Some cybercollectors will even let you submit a list of deadbeats using their Web page. For 25 percent of the amount collected, ABS will take the CGI form you submitted, call to confirm your order and start tracking down the people on your list. Another Web-enabled solution to the collection problems of larger and geographically dispersed corporations is offered by the American Collectors Association Inc. to its own members. Launched in June 1995, ACA On-Line serves as a multipurpose site for collection agencies and credit grantors who belong to the nation s largest consumer debt association. Member companies use the Internet to search 11 different commercial databases for names, addresses, phone numbers, neighbors, Social Security numbers and other demographic data through real-time and batch access.
Members can also use the Internet to do licensed and bonded account transfers between states.
Because every agency isn t approved for interstate collection, files had been mailed or sent between modems. With ACA On-Line, Neurnberg says, members can go online, locate agency members in the new state and execute file transfer though a simple CGI form interface. The process used to take one or two weeks, she says. Now we know immediately if the account has been accepted. Usage, says Neurnberg, has shot from around 300 to 1,200 companies since January.