Welcome to the Research Assistant Weekly Newsletter - a subscriber-only resource for insight into emerging compliance challenges, details on peer calls, and links to new Research Assistant reports, documents, tools, and more.
At this week’s Research Assistant Peer Group meeting, one of our members shared a growing frustration with both her client and her internal leadership team. Why? Because the client continues to place accounts without full consumer names, providing only initials in many cases.
This causes multiple problems. First and foremost: Who is this person? If a file is listed as “J. Smith,” but your system has both a “Joe Smith” and a “Jane Smith,” how do you know which one it is, if either? Yes, you can manually review the file and cross-reference other information, but that takes time. And any manual process means labor hours that could be better spent resolving accounts, ultimately costing your company money.
Another issue arises when the client expects these accounts to be credit reported. The credit reporting agencies (CRAs) will not accept accounts with only initials. Worse, if you continue sending inaccurate or incomplete data, the CRA may flag your submissions as junk and potentially cancel your contract altogether, impacting not only this client but all your clients. That’s a serious reputational and operational risk. So, ask yourself: Is it worth it for a client that isn’t even sending full, accurate information?
There’s also a real compliance concern. Incomplete name data increases the risk of wrong-party contact, something that can easily turn into legal action or even a class-action lawsuit. Again, is it worth it?
The group consensus? It’s not worth the risk. And it’s time for a candid conversation with both your executive leadership team and your client. This isn’t just a small data problem; it’s a systemic risk issue. Consider advising the client that these accounts won’t be reported, or that placing them into collections increases the risk of contacting the wrong party, putting both your agency and your client at risk.
It may be best to simply identify these accounts and return them.
That said, if your software platform has tools to help with matching partial or incomplete account data, now’s the time to put them to work. Many systems include a data match feature, where incoming placements are automatically compared to existing account records using key identifiers like the last four digits of the SSN, date of birth, name, address, and phone number. A strong match on multiple data points, such as, the same SSN or same last name, and DOB – can help confirm identity without manual review.
Using data matching could offer a compromise: Keep what you can match automatically, return what you can’t.
And remember, your software vendor wants to know what features you need. If the system doesn’t support these functions yet, providing feedback could help drive future updates. You might not be the only client asking for these tools.
You could be the reason a much-needed feature is added in the next release.
Documents and Crowdsourced Materials:
Top Reads:
Upcoming Webinars/ Other Announcements:
- Important Announcement: All AI Notetaking Bots will be removed from Research Assistant Peer Group Meetings. This is to maintain the confidentiality of our peer members.
- Have topics you want to discuss during the peer call? Please send them to Sara_Consultant@roundtables.us by Thursday to ensure it makes it on our agenda!
|
