt Collection Attorneys »