I'm not going to break your knees

October 31, 2010 8:18 PM

I work in collections in Florida. We get bonuses. Please help me get big checks and behave ethically (and legally!). For sanity's sake, please note that our handbook doesn't address these concerns and my supervisor is very very busy dealing with much bigger problems than I could ever imagine presenting. My training is (rightly or wrongly) not the top priority. So, metafilter: train me, please.

The economy sucks, and I'm dealing with an industry that caters to people with mediocre to bad credit. My accounts are all originated by the company I work for. Though we're not a 3rd party collector, we strive to follow the laws specific to that scenario.

Where can I read about those laws?

And how can I incorporate my knowledge of them into my (totally undeveloped) strategy for getting people to pay.

Without giving too much away, I need to know about front end collections (<6>60 days).

Wage garnishment is an option, after 180 days, and not in all states. We don't lie to our clients. If we're told not to call work anymore, we stop calling work. Bankruptcy filings are respected.

What should I know, technique wise?

How do you carry on after an entire 8 hours where you got exactly 1 client on the line?

Anonymous because I signed a non-disclosure agreement and while I'm not proud to be working in this particular industry, I like buying groceries and having a savings account.

posted by anonymous to work & money (7 answers total)

The Federal Trade Commission has an FAQ on debt collection targeted at consumers, but should be useful to you as well. It also has the text of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and opinion letters interpreting it online.
posted by grouse at 8:24 PM on October 31, 2010 [1 favorite]

I worked mortgage collections in college. I was lucky to have a lot of training where I worked because they wanted to be sure we did not step over the legal lines so I can't help you with resources for that. However, technique wise.... be polite, be kind and remember that the goal is to collect the money. Antagonizing people will not make them more likely to cough it up and neither will embarassing them-it'll only make them dodge your calls. So genuinely try to help them come up with ways of meeting their obligations as much as you can. Also, keep in mind that this is generally money that they do in fact owe-you aren't chasing them for nothing. People like to villainize collectors and the industry certainly has its problems, but collectors are expecting people to live up to the promises they made- this isn't an inherently horrible thing to do, if done ethically.

Last thing-this is a rough economy and things do happen to people. Don't think of your clients as deadbeats because many of them are not, and if you're thinking that, it'll come out in the way you talk to them. Most people want to pay their bills. Good luck.
posted by supercapitalist at 8:38 PM on October 31, 2010 [1 favorite]

Hi!

I work in what's collections in a powerless sense (we never actually do more than call every few days) and the most effective strategy is to be reasonable, pleasant and keep accurate notes of the calling you're doing. First, remind them of the debt. Provide an explanation of the consequences for not paying. If they bluster or beg, bring out the bargains (ie repayment plans). If you have to repeatedly call people, notes can help back you up when someone uses play dumb.
posted by Phalene at 8:52 PM on October 31, 2010

[comment removed - this is not the thread to complain about debt collectors, it is the thread to answer questions from other members of the community.]
posted by jessamyn at 9:41 PM on October 31, 2010 [2 favorites]

There was a recent article in the New Yorker magazine profiling a debt collector in Buffalo New York - you might find some interesting material there. (Don't remember the exact issue but it was in past few weeks.)
posted by metahawk at 11:14 PM on October 31, 2010

Hi, who likes Debt Collectors? No-one. In Florida maybe start here.
posted by evil_esto at 3:24 AM on November 1, 2010

"Please help me get big checks and behave ethically".

You can't. This probably isn't what you want to hear, for which I apologise.

Context - I used to work credit control in the UK for a firm whose 'clients' had a tendency towards being a credit risk. My job was to decide how much risk, for how long, the firm would assume on behalf of individual clients, and to make the decision when to pass those clients on to the legal department to be sued.

In my experience, you can exist in collections with one of three mindsets - either you're a "problem-solver" and trying to find ways out of the debt situation between your company and the debtor; you're a "company man" and trying to generate as much money for your company as you can; or you're a "bounty hunter" and you want as much return within your bonus period as possible. Sometimes you meet people who are just one of these, mostly people have differing motivations on different days or with different debtors. At least, that's how it is at the start.

A debt collector needs to assume these identities much more so than in any other form of work I've known, because there's real immediate physical hurt you dish out to other people. You'll hear marriages crumble in the background of your phone calls, you'll get the sobs, the pleading, the held-up baby crying into the phone. If you're unlucky, you'll get the self harm: I know people who've had to make the 911 call on line 2 and kept line 1 open to hear the sirens.

The problem is that "problem solver" and "company man" don't work. In my experience, about 1 in 2 problem debtors are there because they simply don't have the capacity to understand what they've signed up for - and credit contracts are designed to maximise this. Many others are drunks or abusers of one thing or another. Many are just not quite mentally ill enough to be excused their contractual obligations. Sometimes you can minimise the hurt caused to them, but many debt problems have no solution and will force you into "company man" mode. Many companies also will not let their collectors have enough freedom and authority to really find solutions to problems - you get to play "company man" again.

The problem with "company man" is that it relies on the company as the basis for all moral decisions, and so the quality of the company becomes somehow the justification for what you do. Except in high-value client businesses, credit control and collections are not well regarded; they're about maximising the squeeze on customers/clients on the downslope. Poor training, low salary/high bonus culture. Worse, most firms tie their bonuses to a time period - how much this week/month/quarter/year. The total amount of money returned to a company from a problem debtor is very often, in my experience, not the same as the amount that can be got by April next year; and it's certainly not the same amount as can be agreed to be repaid by then. But if that's what looks best on the yearly returns one management level up, that's what'll be done.

Maximising profit for a company that can't be bothered to maximise their profit gets old very quickly, and pretty soon stops working as a shield against the misery you cause.

So then you're left with bounty hunting - which is where everyone ends up sooner or later. People stick it different lengths of time; sometimes forever. In my experience, you can often see the lifers heading for the same sodden desperation as the people on the end of their phones for twenty years. If you can deal with directly equating your pay packet each week to the content of the phone calls you make, you'll be fine; but the fact you're even asking makes me think you know what you're getting into.

Move sideways into accountancy as quickly as you can. Better still, go do something else, in another sector. Even best, learn the ropes and go work for a debt advice charity and undo some of the damage done by the person who used to have your chair.

Debt is poison.
posted by cromagnon at 7:24 AM on November 1, 2010 [5 favorites]