A debtor named Jane logs on to a Web site at 11:45 one Wednesday night to satisfy her debt. She enters her account identification number and is greeted by Mya, a photo-realistic avatar that steps her through the payment process, answering any questions Jane might have along the way. She eventually enters her credit card number in the secure web site and in seconds the payment is processed and the account is satisfied.
Jane, a 26 year-old, single, employed college graduate had been barraged by collection calls recently as a result of debt she incurred from a credit card she opened while still in school. The outstanding past due amount lingered and festered, as she went from making only partial payments to skipping payments altogether. Eventually, the bank charged off her account, with a balance of $3,500, and sent it to an external collection agency.
As is the case with many debtors, after receiving initial collector calls requesting “payment-in-full”, Jane began avoiding subsequent collector calls. While the collector that contacted Jane was professional and courteous, Jane was embarrassed by the position she found herself in, and so for weeks she dodged collector calls. However, Jane did receive a collector notice in the letter from the collection agency working her account suggesting potential settlement of her outstanding credit card debt. Instead of calling an agent, the letter offered her the option of handling the matter by visiting their Web site and entering a special code unique to her account.
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