Liability of Being Sued 2

New Address 2

New Code of Conduct 3

Credit Bureau Changes 3

SOCS Anniversaries 4

Southern “Re-Org” 4

CFPB New Rules 4

Hot topics in this issue

Our Mission:

“Betterment”

Our Values:

Respect People

Exceed Expectations

Be a Great Neighbor

Maximize our Client’s ROI

Three locations in Oregon:

2400 Poplar Dr. Medford

541-773-6238

785 NE 7th St. Grants Pass

541-479-9390

536 NE Winchester, Ste D

Roseburg

541-464-8414

800-283-0222

www.socredit.com

Credit Reporting Changes Effective

September 15, 2017

The last phase of a three year agreement is coming into effect this September. The three largest Credit Reporting Agencies (CRA's) Trans Union, Equifax, and Experian entered into an agreement with state and federal regula-tors to make significant changes to their collection and reporting of consumer credit data. The project began in 2015 and the last of the changes go into effect September 15, 2017.

One of these changes affect collection agencies reporting medical debt. ALL medical debts will not be able to be reported on a consumer's credit report until 180 days AFTER the date of delinquency. The date of delinquency is usually 60 to 120 days after the last date of service, depend-ing on the individual office's financial policy. For example: if a patient is seen in your office for the last time on March 14, 2017 and your policy is a debt becomes delinquent and can be sent to collec-tions after 90 days of non-payment, the debt could be placed for collection June 13th. 180 days later is mid-December, so if the debt is still unpaid it can be placed onto the consumer's credit report effective January 1, 2018.

Another significant change will be the require-ment for ALL debts to include the full social security number and date-of-birth. It has been Southern's policy to not report accounts without a full SS# for quite some time, but not all of our clients have historically provided the DOB at time of placement. Accounts without a DOB will be deleted or not-reported after September 15, 2017.

These changes are intended to make credit bureau data better for all consumers and lessen complaints and problems that many people have encountered over the years. It will also give people with medical debts in collection a significant in-crease in time to pay their debts to keep it from going onto their credit report.

NEWS FOR OREGON’S COLLECTORS AND CREDITORS : SPRING 2017

SO COLLECTION NEWS, SPRING 2017 PAGE 2

Your Invited to our Open House!

Come see our new office at 2400 Poplar Dr. Medford 97504

Wednesday, April 19th from 4:00pm-6:00pm!

Please stop by and visit our new office and meet our

staff! Next to N. Fred Meyer and Best Buy, enter from

Hilton Rd. Plenty of parking near the Customer

entrance!

Want to stay informed? Sign up for news and announcements at:

Www.socredit.com !

Going to Court - "Is it like Judge Judy?"

Sort of! There is a courtroom (most of the time) and a judge (some of the time), and there is a de-

cision (every time!). Other than that, it isn't quite as "interesting" as the court TV shows featuring room-

mates, ex-spouses, neighbors, family, and the like. This shows are made

for an audience and are designed to create conflict and attract view-

ers. REAL court hearings are designed to adjudicate an outcome, allow

both sides to be heard, and in the case of small claims court, create an

efficient and cost-effective option for regular people to get their cases

heard.

In our situation, we are asking the court to agree that a consumer or busi-

ness owes a debt to another entity. That's it! Sounds quite simple, but it can become complex very

quickly.

The debtor can argue, without much evidence, they don't owe the debt and in fact something about the

contract or service or goods were not what they wanted and they shouldn't have to pay for it.

It many cases, we are relying on a person who is volunteering their time to serve as small claims judge

pro-tem who knows very little (or nothing) about your business to make a decision. In some cases, South-

ern cannot offer a rebuttal without a witness who can testify about what actually took place at the time of

service or when the contract was signed. If we contact your office about needing to appear for a hearing,

you can relax! No cameras and the audience is usually a few people waiting for their case to be

heard. You get a chance to explain why the debtor owes you the money and counteract any accusation

they may make that isn't factual. You will just need to set aside an hour or two for the hearing!

PAGE 3 SO COLLECTION NEWS, SPRING 2017

Southern is in the top 2% of collection companies in the U.S.! Since 2008, our firm has been certified as

a Professional Practices Management Systems (PPMS) agency by ACA International. Less than 2% of all

collection companies have earned this certification. This Compliance Management System was created

with a combination of the SAS70 accounting compliance certification plus the SIGMA-6 Continuous

Improvement program created by Motorola in the 1980’s. Add in our A+ rating from the BBB and you

can see that Southern is truly at the very pinnacle of the industry for compliance, security, and service!

