I am not a lawyer, I am a judgment broker. This article is my opinion, based on my experience in California, and laws vary in each state. If you ever need legal advice or a strategy to use, please contact a lawyer.
When you own a judgment, you can try to collect it yourself, however most people seek help from professionals. This article discusses the pros and cons of using judgment enforcers and collection agencies.
A possible disadvantage of using judgment enforcers is that they are usually sole proprietors or very small companies. An advantage of collection agencies is that they are usually companies with more people on the payroll, which makes them more stable and better able to respond.
A disadvantage with judgment enforcers is that they are usually very firm on pricing. It does not matter to judgment enforcers how old the debt or judgment is, they usually charge 50% to recover, because they must average in all the lemon cases they ended up wasting money on, trying to recover. (Nobody can predict with certainty which cases will become lemons.) Sometimes collection agencies are cheaper when the debt or judgment is new. Some judgment enforcers do not like new judgments.
A disadvantage with judgment enforcers is that they are more likely to suddenly leave the judgment business, than the average collection agency. In my job, I see the statistics, some judgment enforcers who leave the judgment business do not properly assign judgments back to the creditors.
A possible disadvantage with judgment enforcers is they must be assigned ownership of your judgment or debt. This is not often a disadvantage, unless they go out of business. Using a judgment broker will prevent the problem of flaky judgment enforcers. Collection agencies have the advantage of not owning your judgment or debt.
Most judgment enforcers only recover judgments, however most collection agencies recover both judgments and debts.
An advantage with judgment enforcers (especially when the debtor has assets) is they usually try much harder than most collection agencies. Most judgment enforcers are more creative than collection agencies on difficult cases.
An advantage of collection agencies is, they take judgment and debts of almost any amount. Judgment enforcers usually have minimum dollar amounts they will take, and will not take any judgments less than that minimum.
An advantage with collection agencies is they will usually try to collect any viable judgment or debt. Judgment enforcers are becoming even more picky now, on which judgments they will take, because of the awful economy.
While this article highlights the pros and cons of using a judgment enforcer or a collection agency, every debt and judgment situation is different. A judgment broker can really help.