No one likes a collections agency. No one likes the calls to their home or workplace. However, it must be done carefully. Complaints rose 15% in March from February, and most of these are not from what we think of when we think of typical collections agencies. Nearly one-third of complaints were registered under the “other” category, which encompasses everything from health clubs to phone companies.
44% of these complaints seem legitimate, being that the calls were about outstanding debt. Only 6% were about illegal or unethical calls searching for someone via relatives or former employers. Lawsuits also rose dramatically in March, with Fair Debt Collection Practices (FDCPA) lawsuits rising 3.9% on a monthly comparison; Fair Credit Reporting Act lawsuits rising 3.3%; and Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) lawsuits jumped15.5%. Collection agency merchants need to remind their staff that they should take care in their job, and even when caller become snappy, they should keep their cool. Collection agency reps have some of the toughest jobs, and the vast majority of the public sees them as a nuisance. Debts must be collected, and it takes some people calls to their home and workplace to get a debt settled.
These new statistics can be tough on debt collection merchants who are searching for a collection agency merchant account. There are few who are true to their merchants, and when figures like this are made public, some tend to either jack up processing fees, or they start rethinking their account offerings. All high risk merchants at one time or another face issues concerning their accounts, and it is no different with collection agency merchant accounts. What is different is that the industry as a whole is thoroughly disliked. Government scrutiny does not help either, and while everyone has varying opinions about the government, the majority agree that collection agencies and their practices must be reined in.
Collection agency merchants need to watch industry data, as it can quickly affect your business. Be sure that your collection agency merchant account provider is also on top of all industry data and changes, as failing to do so can put your business in jeopardy.