When I sent an email in bright red capital letters screaming that a five-year loan default would tarnish the recipient's impeccable record, I was relieved.
This fleeting respite was compensation for the constant barrage of abuse I received on the phone every day.
This was just one of the ways I connected with people during my time as a debt collector. Others involved texting the same message and then making phone calls, which was disheartening as they often ended with me being hung up on.
I worked my way up from dealing with debtors with balances of $500 to $10,000 to accounts with much larger balances, the debit and corporate accounts, which run well into the hundreds of thousands.
Growing debt
Australian loan and credit card balances accrue interest worth more than $25 billion, according to the latest figures from the RBA.
Most cardholders were men, entrepreneurs or employees of large multinational corporations. I met the wife of a famous sports star, a fashion designer who fled to Europe, several well-known lawyers, executives, famous restaurateurs and Instagram influencers.
Working in this portfolio awakened something very competitive in me. When I received BPAY receipts for $75,000, perhaps after threatening legal action for non-payment as a consequence, I felt not only relieved but also satisfied.
The payments people ended up making went toward my internal goal and put me in the running for incentives of up to $1,800 per month on top of my regular pay. I was determined to beat my colleagues.
A day in the life
My day began with me picking up the bills and calling the numbers listed on their accounts.
Most of the time my calls went unanswered, so I performed a process known in the industry as skip tracing. This means tracking down debtors who have defaulted on their debt obligations and vanished into thin air.
When you apply for a credit card, you provide your address, contact number, employer details and financial details. All of this information is passed on to debt collectors and was critical to obtaining results from a skip trace.
I took on the role of a detective and called the debtor's former/new neighbors, employers, or other known contacts to try to reach them.
I would not reveal my true motive as I was bound by the privacy policy for debt collection and required a commercial and private credit reporting agency/CAPI license to do all of this.
Social media detective
I searched on all social media platforms (LinkedIn was a good one) before switching to commercial databases where I found rental applications, a new phone number, the price they sold their house for, and even if they had a loan default, could find.
I felt like I knew these people personally when, through a simple Google search, I discovered fascinating dirty laundry that I'm sure the debtor wouldn't want to be seen by someone chasing him for money.
When people finally answered my calls, I had to make a payment arrangement with them based on the results of a full weekly/bi-weekly/monthly budget that I would go through with them to understand all of their expenses.
That was my morning. In the afternoon I would move on to calling everyone who is nearing their “cycle cut” or in other words their billing cycle.
This was mainly achieved through the dreaded “dialler” system, which searches through thousands of phone numbers and as soon as someone answers it is forwarded to the poor person on the other end to try and find out their entire account history in just a few seconds.
Anyone who has been contacted by someone at a call center may have received a call where there is silence on the other end for a few seconds – that is the dialer and it is just as terrible for the debt collector as it is for the person answering the phone.
Debt collection rules
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission requires debt collectors to contact a debtor only three times a week or a maximum of 10 times a month.
A contact includes a letter, email, text message, or voicemail. Constant contact where the debtor responds does not count.
Here's the catch: the endless unanswered calls or calls that were abandoned before going through an identification process don't count.
A financial hardship program was in place for those debtors who were unable to make the minimum repayments on their cards. This is something I would encourage anyone who is in financial trouble to do: reach out to their creditors and ask what they have to offer.
I am grateful for my experience in the debt collection industry because it has given me invaluable lessons about money and budgeting just by listening to other people's experiences.
If you are wondering whether you should contact someone who is trying to scam you for money, I would highly recommend you do so because then they will finally leave you alone.
How to Deal with a Debt Collection Agency
- Understand how often they are allowed to contact you. If they harass you, ask them in writing to stop. If they persist, lodge a complaint with the Australian Financial Complaints Authority.
- Confirm that the debt is yours – don't pay anything until you confirm this.
- Negotiate a realistic repayment plan. This budget from MoneySmart can be helpful if you are unsure about your financial obligations. Make sure you get a written copy of the repayment plan.
- Call the National Debt Hotline on 1800 007 007 for free and confidential advice from professional financial advisors
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