Access Receivables, Debt Collection Agency, Increases Payments 40 Percent With 'Nice People' Strategy

Turns out nice guys may not always finish last.

Access Receivables, a Baltimore-based debt collection agency, is finding success using a novel approach to its business: Just being nice. The company's strategy embodied in its slogan, "nice people collect more," aims to emphasize customer service, according to InsideARM, a website that says it wants to “ shift the public conversation” about the debt collection industry.

Since putting the strategy into action, payments have increased 40 percent overall, according to a press release.

Access Receivables' new tactic runs counter to many of recent trends in the debt collection industry. Debt collectors are increasingly using threats, lies and insults to get debtors to pay up, according to an April report from Marketdata Enterprises. And debt collectors are difficult to avoid. One in seven Americans is being pursued by a collection agency.

Last year the industry was responsible for a record number of complaints to the Federal Trade Commission, the Wall Street Journal reports.

To avoid such complaints, Access Receivable has required credit counseling certification for managers, provided employee perks for favorable debtor testimonials and changed its online platform to make communication easier, company President Tom Gillespie told InsideARM.

Still, it seems that it may be some time before other companies follow suit. One debt collector threatened to exhume the body of debtor’s deceased daughter in an aim to secure a payment, while another illegally impersonated police officers. A debt collector in Oregon harassed a debtor by falsely telling police she was threatening suicide.

Access Receivable may be trying to lead the way for a kinder, gentler debt collection industry, but it’s not alone in fighting back against abusive collection tactics. Just last week, Rep. Pete Stark (D-California) called for a federal investigation of hospital debt collector Accretive Health for alleged "abusive" tactics. While in February, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau proposed increasing supervision of the biggest debt collection agencies.

Comments

[Dorthy Packer]

01:39 PM on 05/09/2013

Thank you for sharing this article on accessing receivables. Where can I find more information on this topic? I'm still not quite sure what receivables are. Thank you for your help!

[XME]

11:21 AM on 05/03/2012

I have to agree this strategy works better with me! I had to stop working 2-3 years ago and apply for disability. During the 6 months waiting for the decision, I had no income at all, so racked up quite a bit of debt. I'm still dealing with collectors, and some can be outright hateful and horrible...and I hang up on them and block their numbers. If they behave like decent, empathetic human beings, I'm far more willing to hear them out, if not try to make some kind of effort to at that debt to the list I'm trying to make payments on, on a very limited income.

[lofttypeofaview]

01:17 PM on 05/14/2012

Send a money order in the amount of a penny a month. They legally can't claim that you aren't making monthly payments.

[lancelotfl]

04:52 PM on 05/02/2012

My mother is in an assisted living facility on Medicaid. This means 100% of her retirement income has to go for her care. I informed the credit card companies that she would not be able to make any more payments. They refused to believe and began having debt collectors calling.

Solution: my cell phone is now my main number. Home phone is attached to the fax machine. They call 10 or so times every day and threaten my fax machine. So far, my fax seems to be handling things well and doesn't appear the least bit worried.

What is amazing is that they will call many times daily, for months on end, and never get a human. Yet, they keep trying. Isn't the definition of insanity repeating the same behavior over and over hoping for a different outcome?

[loki]

05:07 PM on 05/02/2012

my cousin is disabled and gets just under $800 a month in SSDI. They keep calling him, even suggesting he skips paying his utilities to pay them. One said he would garnish his Social Security, which he cant, but Its amazing what they do.

[kateslate]

10:07 PM on 05/03/2012

EEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWW

[somewhatodd]

03:23 PM on 05/02/2012

republicans love to buy debt for a nickel on the dollar, terrorize the debtor out of a dime, then sell the debt again for $.15.

now that's a good day's work in their mind.

[DMDAY44]

12:09 PM on 05/12/2012

And you know Republicans do that from what source?

[lofttypeofaview]

01:20 PM on 05/14/2012

A Democrat would be compassionate toward the debtor. Most aren't and so therefore must be Republican.

[Patricia Holman]

11:25 AM on 05/02/2012

it works, 45 years ago I worked for a national dept store and they put me in collections. since I was new I got the worst accts....well in 6 months they were the best paid! when asked how I did that I told them I was just nice...most folks want to pay they just run into trouble and don't know what to do....I was allowed to lower their payments for a few months with no recourse and it gave them time to get straightened out.

[TruthResearcher]

11:40 AM on 05/02/2012

You can call me anytime. You are to be commended. Kindness and Compassion go a very long way. Besides which, you catch more bees with honey than you do with vinegar.

[kateslate]

10:09 PM on 05/03/2012

Love this post. Honestly, these people who threaten would seem to be just shooting themselves in the foot. I would never do that job, but if I had to....I would try to be nice and understanding.

[Bonez1]

10:54 AM on 05/02/2012

One time i received a call from some agency trying to get money for DEA...i usually say i give directly to my police dept in the city and hang up.
this one time for some reason, i must have been out of my mind, anyways, i said i would give money and got their info. Luckily i sent the money via certified check and not directly from my checking account.

after that, for several months, i got lots of calls from this same guy, he was very obnoxious..acting like my long lost friend. he was all like, "Hey, my name here, how are you doing? Thnx so much for that check you sent us. we really appreciate it. It would be great if you can send us another check for blah blah blah", i gave some excuse and hung up.

for the following several months this same guy with the obnoxious voice kept calling me being all friendly and casual asking for more money. i gave all kinds of excuses but he (the same obnoxious guy) kept calling. Finally, i told him, i lost my job and have no money and getting ready to lose my house. Can you believe he still tried to get money after that saying how the police and the DEA are doing an important service to the public, and i agreed but i said to him , but " I HAVE NO MONEY!"

after that, he finally stopped!

