Good US debt recovery lawyer

Thanks for coming back and posting this information -- it does help. Now, before everybody gets on the "consult with an attorney" bandwagon, realize that you're not there yet.

The first, and obvious, thing you need to do is carefully document why you're owed this money. Establish via their terms and service, payment schedule, and other payment related agreements on their site that there's NO QUESTION you've met their standards and are due the funds.

In other words, establish that you've earned said commissions exactly as per their terms.

With that out of the way, the next thing you need to do is look at their terms and conditions and find the wording that deals with "disputes" -- agree or not, when you clicked "I accept" to join the program, you agreed to whatever procedure that they have in place dealing with disputes such as what you have at present.

That could mean that you must engage in binding arbitration (thus limiting your potential legal paths), it could mean that you can only file suit in their jurisdiction. It could mean a lot of things.

TIP: Binding arbitration is not necessary a bad thing! First, the arbitration can be conducted over the phone or even via Skype. So you wouldn't have to physically appear. Second, if your case is as clear cut as you claim, an arbitrator would likely see it your way and the other company would be bound by the arbitrator's decision. The rub of course is who gets to chose the arbitration service? Who pays for it? Again, see the company's terms on this.

Next, continue your background research with the company itself: are they experiencing financial difficulties? Technical difficulties? After an online search are you able to find complaints (formal and informal) against the company similar or exactly as yours? Information you learn here could determine, as well, your next steps. For example, if they are experiencing financial difficulties, what are your chances of getting the money out them?

Explore the "excuses" they were giving you as to why they haven't paid. First, excuses aside, they're implying that YES you are owed the money but can't/won't pay because of XXXX. Document those excuses carefully and add them to your "case file" that you're building.

Answers to the above will determine your next course of action.

Thus would a debt collection agency help? No. The debt collection agency -- should they even take your account -- will either offer pennies on the dollar to "buy" the debt (they probably won't because this company who owes you the money is not an easy "mark") or the debt collection agency will take your case and send the company a letter.

The letter will basically say they are owed a "debt". The company would then have 30 days to reply and dispute the "debt". The company would probably dispute the debt and even question if it's a "valid" debt further making the issue more complicated than most debt collection agencies are willing or able to deal with. I'd stay away from the "debt collection" agency route. It's expensive and most likely ineffective in your case.

Next, and this depends on their "dispute" clause, you could hire a civil or general practice attorney in the jurisdiction of the company that owes you money and file a simple small claims case (the amount owed to you will determine if you could even file a small claims case, however).

Due to you being overseas, an attorney would be allowed to argue a small claims case on your behalf. This is where your paperwork comes in. If you can clearly establish that you've met their terms for payment and have not received payment, it's likely you'd win a judgement for the amount.

If you were able to get a court date and the company did not send somebody to court, you'd win the case by summary judgement / default.

At that point the court would issue a judgement for full amount owed and in most case attorney's fees as well if you asked for them in your suit. At that point your attorney would take the judgement and attempt to collect the funds for you -- again that whole scenario depends on the legal agreement between you and the processor company. Such a suit may not be allowed under the terms you agreed to (and it would be expensive to challenge the validity of the agreement -- refer to all the cases involving individuals and classes suing Paypal regarding their "disputes" clause).

Action you could take now:

1. Do the research outlined above.

2. Compose a polite, authoritative, readable letter/email to the company's CEO or president outlining that you're a loyal customer/client, there must be an oversight of some kind and before you consider your legal options and making the situation very public, you'd like to receive your commissions as per the agreement between you and their company. Note as well that you'd like a reply within "a reasonable" amount of time.

There's a chance this could initiate action -- if it does, fine, you get your money back. If it doesn't, that's fine as well. Why? This letter and their lack of a reply (or a reply that blows you off) is more legal ammunition in a court of law).

I'd try the above first.

If that doesn't work, I'd attempt a judgement via small claims court in the company's jurisdiction (it wouldn't be hard to locate an attorney online in your needed jurisdiction).

Again, the key here is to do some basic research and that will clarify what your future actions needs to be -- but regardless of if you think you did or not, do some digging into the company and contact THEIR LEADERSHIP.

Hope some of this helps or gives you ideas.

NOTE: I've touched on several topics here, stuff has been left out because it's more complicated than it appears -- there's loop holes, there's details, there's several other issues at play here. I'm offering friendly advice here and by no means am I offering legal advice as your attorney in this matter.