Collections.com?? [0319.1999]

I've known a couple people who work in collections. They got paid by the hour, but what if they got a percentage instead?

Imagine a virtual collections agency: clients log in and input a list of people who owe them money. Software spits out letters reminding marks that they're in debt, and that they need to pay up. If the company doesn't get a response, the mark winds up on a call list. Employees, working from home, access an intranet and obtain the portion of the call list of accounts assigned to them. Then they call the people, and either collect the money or enter whatever information they find into a database.

People could pay their debts online if they wanted, using a credit card, or appeal online.

I personally had to deal with a collection agency recently, due to the slowness of my old insurance company in paying a hospital bill. They seem to have taken care of the problem now. Even after the hospital called the collections people off, I still got another letter, and when I called to check whether they'd cleared my name, I got no response.

A web solution could seriously improve this kind of hassle for marks with web access, and generally streamline the process for companies.