Closing the Books: Realistic Expectations for Working with a Debt Collection Agency

In general, the debt collection industry suffers from a poor reputation. And the idea that a consumer in debt could describe their experiences working with a debt collection agency as positive is strange to many people. Closing the Books host Tyler Kern spoke with Brian Eggert, Marketing Specialist at IC System about these various perceptions and how to best set expectations when working with a debt collection company.

Eggert began working at IC System in 2001 as a part-time debt collector to help pay for college. Since then, he has moved through a variety of positions leading to a depth of experience and understanding of the debt collection industry that few people have. His experience includes working in client services, RFP writing, and marketing with involvement in every department from operations to accounting to the mailroom. At present, he is a marketing generalist writing company content including website copy, blogs, social media postings, and internal business communications.

The conversation kicked off with a look into the debt collection industry prior to the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Although IC System has a proven path of ethical collecting, “the collection industry (as a whole) used to be a little wild and less regulated prior to the arrival of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau,” said Eggert.

Eggert spoke about his company’s focus on creating a positive consumer experience, one of the many reasons for its success. IC System surveys approximately 15,000 consumers/month and averages a 95% success rate in consumers being happy with how their issue was resolved. Not only is having such a high success rate a rarity within the industry, but the company takes it one step further by investigating the other 5% to find out what did not go well.

This intriguing look into the debt collection industry continues to examine how IC System has evolved to meet evolving rules and regulations, measures call quality, addresses myths of working with an agency, benefits of outsourcing debt collections, recovery rates, and much more.

The bottom line at IC System, they are prepared to help consumers resolve financial issues and assist clients in recovering lost business. “We are not just there to collect money,” said Eggert.