Your input has been requested.

Yes, never threaten us belittle us. We are like anyone else, just had some bad luck and trying to make it right.

OMG, you are a nice collector caring for the people who are in debts. I wish the industry has more people like you and change the present picture. There are so many horror stories of the collectors posted on the board. Some of the nasty companies are linked in this page

http://www.debtconsolidationcare.com/handle-collectors.html

The FAQs mentioned in the link is also helpful for people who don't know how to deal with the collectors doing shady business. They seem to violate the laws more often. One must be aware of their legal rights to handle such people within the laws.

Thats a hard question to answer. I don't think I could evre be a collector I am too soft. If someone would start to cry on the phone then I would probably not be able to collect on that account. But I think if I was looking for info I would try and see if it were possible to have compassion and still be firm at the same time. Most people didn't chose to have their debts go to collections but things happen. But yet there are people out there that do default on purpose. You have a tough job. Good luck to you on your website!!!

To implore the fact that "you catch more flies with honey"...

That's a good idea FYI. If I were a collector, I would want to see the full fdcpa. I have a feeling that many agencies "FDCPA training" (such as Bass etc) is more like ways to skirt around the law.

Training materials for collectors in fdcpa & Fcra along with current trends in Federal court relating to this area.

Since your a collector, I think it would be better served if you resign as a moderator and just go about your collection business. You don't offer any real input to help the people here anyway.

I beg to differ Guest. She has been a big help here. To get an inside perspective is invaulable here. She is one of the good guys/girls.

all the best

Guest that is a seriously rude comment.FYI is a collector but helps us a great deal in seeing things from their side of the fence. FYI also is one of the few collectors I know that stays in compliance with the federal laws regulating collections & credit.

Your Web site should have form letters or scripts for collectors to use. Collectors need to know the valid information they need to give out to collect on the debit. They also need to know how to verify that they are communicating with the right person.
You may even want to do a Miss Manner section

you mean FYI website or this one?

FYI's

I been to her website, it is better than mine, but I do like the miss manners thing.

FYI...I din't know you were a collector ( where have I been?)..LOL I think your posts can be valuable..on what a collector can legally do and NOT do.

Guest- please don not post negative remarks about others here. FYI has been a great help to many on this site with her knowledge.

As far as the site goes, I agree with them being educated more on the fdcpa. Many times, I have known more about them than the collectors.

I have friends that are collectors too. They are always in trouble for working out lower payment than they are suppossed to!

Maybe if they were taught a "peoples skills" class, too. Like Law student says, you can catch more flys with honey. I have worked with some very good collectors, that weren't intimidating, compassionate and we worked something out, and I got those paid off.. Good Luck..Karen

The biggest skill a debt collector can learn is to listen. Give the debtor a chance to have their say. When I was collecting, by listening to my debtors I could find out what the issues/problems were preventing them from paying. Sometimes it was a simple as sending them their payment history, others I had to go into great detail resolving a dispute. However in the end, debtors were grateful that I had taken the time to listen. Then I would find out what they "could" pay versus what I wanted them to pay...from there it was simple negotiation.

Another biggie is that a debt collectors need to park their attitutes at the front door. Leaving a message on an voicemail sounding angry or demanding is not going to get a return call. One thing we were taught was that each call had to be treated individually and as a fresh start. If we had a bad call, we were told to take a deep breath, take a short walk, go for a smoke and then start fresh again. "Honey does attract more flies than vinegar" was a huge saying in our office. Yelling and cursing a debtor is going to result in hang up. Then again, I would have debtors calling in cursing out the moon....I would simply let them rant, and then very calmly and quietly would ask them how they were going to resolve the matter. Collectors cannot feed into debtors anger....it resolves nothing.

I think the number one tactic of the collector in the following example and most collectors in general is to harass you until you break down and pay. I have asked this guy verbally many times and in writing for full debt validation and I still have yet to receive anything. I do not think this guy violated any laws by trying to bug the crap out of me but how do you change this behavior since it is this kind of behavior that seems to be the most effective in collecting a debt according to some in the industry.

