DIY guide to collecting debts

FOR the past 30 years when Ronald Campbell heads off to work, he does not get his money from his clients, he gets it for them.

Mr Campbell is a registered “commercial agent” which allows him to act as a debt collector for clients.

He has also worked as a process server – the man who serves legal documents on people when they have been called to court.

It is with this long background in the industry that Mr Campbell founded DIYDebtSolutions.com.au.

The idea, he said, was that people were often faced with only two options when they were trying to retrieve a debt – let it go, or engage costly legal help.

“You run into people trying to collect their own debts,” he said.

“They don't want to assign a debt collector for a $1000 bill, they will only get $600 back.

“Or they find themselves buried in legal jargon.

“So my website is geared up with words that aren't legalese.”

Mr Campbell said most people would have to try to reclaim a lost payment at some point and his site could help.

“In my career, I kept running into people who would say, ‘If only I could get someone to pay me',” he said.

“And this won't be a huge imposition for people, and I won't charge the amount that lawyers charge.”

On his website, Mr Campbell takes people step-by-step through the process of collecting a debt, with straight-forward advice.

“I think small businesses would like to handle their own affairs and so would the private individual.

“So I think there's a market out there for this.”

He said he hoped most people would be helped by his website but he could be hired to “round-off the edges” if people are still feeling lost in the system.