Re: Just a Bill Collector **warning long**

Posted by Mike on February 01, 2002 at 02:36:53:

In Reply to: Just a Bill Collector **warning long** posted by Just a Bill Collector on January 31, 2002 at 17:48:15:

I appreciate your thoughts, opinions, and responses based on your job-related experiences. I believe this Board would be well served by someone with your knowledge, and perhaps some of us could gain some insight into things "on the other side of the fence". Certainly, I think everyone who has taken part in this Board has had some experience with a creditor or collector that wasn't nice. Sadly, people tend to think all who work in those professions are from the same mold.

And yes, I agree with you, that people need to exercise control when using credit. Sometimes, we consumers get carried away with our spending when creditors make credit easily available and advertise it so colorfully to get our attention.
But I believe that the responsibility you mention is a two-way street. Yes, consumers need to be responsible for their actions in credit usage but creditors should be responsible in their granting of credit and in the cost to the consumer. I think you will have to agree that there are plenty of creditors who will give anyone a credit card, whether they are credit-worthy or not. Then, those customers who are responsible and pay their bills are penalized with higher interest rates to cover the creditors losses from those who can't pay. Those creditors are irresponsible and create extra work for the bill collectors, as well as punish their good customers.

Along with responsibility, I believe consumers have a right to expect and even demand that creditors be reasonable. Yes I realize that creditors have to make money and I don't have a problem with that. What I do have a problem with is when creditors "gouge" their customers with unreasonable and ridiculous interest rates and credit terms. For instance, when a creditor sets a payment amount that doesn't even cover the interest charge, he's asking for trouble -- and he knows it !
And with the Fed lowering the Discount Rate to the lowest it's been in over 40 years, why are consumers still being raped by creditors at interest rates above 20 per cent ? That's unreasonable, and just causes more work for those of you in the collections business as consumers get tired of their money being "gobbled-up" in unfair interest while the balance they owe is barely reduced with each payment. Then they seek relief through not paying what they owe.

As a collector, I'm sure you're aware that the number of customers not paying their bills is probably at an all-time high, and that's not good. But what are the creditors doing from their side of the business to help curb the problem ? Are they limiting the credit lines given to customers, are they limiting the number of new accounts, are they reducing the interest rates charged to consumers so that more of the payment goes to reduce the debt owed ? The answer to these questions is probably no, and because of this, you and others in your business are going to have job security for a long while. I don't care to have the government meddling in any more of our affairs than it has to, but I'm afraid the creditors in our land with their predatory lending practices are going to have some of their business checked by new regulations that consumers and consumer groups are going to clamor for.
And of course there will always be those who will look for ways to "scam" the creditors out of what is rightfully owed to them. And that is another reason there has to be folks like you in the collections business. That is the side of the business that most of us probably don't think about. We don't see the dirty side of your business where less-than-trustworthy people are always scheming to beat others out of money. And maybe that's why we don't always understand the bill collectors' tactics when they come a-calling.

Anyway, thanks for listening and hang in there !

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