I'd love to hear advice on hiring a collection agency as well. My lawyer renegotiated terms several times with a guy who defaulted on a business loan I made him. Each time he agreed to a repayment schedule, but never paid anything. My lawyer went to court. The other guy never went, and after a few visits we got a judgement against him. Still there was nothing forcing him to pay. The lawyer went back to court and after more $ I all i was able to do was put a lien against any 'real' property in California he may someday purchase. The next step was to force him to court and audit his accounts 'under oath', but I lost my faith in the whole process.