[kateslate]

10:11 PM on 05/03/2012

None of those people are legit. Ask them to send their paperwork stating how much goes to the actual charity and how much goes to "administration."

Sometimes only 5 cents of your dollar goes to the cause. These people now prey on little old, sympathetic trusting people and they are despicable.

[frank day]

10:29 AM on 05/02/2012

Take the time to learn your rights.

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/credit/cre27.pdf

[loki]

05:09 PM on 05/02/2012

problem is, the collection agencies dont. And you have to sue them and they know if you dont have the money to pay them, you cant afford a lawyer.

[The Notorious PDF]

10:24 AM on 05/02/2012

I don't think that anyone who has a judgment against them, and who comitted civil fraud against someone, should receive any government benefits, even if they have children. If they don't even care enough about their children not to use people and burn people, or to even try to work to provide for them, then they aren't a fit parent to begin with.

[frank day]

10:28 AM on 05/02/2012

"civil fraud"?? that isn't a legal term. What do you mean by it?

[somewhatodd]

03:20 PM on 05/02/2012

he means if he can cheat you legally and you don't pay up, then you're the bad guy and the government should help him, the victim, collect by squeezing you, the villian, mercilessly.

it's classic prosaic hysteria inspired by the conservative's muse, for which he is a but humble vessel, like a scrap piece of sewage pipe that by divine breath becomes a flute.

[The Notorious PDF]

10:22 AM on 05/02/2012

Some people completely use and burn people. They beg for help from their own family, using even their own children, and then they completely burn them and walk away when it's time to work to pay what they promised, leaving the people who made the mistake of helping them to be robbed and to have everything they worked so hard to build completely ruined. Some are working hard to try to at least pay something, but some of these debtors are just terrible people who don't deserve anyone's sympathy. Some people just feel that they're entitled to take from and use other people, and they'll defraud their own family to do so. I personally think there's a place for a debtor's prison in this country for such people. Civil penalties are simply not enough.

[exchef100]

03:54 PM on 05/02/2012

Wow. Sounds like you hang out with some awful people. I know people in debt, but none are as you describe.

[mtn gurl]

04:20 PM on 05/02/2012

well your wish is here.... debtors are increasingly being put in prison but don't worry the really big crooks with money still are above the law... ever wonder what happens to Donald Trumps's debt when he declares bankruptcy or George Zimmerman- well consumers get to pay for their free pass... I think if you use bankruptcy you should be monitored for life to ensure you don't mismanage your assets again... fair is fair... tax the rich and prosecute them the way ordinary Americans are-

[loki]

05:13 PM on 05/02/2012

who pays for all of the people you want to monitor for life? and if your going to monitor them and enforce it, then you better damn well do the same for CEOs and Wall street. More money is stolen at those levels than those in debt in the US combined annually.

[kateslate]

10:17 PM on 05/03/2012

Well, sadly, if you use bankruptcy protection laws, creditors will wait a minute or two, and then offer you more credit because now you are NOT INHIBITED BY PAYMENTS TO CREDITORS. They chase after THOSE people all the time.

The financial institutions created this mess. They will not clean it up. You and I suffer.

PS...never use banks. Credit unions are the way to go, for now. Until the powerful learn we are abandoning them in droves to greener pastures. My credit union, if I somehow don't put enough money by a few bucks into my checking to cover a auto payment, they go into my savings for that few bucks and don't charge me a GD 35 dollar fee to do it. They truly have my best interests at heart. When I pay on time on my credit card regularly, they actually LOWERED MY INTEREST RATE TO 8% from 10.5%.
Talk with your dollars. Abandon banks. Bank of America is the absolute worst.

[mikehart]

10:20 AM on 05/02/2012

Yep, "Kill them with kindness"

[Drama Llama]

09:54 AM on 05/02/2012

Who knew being nice got people to listen to you.

[DARK STAR]

08:40 AM on 05/02/2012

Always record the call, if they are abusive you got them hands down.

[ILoveGreatDanes]

06:01 AM on 05/02/2012

That makes sense. Catching more flies with honey than vinegar works just as well with debt collectors as anyone else.

[mikiao]

10:37 AM on 05/02/2012

Except you actually catch more with vinegar.

http://site.cleanairgardening.com/info/youll-catch-more-flies-with%E2%80%A6vinegar.html
http://xkcd.com/357/

Don't get me wrong...I understand the message, but hey...science!

[DMDAY44]

12:12 PM on 05/12/2012

My experience is that the worse something smells, the more flies it attracts.

[tccat4]

04:06 AM on 05/02/2012

When they call, and start to get abusive. Just remind them that your recording the call..lol, They will hang up and not call back. But I suggest if you do owe a bill, pay as much as you can, if its only 5 dollars a month so be it. Any Judge will see that you are doing your best and will not make you do something you cant afford.

My sister had this problem with a hospital bill.. the guy went off on her calling her names, she was so upset she handed the phone to me.. I asked if he was done, and he said no, I said good, because you didn't give her a chance to tell you she was taping the call... He hung up after a few more choice words. And never called back.

[Cincity Cin]

03:36 AM on 05/02/2012

What a surprise you'll catch more bees with honey than vinegar. If only I would of known that a while back

[Leond]

03:59 PM on 05/02/2012

Why would you want to catch bees?

[lofttypeofaview]

01:32 PM on 05/14/2012

For honey! It's a lucrative business, that will generate income; to help pay debts.