If Collections Compliance is the Priority, Here is Your Road Map

You’ll find a press release below commenting on a survey from this year’s Debt Buyer’s Association conference. The question? What are you focusing on this year. The answer? Compliance and Customer Experience.

Beyond just publishing this press release, insideARM.com can also help you along the way with your compliance issues. Here are two resources, related to compliance, that will leave your smarter than before you started:

The Debt Collection Compliance Handbook
The Debt Collection Compliance Handbook features explanations of 30 certifications, rules, and regulations, with advice on how to comply. (Email editor@insideARM.com for a sample chapter.)

A Beginner’s Guide to Data Security & Information Security Compliance Audits
If your company is not compliant – or isn’t interested in improving its compliance measures – you’re going to find it harder and harder to be competitive, effective, and profitable in the marketplace.

Collections industry executives will be placing an increased emphasis on developing compliance controls and improving the customer experience in the next year, according to a survey conducted by Firstsource Solutions. The survey was conducted at the 15th Annual Debt Buyer’s Association International Conference, held recently in Las Vegas.

An overwhelming number of debt industry executives (70 percent) said they anticipate that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) will impose significant changes on the collections industry over the next year. Forty percent of respondents stated that these changes will greatly influence their focus on implementing compliance controls across their organizations. Nearly 75 percent of executives surveyed said addressing compliance-related issues will be the top priority for the collections industry in 2012.

“The CFPB will undoubtedly create new rules and regulations for the collections industry,” said Tim Smith, Senior Vice President, Banking Financial Services & Insurance, Firstsource. “Instead of simply bracing for these changes, collections industry executives are moving compliance to the top of their agendas and developing compliance controls and initiatives that will allow them to better navigate this new regulatory environment.”

Survey respondents indicated that improving customer experience would be a key strategic priority for them in the coming year. Over 60 percent of industry executives at the conference stated that their organizations would increase the number of training programs for collectors so that they can sharpen their skills in dealing with customers during the entire collections process. In further support of this trend, over 80 percent of respondents said delivering a high quality customer experience is just as important as collecting.

“We’re seeing a real sea of changes in the industry in terms of making the customer the number one priority,” said Smith. “Our findings show that collection executives are making customer experience just as important as collecting itself. This is not just lip service but a true commitment to making real changes to ensure customers are more satisfied and have a better overall experience.”

Respondents also noted the benefit of leveraging social media in collections with nearly 75 percent agreeing that it is useful in the overall collections process. Over 85 percent of collections executives said they use social media to monitor online customer conversations. Nearly 30 percent said the best way to deal with negative customer feedback online was to determine the specific comments which warranted a response.

About the Survey

The survey of 100 professionals in the banking and credit card industries was conducted by Firstsource at the 15th Annual Debt Buyer’s Association (DBA) International Conference on February 7-9, 2012 in Las Vegas. Respondents included executives across the debt buying industry including major credit card issuers, banking and payments professionals and collections companies.