It’s happened a number of times over the years … you call a consumer
about an outstanding debt, and you find out that power has been out in their
area for two days, or someone yells at you that their house has flooded. So you turn on the news (or these days Google
the area) and find out that the area you are calling across the country has
been hit by a natural disaster. What
should the collection agency do?
In 2015, this has happened twice in Texas – in May they were
subject to flash floods in Northeastern areas of the state, and in October
Hurricane Patricia caused flooding of up to two feet of water, driving people
out of their homes in Southeast and coastal areas of the state.
When we heard about the flooding in May, we put a one-week
moratorium on affected areas an notified our clients, and not only were they
happy we were showing compassion to their consumers, we received four referrals
that ended up as new clients as a result of our approach to the situation.
This October, after the hurricane wreaked havoc and we started
getting complaints from consumers, we did the same thing, put the areas
affected on a one-week moratorium from calling and notified our clients – and one
of our clients asked why. As we work as
their representatives, it’s a perfectly good question. Here’s our reasoning.
The Money Pit
Collection agents spend 80% of their time not generating
revenue – they leave answering machine messages, diffuse hostile consumer
calls, follow up on broken promises and arrangements, and so on. That means you need to maximize the
effectiveness of the 20% that they do spend talking to consumers. In the case of a flood area, you can reschedule
these calls and remove a segment of consumers that may not be able to pay their
accounts – there will be an increase of no answer or answering machine calls,
consumers will not be able to meet normal expectations for payment, and in many
cases are dealing with life-changing disasters to their home and family, and
aren’t going to have the mental and emotional balance to get a call from a
collector. By rescheduling these calls
for later, after the dust settles, you can avoid a large segment of their productive
20% of time from being wasted.
Ethics and Reputation
The days of burly gentlemen smoking at their desk and
banging the phone receiver in their garbage cans is long gone – we are all
accountable in business now, through social media, consumer networking,
Twitter, Linkedin, Yelp, and Google+ reviews.
We are in an era where brand reputation has value, and a single Youtube
video from a disgruntled consumer can wreak havoc with Air Canada. Now imagine you are calling to collect money –
it’s a tricky tightrope to walk, being in a position of authority but still
being conscious of your clients’ and your agency’s reputation.
Collections doesn’t usually have a lot of empathy, but in
this case it can – not calling file for
a few days won’t impact the recovery rate in the long run, and the consumers
that you are calling will appreciate it.
It’s all a matter of being reasonable – if you called a consumer who
told you their spouse/child/parent just died and were distraught, you would
give them a week or two before pursuing a call to them again (I would
hope). The same should stand for a
natural disaster zone.
The Law
Canadian law is silent on
calling at inconvenient times or under times of disaster – many provincial
statutes do talk about allowing the consumer to send a registered letter
demanding no further calls, but really this isn’t a likely scenario here, as a
flood victim’s post office is likely under water at the same time as their
house. However, the Fair Debt and
Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) states:
805. Communication
in connection with debt collection
(a) COMMUNICATION
WITH THE CONSUMER GENERALLY. Without the prior consent of the consumer given
directly to the debt collector or the express permission of a court of
competent jurisdiction, a debt collector may not communicate with a consumer in
connection with the collection of any debt—
(1) at any unusual time or place or a time or
place known or which should be known to be inconvenient to the consumer. In the
absence of knowledge of circumstances to the contrary, a debt collector shall
assume that the convenient time for communicating with a consumer is after 8
o’clock antimeridian and before 9 o’clock postmeridian, local time at the consumer’s
location;
So that means there is
potential cause for an FDCPA complaint if a collector calls an area he knows to
be under extreme conditions – certainly in a litigious environment where
collection agencies are screening their files for bankruptcies or litigation,
there is the risk, no matter how unreasonable on the surface, that a consumer
might initiate litigation for a call made during a natural disaster, stating
the collection agency ought to have known about the issue in advance.
Conclusion
Our job is to communicate
with people – and not always under the best of circumstances. We speak to the elderly, the infirm, the
distraught, and the angry consumers. These
circumstances aren’t avoidable, and a collector needs to navigate these circumstances
as they come up. However, when it comes
to external influences on collections, we should all be aware of natural
disasters and apply some empathy and breathing room when necessary – it will
ultimately result in a higher liquidation in the long run, better care of
everyone’s brand reputation, and a more positive experience with the consumers
we are collecting from.
I’m always happy to talk about handling challenges and
obstacles to collections – if you would like to chat, feel free to email or
call me with my contact information below.
Thanks kindly,
Blair DeMarco-Wettlaufer
KINGSTON Data & Credit
Brantford, Ontario
226-946-1730
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