Who is that collector on the phone demanding payment from you of an unpaid account?
For most Canadians receiving a collection call is a very unpleasant experience. The purpose of this article is give you some background information about that person who is calling you. This information might not only lower your anxiety level but also it might give you some additional confidence in dealing with a collector.
There are four different entities that employ bill collectors. These include the following:
creditors:
original creditors
debt buyers
collection agencies
collection law firms
Qualifications required to become a collector
There are virtually no qualifications required to become a collector. A collector needs to be an adult, be legally entitled to work in Canada, and have a pulse.
There are no educational requirements for collectors. It can be an attractive job for persuasive individuals with little education. I know from my time working as a collection agency lawyer that having a criminal record did not prevent someone from working as a collector at a collection agency.
That collector calling you might owe monies to his creditors
Collectors are familiar with the collection industry and gaming the system.
When I was a lawyer doing collections work I approached the Collections Manager at a collection agency in southern Ontario and asked to do a test. I asked them to give me 250 accounts that they could not collect and give me 90 days to see how many of these unpaid accounts I could collect. One of these 250 files was an unpaid account for one of their own collectors.
Compensation for collectors
Collectors are typically paid a base salary and are entitled to some kind of bonus or commission at the end of each month. It is common for collectors to be assigned anywhere between 150 and 300 unpaid accounts that they are to collect during a month. If they do not meet certain minimum expectations in terms of collecting monies then they will likely be fired. A good collector can a substantial amount of money in bonuses over and above their base salary.
A collector is essentially a commissioned sales person
The job of collector is essentially a commissioned sales person. The collector's employer provides the collector with a list of prospects, sometimes referred to a WIP list with the names of about 250 individuals with unpaid accounts. It is the collector's job to convince the individuals on his or her WIP list that it is necessary for them to make paying their creditor's unpaid account at the very top of the consumer's financial priorities.
Collectors will use either the carrot or stick approach to motivate consumers to pay
Collectors may be taught a variety of techniques utilizing psychological principles to motivate consumers to pay their unpaid accounts. At the end of the day, however, collectors are going to employ either a carrot or stick approach to motivating consumers to pay an account.
There is simple reason why most collectors use the stick approach with consumers with an unpaid account. Consumers would prefer not to have repeated unpleasant phone calls with a bill collector. All the consumer has to do to end these unpleasant collection calls is to pay their account. One of the problems that collectors using the stick approach will run into is that they may cross the line into unethical, immoral, or sometimes illegal behavior.
Some collectors use the carrot approach with consumers and present themselves as being in the consumer's corner, providing the consumer with reasons why it is in the consumer's best interests to pay their outstanding account. Some collectors who use the carrot approach are very successful collectors.
Here is a short YouTube video titled "Who Are These Bill Collectors Calling Me?"
This short YouTube video should provide the viewer with some insights into the collector calling to demand payment of an outstanding account.
During my twelve years working as a collection agency lawyer I got to know hundreds of collectors working at collection agencies.
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