As more and more debts are incurred during this economic downturn, debt collection agencies are using more creative and advanced means of technology in their pursuit of debtors.
John Nemo, spokesman for the Association of Credit and Collection Professionals International, which represent industry members in the US, Canada and around the World said “I think it is an industry that is always on the cutting edge of information technology. The industry is always looking for the newest, latest, greatest way to track down the right person.”
Moving further than phone calls and letters, debt collection agencies have also started to make use of websites such as Facebook, MySpace and Craigslist in an attempt to track down people who have not paid their bills. Craigslist shows phone numbers and email addresses, Facebook a plethora of information about family members and other contact information.
By using such tools in a legal, and ethical manner, debt recovery companies are able to trace more effectively and efficiently and, as a result, potentially have a quicker turnaround on the collection of a debt from when it is passed to them.
Databases also play a big part in the debt collection industry with debtor profiling taking a front seat in collection agencies as firms attempt to use statistical data to focus on collection from those more likely to pay. Demographics, socioeconomic data and historical information are all analysed to help predict where collection agencies should focus their attention.
A famous movie once opened with the line “in a galaxy far, far away,” – perhaps that galaxy is now a lot closer than people realise.
