The following is a article brought to you by Castel, a company that specializes in providing technology solutions, including speech analytics, to call centers across the globe. Learn more about Castel at www.castel.com.
Last year, ACA International held its annual conference less than two weeks after the Federal Communications Commission issued its omnibus ruling last July clarifying portions of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. At one of the sessions at the event in Boston, a service provider strode on stage carrying a rotary dial phone. The joke was that the rotary phone was now the safest way for collectors to make calls and not risk violating the TCPA or getting sued.
No other industry appears to be as backwardly regulated as the collections industry. The collections industry is being forced to operate as though it were the 1970s. But there is a huge swath of technology waiting to be used, especially in the area of telephony and communications. Many agencies have been forced to dial back the technology they are using, turning off features and systems. But that does not mean that agencies should not be prepared for the future.
“The industry has to modernize itself,” said Harry Strausser, president of Remit Corp., a Pennsylvania-based collection agency. “The only way we can move forward and succeed is to embrace technologies that are available to us. We should be looking at contemporary means of communication and explore how to pull the trigger when the time comes we are granted approval.”
In the meantime, service providers have been rolling out technology that operate as manual dialing platforms, that aim to steer clear of regulatory question marks surrounding the use of automated telephone dialing systems, or autodialers. The ambiguity surrounding what is allowed and what is not allowed is causing the most stress for collection agents.
“If you talk to small businesses, it’s not the regulation that is the real detriment, it’s the unfair FDCPA lawsuits,” said Brian Watkins of Southern Oregon Credit. “To be extorted day after day for not harming anyone or doing something wrong. Unfortunately, it costs a lot less to write a check than it costs to go to court and win. Ambiguity is what fuels the trial lawyers. And the trial lawyers are what fuel the political party that powers the CFPB.”
Ambiguity is a big problem when it comes to contacting consumers. Knowing whether a collector can call a cell phone, send a text message, or send an email boils down to consistently obtaining consent, said Larry Costa, president of Capital Management Services, a Buffalo-area collection agency.
“You cannot automatically dial a cell phone if you don’t have consent,” Costa said. “There’s nothing that says you can’t send a text message if you don’t have consent. It all comes down to getting the proper consent.”
While communicating boils down to obtaining consent from consumers, old fashioned phone calls may be the best method for a collection agency to communicate with a consumer. When sending emails or text messages, it can be hard to convey the proper context of a conversation. One man’s smiley face emoji is another man’s “I’m being sneaky face” emoji.
“We’ve looked at technology like online chat interface,” said Christian Lehr with Healthcare Collections in Phoenix. “But we haven’t moved forward because it’s a business decision, not a compliance decision. I’m not sure it is the best way to serve the consumer. Much like with emails or text messages, it can be hard to understand context. And there is a time lag for communication. We may be able to serve the consumer faster on a phone call.”
Should the collections industry continue to operate like it’s the 1970s and ditch all the technology that is available to them and use rotary phones? Compliance may be easier, but costs are higher, right-party contacts are lower, and collection rates are lower. But while compliance is definitely a priority in today’s collection industry, it should not dominate every business decision. Communicating with consumers is the most important component of running a successful collection agency and there exists a number of exciting technology that can help collection agencies reach and connect with borrowers.
Strausser, for one, is excited about ringless voicemail technology, which places a message into a consumer’s voicemail box without ringing the telephone.
Costa mentioned a number of technology solutions offered by Castel as examples of exciting technology available today, including manual dialing platforms and real-time speech analytics.
Regardless of the regulatory or legal hurdles that exist, the collection industry must continue to innovate and modernize, industry professionals all agreed. “The only way we can move forward and success is to embrace technologies that are available to us,” Strausser said. “We should be looking at contemporary means of communication and exploring how to pull the trigger when and we are granted approval.”
That approval may come in a couple of different forms. The CFPB is expected to issue a proposed rule governing the debt collection industry, although the expectation is that the proposed rule will not be issued until 2017, at the earliest. The industry is also awaiting a lawsuit filed by ACA International and a number of other organizations against the FCC, related to the changes made to the TCPA last July. That trial is expected at some point in 2016.
Hopefully, the days of manual telephone jokes are numbered.
Again, a special thank you to Castel for sponsoring this article series. Please visit them at www.castel.com.
