Comments on: Anyone Feel Sorry For Debt Collectors?

By: Credit Karma Weekly Roundup - Let it Snow!

Credit Karma Weekly Roundup - Let it Snow! — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 11:04:04 +0000

[...] The Wisdom Journal wonders if Anyone Feels Sorry For Debt Collectors? [...]

By: Jan

Jan — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 21:54:41 +0000

“Sell me that I owe the debt”!!!!!! Why should I have to “sell” them that I don’t owe them??? Sorry …but having dealt with a less than honest debt collector that does not set well! They DID not sell me!!! They out right LIED and I caught them in the middle of it. They were lucky that I did not take them to court! Debt collectors will never make my warm and fuzzy list!!

By: Gypsie

Gypsie — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 01:27:43 +0000

I am pretty sure that debt collectors cannot continue to call/harass you at work if you tell them not to call you there anymore.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 14:59:27 +0000

Hear hear! I once worked for a collection agency as a collector. I loved it because despite the misconception, collectors are not professional jerks, they are actually there to help and often times have many tools available for loss mitigation to help achieve a win-win situation for both the company and customer.
As far as harassment is concerned, my policy was: during the first 30 days of being delinquent the customers spoke to customer service reps, if they made it to my desk we weren’t in the delightful world of customer service anymore. My job was to get them back on top or begin legal for repossession – not sugar coating – because it’s serious.
I went into every conversation the same, I was very nice to those who were nice – tried to be nice to those who were less delightful – but those who stepped out of line and were downright rude and belligerent… well I wasn’t so nice.
Treat others as you wish to be treated. Whether you like the situation you are in or not, collectors are often your last chance.

By: Joshua @ Accountable Living

Joshua @ Accountable Living — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 04:28:40 +0000

Wow, there is some serious misconception here about debt collectors.

1) The FDCPA only applies to third-party debt collection agencies and attorneys, not to the originating financial institution or debt originator.

2) NCO is a privately owned corporation and is not a subsidiary of any bank

3) Debt collection is not “soul deadening”. It is in fact a very robust business that provides a needed instrument. How soon we forget that the reason debt collectors exist is because of consumers who largely neglect to pay

4) Debt collectors are doing a job that not a lot of people would like, but due to the number of restrictions that exist, although many cry “harassment”, it is more noise than anything. States have even more stringent rules than the Federal government and this has truly toned down harassment over the last 30 years.

5) Debt collectors help bring money back to a large swath of companies and insitutiions, not just banks. They collect money for hospitals, insurance companies, utility companies, and the list goes on and on. It is BECAUSE they bring money back into the system that costs by those companies can be kept down. Remember, they are in it for a profit ( usually ) or at least need to make sure that they can cover their cost of business. When consumers don’t pay, they have to either collect that money in some way or charge customers more. Which would you prefer?

I could go on, but suffice to say, collectors as a whole are a hard working crowd and deserve more respect than they receive.