External debt collection companies and collection agencies must manage a difficult balancing act. They need to optimize their outbound communications and right-party contacts (RPCs), but must do so within strict regulations. With a variety of internal and external pressures, it can be difficult to effectively reach debtors. You don't want to spend too many resources on a wrong number, but you also don't want to give up on a good number too quickly. With dedicated RPC tools, you can streamline your processes and turn a difficult task into a manageable task.
Experian's Phone Number ID™ helps increase RPC rates and optimize customer tracking by assessing customers' phone numbers early in the debt cycle. This tool works within the boundaries of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), providing you with a high-quality peel that is easy to use.
Debt collection agencies and collection agencies face unique challenges
Debt collection agencies and collection agencies face a number of industry-specific challenges.
First, there are strict rules in place to protect consumers by restricting outbound communications. And violations can be costly. Any unsolicited call or text message sent to a wireless device can result in a fine between $500 and $1,500, putting a heavy burden on debt collectors.
But the stress for debt collectors goes beyond compliance. There is tremendous pressure to improve your RPC rates as quickly and efficiently as possible. Time is money and wasting that time by calling the wrong phone number can cost valuable resources. However, moving away from a phone number too quickly because your resources have incorrectly indicated that it may not be a reliable contact can also be costly.
This is where phone number ID can help. Improving contact management processes early in a debt cycle can help you maintain compliance while increasing your RPC rates, even when your resources are limited.
How Phone Number ID Improves RPC
Phone Number ID is an industry-leading solution that helps you maximize the effectiveness of your contact management strategy while minimizing the risk of fines. Phone Number ID validates phone ownership and phone types across more than 5,000 local exchange providers in real time, verifying categories such as:
- Ownership of the phone number.
- Line type (wireless, landline, etc.).
- Carrier.
- Activation date.
- When the number changes from a landline to a mobile operator or Voice over IP.
Phone Number ID takes your call history and sends it to wireless carriers for verification (protecting consumer information). If there is no name associated with a number, the number is sent to Experian's contact databases for location. The carriers will then return full customer profiles to you, including consumer name, line type, current carrier and activation date.
Their records are transparent and include match scores from 0 to 99 based on the quality of the customer's phone number. The match score indicates how well a consumer record matches carrier data, helping you maximize RPC.
A thoughtful start to your debt cycle leads to cost savings
Phone Number ID increases efficiency by allowing you to be more thoughtful at the start of a debt cycle. Instead of randomly calling each number in your database a certain number of times, you can optimize your reach based on accurate scrubbing data.
At the start of a debt cycle, run your phone numbers through Phone Number ID. When a number is assigned a match score of 20 or less, you know that number is very risky and should not be tracked. A value this low indicates an active mismatch, e.g. For example, a typo, a fake number that was given to collections, or a prepaid phone number that now belongs to someone else.
In contrast, a match score of 90 or higher means you have the best phone number for that person and there is no point in skipping follow-up.
This means that for each debt cycle, instead of assigning an arbitrary number of phone calls to each number, you can do the following:
- Call a number 10 to 20 times if it has a match score of 90 or more.
- Call a number with a match score of 20 to 40 once and proceed to skip tracking.
- Directly submit a match score less than 20 to skip tracking.
Phone Number ID maximizes your calls in numerous scenarios
Phone number ID can maximize the effectiveness of debt collection agencies in numerous scenarios. Here are just three examples of use cases you might encounter, but there are many more possibilities.
- If you are a debt buyer, you may receive a list of phone numbers that have been charged and have not had payments made for four to six months or more. Because they have been used for so long, the numbers could pose a high risk. You should check all of them for quality before calling any of them.
- You have a new number that belongs to someone who signed up for a credit card years ago and just recently started missing payments. It's been a long time since the number was verified, so it makes sense to delete it immediately.
- You have been given access to a database that shows whether a number has been ported or not. You may be tempted to discard all ported numbers, but you could miss out on valuable contacts. Phone Number ID tells you whether a number has been ported and whether it still belongs to the same person.
Track your game results with optimal jump tracking
If the phone number ID returns low match scores for some of your contacts, consider not tracking the numbers to see if there is a new number you can use instead. Luckily we have a solution.
TrueTrace™ is Experian's most powerful skip trace product and the natural evolution of Phone Number ID. TrueTrace provides superior matching logic that ensures accurate data optimized for integration with internal or third-party software.
Why work with Experian?
Phone Number ID allows you to have confidence in your database, know you're reaching the right people, and stay up to date with any changes to your contact information.
Benefits of using our best-in-class solution include:
- Offers seamless contact management integration and affordability.
- Providing detailed, real-time verification of consumer contact information.
- Monitor line type, ownership, portability and carrier of customer phone numbers.
- Validating phone ownership and type across 5,000+ switching providers.
- Provides comprehensive coverage with a hit rate of up to 97 percent.
- Using proprietary matching and scoring logic.
- Reduce compliance risk with the TCPA while improving RPC rates and branch tracking.
Experian is committed to helping you optimize your outbound communications.
Contact us today to learn how Phone Number ID can help you.
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