Accurate Or Not, Consumer Complaint List Needs to be Addressed
Yesterday, insideARM ran a news article titled, “Debt Collection Tops 2007 Consumer Complaint List”. Maybe the article should have been titled “Here We Go Again” or “So what else is new?” Personally, I would prefer it be titled “Let’s get the facts straight please.”
According to the National Association of Attorneys General, complaints against debt collectors topped a national list of consumer complaints for 2007. NAAG (or should we simply call them NAG as their name implies? Sorry but I could not resist) was formed over 100 years ago to “serve as a key resource to assist Attorneys General and their staffs to respond effectively to emerging state and federal legal issues”. The list of consumer complaints was compiled by NAAG based on an informal nationwide survey conducted by the group.
Let’s take a moment to break this down. The ranking was admittedly based upon an informal survey. Who was surveyed? How many people were surveyed? Were disgruntled debtors surveyed exclusively? Was the survey truly broad enough to include all walks of life nationwide? I highly doubt it but we will try to obtain the study and find out. We will let you know our findings.
Secondly, it said that NAAG serves as a “key resource to assist Attorneys General and their staffs to respond effectively to emerging state and federal legal issues”. Let me get this straight: an informal survey is conducted, questionably inaccurate results are compiled, and they claim to be a key resource in the Attorneys General quest to right a wrong. Does anyone else find this troubling and totally misleading?
Lastly, the FTC was sited in the article that complaints against debt collectors topped its list for last year. ACA International, on behalf of its members of credit and collection professionals, did a wonderful job of dissecting these complaints and I believe they found out that more than half of them were made erroneously. It also worth noting that the Better Business Bureau says that nearly 75% of complaints were determined to be resolved to the satisfaction of the consumers.
Are legitimate complaints made against bill collectors? Absolutely! Are there too many complaints made against bill collectors? Arguably, however we can never lose sight of the volume of accounts handled overall and handled properly by debt collectors on the same yearly basis. I would venture to say that on a percentage basis the debt collection industry would not even make the list. What do you think?
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Comments
Comment from Anonymous on September 25, 2008 at 12:56PM EST
Great comments Mike. You mention that "75% of the complaints filed with the BBB were determined to be resolved to the satisfaction of the consumers". This doesn't sound very good for the (ARM) industry.
I'd be curious to know more about the 25% of the complaints that "were NOT resolved" with satisfaction. Is it possible that BBB can share this with K&G? I'd bet money that the majority of the 25% unresolved complaints are directed to Creditors/First Party Collectors (not regulated by the FDCPA) and/or NOT members of the ACA International.
If anyone intends to stay in this business long term, they need to evaluate their collection stratgies and maintain the intergrity and ethics that's required of ALL ACA International Members.
Regards,
Michael J. Sutherland President AmCollect
Comment from Anonymous on September 25, 2008 at 12:58PM EST
It is still the law of averages.
Most complaints alledge violations of the F.D.C.P.A. under the most liberal interpatations.
Debt collectors call on debts that are owed and consumers attempt to circumvent their obligation to pay the debt and deemand validation, threaten to file a complaint with their State AG Office, contact the BBB or complain to the FTC or any other 3rd party that will listen.
The real issue is in the communication and when you inquire from a consumer why they are not willing to fulfill an existing obligation it makes them unhappy.
Calling debtors every day is not an easy job and the mistreatment that collectors face every day is never reported to anyone.
Imagine if a report we kept showing how many times a collector remained a professional when a consumer did not; the number would baffle the mind.
Comment from Mr.Sanchez, Utilities Supervisor on September 25, 2008 at 1:29PM EST
Bill collectors should maintain their professionalism (keep cool) and simply follow policy, investigate, and respond in a timely manner. They are wishing you will drop the ball. I stop them in their tracks when I immediately get the facts and any supporting information to substantiate their claim and follow through with validation, investigation and respond as swiftly as possible. I will also say "will this help you?" now they are in an ackward position and the truth of their intent surfaces...If you are a good closer you will get the payment.
Comment from Mike Ginsberg on September 25, 2008 at 1:30PM EST
Well done. Both comments are excellent and worth noting. Mike Sutherland, I will try to get the BBB's report into light but the point made is that the vast majority are resolved to consumer satisfaction.
Comment from Anonymous on September 25, 2008 at 1:45PM EST
Mike, Couldn't agree more. As an industry we are currently defending ourselves in the Federal Courts over 500 times a month for alleged violations of the FDCPA. Are some of these complaints valid? Sure they are. However, many are questionable. There is a cottage industry of law firms that we, as bill collectors, will pay in excess of $15,000,000 in gross settlements in 2008 just in the Federal Courts alone. It is far cheaper to settle a case than to fight them. And what do we do about the "professional litigants" that are filing 10-12 of these lawsuits annually? We need our own "NAG".....
Comment from Mike Ginsberg on September 25, 2008 at 2:31PM EST
More excellent comments. Thanks for sharing. I would add that there are many more complaints that are outright wrong than those that are either questionable or valid. You are right about needing our our NAG. I happen to think the ACA does a lot of good to portray the ARM industry in the right light.
Comment from John Nemo, ACA International on September 25, 2008 at 2:43PM EST
Great article and great comments.
Here is a link showing that debt collection industry resolved 85% of complaints to the consumers' satisfaction with the BBB during 2006: http://us.bbb.org/WWWRoot/storage/0/Shared%20Documents/ComplaintStats/us06compsort.pdf
Also here is a link to ACA's new YouTube page, which highlights all the positive stories in our industry and even features consumers praising collectors for their professionalism and ethics. Here's one example video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAUNP_1tj-0
Please feel free to share this video with others and to contribute the positive stories about your agency as well! Contact me at nemo@acainternatoinal.org
John Nemo, ACA Public Relations Director
Comment from Laner on September 26, 2008 at 10:14AM EST
Many of those making complaints are simply trying to game the system to avoid paying their bills. I see many complaints on commercial cases. Frankly the worst "abuse" seems to be from in-house collectors and not 3rd party collectors, yet we are blamed for their actions.
I think instead of the FDCPA we should have collectors register and the complaints can be made on them individually rather than the company, and if they get too many complaints then they can lose their individual license.
Comment from Ron DeFelice on September 26, 2008 at 5:38PM EST
It's funny how this allows falls on to the collector. Yes, there will always be complaints regardless, but most of the complaints filed is an attempt for the consumer to get out of paying their debt. I have been running call centers for years, I could write a book on how my collectors are mistreated and abused by consumers, but it seems there is no regulatory office or any type of agency that monitors the abuse collections receive when speaking to a debtor. Think how much worse this country would be financially without collection agencies, think about how many millions of dollars are put back in our economy every year by collection agencies.
Comment from Mike Ginsberg on September 26, 2008 at 7:04PM EST
More excellent comments. Thanks and keep them coming.
Mr. Nemo, thank you for getting more data up regarding the BBB for Mr.Sutherland and everyone else to see. Maybe the Collector could write a follow-up article about this important topic. Let us know. Happy to participate.
Comment from james sims collector UCI on September 30, 2008 at 10:19AM EST
Lets face it in collections or for that matter with bills in general we can all complain about having to pay them i just so happens that as a collector it is our job to contact the debtors and try and resolve something that the everyday person complains about everyday