The biggest issue is most collectors are shady characters at best. They lie, cheat, abuse and steal when given the opportunity. I personally do not get these tactics. What is wrong with just coming out and saying in under a couple minutes that you owe the money and if you do not pay or make arrangements then we will take you to court. The guy that was harassing me was told to validate numerous times and he still has not done it. I know he could do this easily too. He already has copies of everything according to him so then all he has to do is mail them right? Instead, he continues to call about once a month. I do not know how I could make it more clear to him. Every time he calls I tell him to either send me the requested documentation or serve me papers and every conversation takes at least 15 minutes since I will not hang up on him. Instead he wants to try to belittle me with insults, scare me by throwing out legal terms that I doubt he understands and lie to me about false information he has.

So the question is how do you change this behavior? I know this does not really answer your question FYI about useful resources but I think we should have much stricter laws on collections and debt. I would like to see limits put on collection phone calls. I think 1 call per week of not more than 5 minutes unless the debtor is asking questions or something. No collection calls should ever be made to a place of work especially after the collector has been informed. No debt should ever be sold for collection purposes unless the company sells all of their accounts including the good accounts or if the account is sold while in good status and later goes into collections. I would also like to see stricter limits put on debt approval, fees and interest. I completely disagree with the credit card industry handing out credit to people working part time making minimum wage. Also, the fdcpa should apply to all credit accounts even if it is not in a ???????collection agency??????? and it is the original creditor.

This is my example of a recent collection call I received. I have been getting collection calls at work lately over a credit card that my wife used in my name and did not pay. The last call the collector accused me of not taking my medication and needing to give someone power of attorney to act on my behalf. I guess I just do not get his tactic. Is this supposed to make me mad and then want to pay? I was bored so I decided to mess with the guy so I told him my medical condition was of no concern to him unless he was a licensed Psychiatrist and it had no bearing on the collection of the alleged debt.

I actually find the guy kind of amusing. He called and tried his hardest to get me to admit the debt was mine for about an hour over 4 calls. One of his statements was he called my cable company to verify a charge on my card that I supposedly did to pay my cable bill. I of course denied so he hung up on me which is another tactic I do not get.

He called me back 5 minutes later saying we got disconnected. I told him that is usually what happens when you push that little button on the phone that is meant to disconnect a call. He then proceeded to say he had the cable company on the other line and they just verified my credit account and asked me if I needed to speak with them as proof or if I wanted to make payment arrangements now. Calling his bluff I said put them on the phone and I will work out the billing with both companies at the same time. Of course I knew they were not on the other line and they verified nothing and he was lying and oddly enough the phone went dead again.

He called me back again after 5 minutes claiming the line went dead. I told him he really needed to spend his time dealing with his phone network since it was working so poorly. This time he was demanding employment verification. He wanted to speak to my HR dept. I work for a very small company of oh about 6 people so I said well I guess you need to speak to me then. He of course accused me of lying and not being HR and I said we do not have any departments. He hung up again.

The final call he made he started pestering my secretary for verbal employment verification including salary info. My secretary would never give out this info without my permission so he hung up on her.



Sorry about posting a book and not really fully addressing the posted question. (hehe)

Quote:

I think that FYI coming here to ask for people's input shows how much she cares about people. I think that her website would offer a great deal of useful information to both the collectors and debtors.

FYI is a very compassionate debt collector that these comanaies need to have working for them. They would certainly get more respect from people and would get paid more quickly if they approached people in the correct matter.

That are my personal feelings in regards to this matter.

ladybug

Cajun and the rest are right. FYI is an asset to these forums.

FYI, one other thing I'd suggest. Collectors are trained a bit like telemarketers, not to take no for an answer, etc. Collecting is a different ball game though. Every debtor's situation is uniquely different.

$ and sense--you are the one person on this site I can feel a connection with--debt collectors never follow any laws--they shouldn't have right to do anything to anyone until they have proved validation--my husband and I recently bought a home and had to pay a higher interest rate over a debt that had been written off in divorce settlement more than 9 years ago from ex-wife--yet someone re-wrote the debt and attempted another collection--we paid one company to get loan cleared on home purchase--and now--14 months later another company is calling making threats about the same debt!!!!--debt collection companies need to be looked into--their illegal actions cost Americans so much grief and money---the only reason they continue to operate in the matter that they keep getting away with is because they can!!! Please everyone--file complaints with the ftc and anyone else involved against any collection agency who bullies and harasses just because they think they can!!!!!!

I want to thank you all for your input. I will have time Monday and Tues to go over everything and try to get a rough draft of ideas.

Good Luck with your project!!..KAren :D