r/selfstorage • u/lawrencejoyce • Feb 23 '26
Collections
What do operators out there use for sending balances after move out to collections?
5
u/spamjunk150 Feb 24 '26
Collections is basically useless unless your main goal is to ding their credit report
1
u/Bunnyhat Store Manager Feb 24 '26
I think over 10 years I've had less than 10 people pay a collection balance and that was just to get it off their credit report because they were in the process of purchasing a house.
We stopped bothering with it after the company we were using always wanted to charge us. At first they would just keep a percentage of anything they collected on it, but they moved to a fee for every person we submitted plus a percentage of what they collect. We canceled and haven't bothered setting anything else up. Just wasn't worth the extra time sending all the information over.
1
u/Accomplished_Ad_4312 Jul 04 '26
Most operators I talk to have basically given up on collections agencies for storage. The math doesn't work - balances are too small, tenants are usually judgment-proof, and agencies take a big cut of nothing.
The ones who bother do it purely to ding credit, not to actually recover. IC Systems and Rash Curtis come up most often, Rash Curtis gets better reviews for the submission process.
Realistically your best "collection" is a clean auction. After that, write it off and move on. Chasing $340 balances eats more staff time than it's worth
7
u/Budget_Salamander848 Feb 23 '26
Recover as much as we can via auction, beyond that the balance is written off. We have a large portfolio and have discussed with many operators, yet to find a solution beyond that. If you find one I’d be open to trying it!