Keeping Documents in Order

Pressure has been growing in our industry that has created an environment in our industry that requires more documentation, more proof of debt, and more confirmation of ownership of a debt. This has led to skyrocketing requests for documents from our clients. This has led to at least one very troubling problem

we'd like your help in addressing.

Consumers have the ability to dispute a debt at any time and demand documen-tation, or proof of debt, from a debt collector. It doesn't matter that the original creditor (your office) has already provided it many times. If they request from a debt collector (our office) we need to demonstrate validity of the debt. Some consumers request proof of debt because they genuinely do not believe they owe the balance due in part or whole. But many consumers request documentation as part of a stall tactic, attempt to get an account removed from their credit re-port, or just to see if you can actually produce the documents.

Debt repair clinics, consumer advocates, and the federal and state governments all have websites encourag-ing consumers to request documents from debt collectors as part and parcel of everyday routines knowing that in some cases the documents will not be produced and the debt will have to be forgiven. In the case of credit reporting, we have 30 days to respond to a dispute before the trade-line will be removed.

One area that can become a real concern is when our clients send in the documents we are requesting, but it appears to be a new placement for collection. What we really need from your office is to receive the cover letter we sent coming back to us to identify the documents as requested, and not a new account to be listed for collection. Also, different departments request documents for different reasons (Legal may need some-thing for a hearing; Q/A may need it for credit reporting, etc.) and receiving the cover letter will get your docs to the correct people quickly.

If your office submits new accounts and documents over our Client Web Portal, it is critical that the subse-quent documents be marked as "SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS" so we can identify them and not enter dupli-cate accounts. We do not want to send duplicate collection notices, or notices with incorrect balances. If you have any questions about this process, please feel free to contact your Client Consultant.

Client Access Portal – 24/7 Internet Access

Southern has long offered 24/7 internet access to account data, reporting, uploading and downloading

files and documents via our Client Access Web portal (CAW). This is a powerful tool our clients can ac-

cess and send messages to Southern staff in a secured environment, send documents, and upload list-

ing files. Clients can also access customized reports or create their own reports

and download then in Excel, WORD or .pdf formats. If you are interested in utiliz-

ing this tool, please contact our office and speak to one of our Client Consultants

to get set up and some training for you and your staff.

SO COLLECTION NEWS, SPRING 2017 PAGE 4

Southern’s Anniversaries for 3rd & 4th Quarters —2016

Briana Medeiros, Support—1 year

Jessica Simeroth, Client Services—1 year

Jodi Jones, Legal Collector—2 years

Matt DeGrandis, Systems Administrator—3 years

Tim Sampsell, Collector—3 years

Christen Wolford, Legal Support—3 years

Carolyn Thomas, Support—5 years

Jessica Hargrove, Collector —6 years

Suzie Meraz, ResR— 6 years

Sue Curry, QA— 8 years

Holly Natho, Client Services—9 years

Angela Brown, Client Services—11 years

Jeff Smerdon, ISD Manager—12 years

Suprina Ladore, Collector—13 years

Denise Watkins, Bookkeeper/Vice Pres—15 years

Tami Freeman, Support Supervisor— 19 years

Carol Walters, Legal Secretary—20 years

Vickie Reed, Collector—21 years

Congrats to Angela Brown

on having been installed

as President of the Rose-

burg Chamber of Com-

merce Board of Directors!

Angela has been working

hard for the Chamber for

many years, serving on

various committees and

working on the Board to

help improve the business

climate in Roseburg and

Douglas County. Angela has been with Southern

for over 11 years as a Client Consultant working

in our Sales and Client Services department.

Angela has again demonstrated one of our Core

Values – Be a Great Helper!

2017 Award Winners!

Suzie

Meraz

2016 Employee

of the Year!

Justin

Culver

2016 Collector

of the Year!

Congratulations!

Healthcare Fest 2017

Coming September 28, 2017 – Healthcare Fest

2017!! If you work in the healthcare industry,

you will not want to miss this stellar confer-

ence located here in southern Oregon! No

need to travel to Portland or Sacramento for

the best and brightest – join us in Medford

this fall. Go to www.healthcarefest.com for

the tentative agenda and information for

sponsors and presenting sponsors!

If I want to build big biceps, I need to use every

opportunity to practice lifting weights. If I want

to live in a way that is loving and generous and

fearless, then I need to practice overcoming any

tendency to be angry or greedy or confused.

Life is a terrific gym. Every situation is an op-

portunity to practice. Sylvia Boorstein

Writer