Would You Like to Be a Debt Collector?

I think I would rather be a dentist. Or a physical therapist. Or any other job than a debt collector.

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“In this video you will actually hear a collector say to a customer that is offering a 50% debt settlement that he can’t help and when the caller says that he might just as well go bankrupt, the debt collector really doesn’t care.”

Your a idiot…he told him he couldnt do anything at the time and offered Credit Counseling. Were you paying attention

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This explains a lot. I was interested in seeing this because of a scam the company CRA is running on me. Luckily they haven’t gotten any money. They’re corrupt. Interested to see how Citibank has to manipulate the fact to get people to apply for such a dishonest position.

And Tommy is right, that collector could have cared less about the guy being forced to declare bankruptcy and their insinuation that the client is “lying” really angered me.

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I worked my way through college collecting on defaulted student loans. It’s not that bad of a job.

A couple of things you learn as a debt collector: Debtors lie. Professional debtors lie constantly.

If you’re in collections, swearing and hanging up won’t make the collector go away. If you’ve defaulted on a federally guaranteed student loan, NOTHING will make it go away and the lender will refer you to the collection agency.

Debt is a lousy situation to be in. I know this from a few different angles. Debt collectors may not always be nice, but they didn’t cause the debt, either.
Jason´s last blog ..10 Things to do on a Cheap Vacation.

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Steve Rhode Reply:
December 14th, 2009 at 11:20 am

Jason,

All good points.

THe underlying problem here is that good debt collectors don’t make bad debt collectors look good. Bad debt collectors make good debt collectors look bad.

Steve

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RE: Jason,

Your last statement about how debt collectors didn’t cause the debt is fine, but in some cases, neither did the debtor. Sometimes “life” happens. Sometimes there’s nothing that can be done about it. Why doesn’t anyone blame the credit card companies who offer kids just out of high school five thousand dollar credit lines when they’re still stocking bottles for minimum wage? This is what happened to me back in 2000. I’m 28 and still dealing with my mistake. It may be beyond the statute of limitations, but the calls still come, regardless of the fact that I’m in a different state, have different phone number and so forth.

But it doesn’t matter, because it’s all about maximizing profits, regardless of who it hurts.

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Steve Rhode Reply:
December 14th, 2009 at 12:00 pm

Eric,

Just in case you did not realize it, a debt can be attempted to be collected until the end of time, the statute of limitations does not prevent that.

Steve

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Absolutely true. I think lawyers and politicians have better reputations than debt collectors, as a profession.

Part of the problem is that collectors only deal with people when they are at their worst, financially. That creates negative associations, no matter how good the collector may be.
Jason´s last blog ..10 Things to do on a Cheap Vacation.

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Steve Rhode Reply:
December 14th, 2009 at 11:59 am

Jason,

I have known nice debt collectors. When I went through my troubles one of the debt collectors trying to collect from me and I became close. He actually helped me latter when I started helping people in trouble. Even though he was a nice guy, I have no idea what is collection performance was. For all I know he was written up for spending too much time on the phone with individual consumers. Something I’ve seen before.

In a way you were lucky. With student loan debt you had a huge club to wield if someone did not want to play nice. And I rarely hear complaints about student loan debt collectors. It’s the ones without the big stick that try to elicit compliance with fear and intimation. I’ve still never met a debt collector that encouraged someone to pay by taking them out to dinner. :-)

And on your point about screaming and cursing at the collector, I agree that’s neither necessary or productive. I would much rather see people channel their rage into action that addresses the situation than just yell at the messenger.

Steve

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I have recently done alot of reading since coming into my newly found profession.

“THe underlying problem here is that good debt collectors don’t make bad debt collectors look good. Bad debt collectors make good debt collectors look bad.” I could’nt have said it better myself.

I have only been in collections for roughly 4 months, and have to admit when I first started, my heart would race with ever ring of the phone in fear of how I was going to tell this person they needed to make this debt a top priority on there to do list. But after some time I have come to learn alot of things.

1. Not all collectors are bad collectors.

2. Most debt collectors are willing to assist debtors in resolving current debts in any way possible. Be up front when collectors call you, avoidence only makes a bad situation worst.

3. Debtors are ashamed and embarrassed of there debts and current situation. Therefore makeing it extremely difficult to have a decent, honest conversation with a debtor

4. There are alot of under trained collectors in the profession, making it difficult for collectors to even make contact with a live debtor and make them aware of several options available to resolve their debt.

5. Last but not least, on a daily basis I hear the bill wasnt that high when this matter charged off!!!! But my problem with that response is this, you applied for a line of credit and in that contract you signed it clearly states the consequences of an account going delinquent. Plus you were aware of the intrest rates you were willing to pay if you borrowed more than you could pay.

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Steve Rhode Reply:
December 31st, 2009 at 9:00 am

Darin,

Thank you for your remarks.

Your 5 is a bit of a slippery slope. Believe me, I get the point and have made it many times myself. But the fact is this is a two sided problem. Credit companies are forever selling credit as easy, painless, and so simple to get and leaving all the other stuff in the very fine print. We can’t simply say that because someone bought into the marketing message like that of the Bank of America CleanSweep offer for example that they were not unfairly encouraged to take out credit.

There exists an incorrect belief that if someone could not afford the credit the offer would not have been made to them. And people still think their local banker or business is looking out for their best interests, not selling financial products to reach a quota.

It sounds like you’ve got your heart in the right place and getting a call from you would be helpful.

Steve

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