Not all contingent collection services are the same. Speaking with Jessica Meindersee, owner of locally-owned Mein Receivables, that fact becomes obvious in a matter of minutes.
Meindersee opened her Vancouver-based company in August of 2015, bringing her 30 years of legal collections experience to clients in Washington, Oregon and California. In that short time she’s already solidified a reputation for her company that has businesses referring her wholeheartedly to their colleagues.
Integrity and transparency are priority to Meindersee. She is fully compliant with local, state and federal regulations and trains all her employees in the same manner. Mein Receivables is also certified by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and meets the requirements of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). Appreciating the importance of confidentiality, she and her team abide by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA) and the Gramm-Leach, Bliley Act, among others.
This and so much more translates into what Meindersee says makes Mein Receivables different – compassion and a human touch. While not all businesses owed money may feel those qualities are necessary, Meindersee has learned it’s precisely those qualities that transfer into quantifiable results.
“I go in and am very nice, very helpful,” Meindersee said. “It’s important to be nice to people, to treat them with respect and demonstrate to them that they’re not just a dollar sign.”
She explained that legal billing, in particular, is a very cumbersome, intricate system that requires extensive knowledge of the fundamental principles. While she holds a bachelor’s degree in business, her core education is in accounting, so one of the first things she does with new clients is dig into their material, pour over ledgers and have an in-depth conversation with attorneys and other professional clients to expedite problem-solving.
By understanding the big picture Meindersee is able to present the outstanding account to the debtor in a way large collection agencies with minimally-trained staff cannot.
“I’ve got a soft spoken voice and I’m not demanding. That warrants a good response,” she said.
Meindersee takes the time to walk debtors through the bill in question, explain how the client came to that amount and do so in layman’s terms. It’s been her experience that sometimes a bill will be outstanding for the simple reason that the debtor truly didn’t understand the charges and thought they’d be further billed by asking the professional firm for clarification.
When dealing with insurance carriers, Meindersee said there can be a communication issue. For example, the bill may be correct but it’s itemized in such a way that the adjustor can’t accept it in that format or with the code referenced. These are all time-consuming but important details that many professional organizations are not staffed to address. Mein Receivables focuses on nothing but confidential collections and receivables and every one of her specialists – all with accounting backgrounds – stay on top of industry regulations.
This year, Mein Receivables is looking to expand their non-legal client base and offer more billing options. Their flat-fee third party collections service starts at $35 per invoice and includes four touches (a collection term for reaching out to the debtor) or Mein can work a larger portfolio – one client or all of them – for a flat monthly fee.
What drives Meindersee every day to embrace a challenging career path when her experience could’ve taken her in several other directions, illustrates the uniqueness of Mein Receivables.
“The impact I can make by getting money in the door can be huge,” she said. “It can mean bigger bonuses, larger partner distributions and that makes everyone happy. Also, it’s the debtors who keep me coming back – the debtors who are eager to get their accounts paid – and being able to help them makes me feel great. The other debtors are the challenge and the puzzle to put together and when their issues are resolved that makes me feel good, too.”
