Prosper Adds Another Collection Agency

I just received the official announcement of the new collection agency that RateLadder mentioned a few days ago.

Dear Mike,

We are pleased to announce that Prosper Marketplace has added a new collection agency – AmSher. AmSher is a privately held receivables management firm based in Birmingham, Alabama. Starting out in the retail trade in 1939, it migrated to collections. It is a nationally recognized collection and receivables company licensed to conduct business in all fifty states.

AmSher is now available as a selection for new bids as of January 25th, 2008. If you would like to change your default collection agency, click here.

Learn more about collections at Prosper.

Sincerely,
Prosper

Being entirely uninvolved in the collection business, I don't know who they are, but at least they have some sense of humor:

Face it. Your accounts receivable becomes less and less collectible by the second. Because as accounts age, bad things happen. People move, they lose jobs, they run off to Mexico with the pool guy. But when accounts are charged off and AmSher’s third-party collections wizards take control, it’s a whole new game. We find your elusive customers. Fast. And we help them figure out how to pay you back. Quickly. With AmSher, nobody gets off the hook. And nobody gets hurt. We’ve had years of practice to make the process as painless and near perfect as possible.

AmSher's collection fee is a flat 17% of the collected amount, regardless of duration from payment, compared to the tiered rate with Penncro and FirstSource that gives 15% the first month, 10.5% the second month, 7.35% the third month, and a 5% bonus if collections brings the loan current. A little bit less if they bring the account current in the first month, and more otherwise.

I'll be swapping my default over because lenders need actionable information and I'm willing to pay to get it. On that note, if anyone digs up anything on AmSher, be sure to share.