When I left the bank to buy a collection agency in 1989, my mother was so disappointed. It was much more impressive to describe her son as a "Vice President of Associates Bank" instead of bill collector!
What she didn't believe was that I would be able to treat consumers much more compassionately that in the bank's collection department. While I believe that conflict, and sometimes loud conflict, is an inevitable part of a good payment arrangement, debtor abuse and FDCPA violations are not.
The explosion in lawsuits, debtor online complaints, FTC, AG and now CFPB activity shows that maybe, just maybe some of us aren't playing by the rules. All this noise hurts the collection industry as a whole.
I haven't seen very effective online communication between consumers and collectors. Mostly a collector responds with "you deadbeats should just pay your bills". Very few of us are engaging consumers in proactive, resolution focused discussion.
How about a simple "I'm sorry you're upset" and "how can we resolve this peacefully"? I know I want to be heard. Hence the blog. Many consumers just want to be heard too.
What's said on the web lives forever. Lets take our good reputation back before its trashed forever.
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