As a 30-year certified Instructor with ACA International, I have typically been surrounded by industry professionals that embrace education. Good companies know that an effectively trained staff member is a productive, compliant and happy one. A robust education program is directly tied to improved employee retention. An entry-level collector today may be your team lead, compliance officer or company trainer of tomorrow. There is yet another clear reason to promote education in your firm; the development of positive mindsets that promote positive press.

The only way to orchestrate and maintain positive press is by walking the walk and talking the talk. A veil of smoke and mirrors with testaments of “how professional we are” in the collateral material you provide for marketing and in RFP’s does not create an impenetrable curtain of protection. Some of the bad apples of the industry have professed their superior training, compliant approaches and culture of consumer centric values. The truth lies in the reality of the daily culture of your organization.

Prevention

The first step in maintaining positive press is to stay away from getting negative press. Our front-line team members touch many thousands of consumers daily, weekly, monthly, annually. One of our highest risk areas of harming corporate reputation lies in the interactions held regularly by our collection professionals. And, professional is the key. Often, when a firm ends up in the news, it is a result of the communications held between phone representatives and consumers. The tone of calls, language used, non-verbal communication dynamics and lack of empathy can create a scenario that aggravates call recipients and leads to unwelcome commentaries and complaints about your firm.

With the direction of the industry’s compliance landscape and the new FDCPA rules addressing technology utilization, much emphasis will be placed on improving the communication dynamic. How will we communicate via text? Will we encounter more traction in the collection process by incorporating email messages? What will the collector talk off of 2025 sound like compared to that of 1990?

In the words of Yehuda Berg, “Words are singularly the most powerful force available to humanity. We can choose to use this force constructively with words of encouragement, or destructively using words of despair. Words have energy and power with the ability to help, to heal, to hinder, to hurt, to harm, to humiliate and to humble.”

The Perception of Collectors

Part of the challenge the ARM industry has experienced is the public perception of debt collectors. At one time collection cultures embraced approaches that were more like a club than carrot. Focus was on the ramifications of continued non-payment instead of today’s popular “let us help you find your way” type of consultative approach to human interactions. Consumers are increasingly averse to marketing firms using technologies to ring their cell phone as they robocall long lists of prospects. Incessant, repeated calls daily. Calls that dilute our attempts to realize success in having the consumer pick up the phone so we can engage in our collection magic.

As an industry, many firms are very involved in their communities and support various charities on a regular basis. News of this charitable involvement should become part of the corporate messaging. The ACA International’s Education Foundation offers the Loomer Mortenson Scholarship program annually and awards $50,000 in scholarships to individuals that work in the ARM industry as well as their children. You can support these efforts, for example, by taking part in the Collector’s Challenge in April of each year. If you do good things that help your community and industry on any level, that is the kind of positive press we need to promote. Keep your team inside on a professional platform and let the outside news outlets know about your outreach that helps everyone!

We continually welcome thoughts and best practices from our readers. Feel free to send us your feedback for possible inclusion in a future column. Until next time, I’m at my ACA Office waiting to hear from you!

Harry A. Strausser III is the Director of Education and Membership Development at ACA International and can be reached at Harry can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Many years ago, traditional companies used to maintain what they called complaint departments in their organizations. Can you imagine working in the complaint department of a company? Consider what you had to look forward to each day. Not a very positive outlook on your workweek! As business evolved, we adopted more palatable titles for these functions and became customer service representatives. It sounded much nicer, even though the function was quite similar.

No one likes complaints, and historically we viewed these communications along with the complaining party quite negatively. I’m sure you would find very few operators in the accounts receivable management industry getting a warm fuzzy feeling when consumers lodge displeasure with their organization, especially when those complaints are made to the likes of the CFPB. There are, however, other perspectives that claim we should be elated to receive expressions of concern from consumers as this allows us to mitigate the issues and effect positive change within the office thus circumventing more serious filings.

Firms lament the increasing costs of maintaining a compliant organization while adhering to the many layers of regulatory mandates. It may be costly but as Paul McNulty, former U.S. Deputy Attorney General once remarked, “If you think compliance is expensive, try non-compliance.”

Complaint Reception

Collectors receive complaints directly from consumers, via the Better Business Bureau, state regulatory offices, consumer attorneys, e-oscar and, of course, the CFPB. We need to make the function of complaining easy, welcoming and seamless for consumers so that we can get the information quickly and respond expediently. Many firms have created “complaint portals” on their company websites and consistently urge consumers to simply, and in detail, express their concerns. A complaint received in house is one less possible more serious mark against your firm with the CFPB.

From a training perspective, complaints serve as a rich source of material for formulating new programs for staff. Although we train on a host of important topics to give staff members a well-rounded educational experience, compliance is the foundation of most training initiatives. Although we can anecdotally compile training from industry reports of suits and aggregators of suit/complaint data like WebRecon on a generalized basis, the real foundation of positive change affected by in house training is generated by possible deficiencies in your office setting.

Using Complaints As Tools

As diligently as organizations strive for perfection, there are continual changes in compliance standards and perspectives that make the training function critical in sustaining a successful and profitable enterprise. Firms must be ready to change at a moment’s notice to be compliant. Preparation is key in every element in a contemporary office. It was Abraham Lincoln that said, “If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend six sharpening my axe.” Insightful training is the best sharpening stone for cutting edge practices and compliant cultures.

In the course of sharpening your corporate axes, it is an enlightening learning experience to access the CFPB’s complaint portal and do a cursory review of the actual complaints being filed against industry organizations. Learning what issues are of concern to consumers can additionally provide insight into organizational adjustments that may keep your firm off the complaint roles. It has often been lamented that many of the complaints filed are not actual violations of any rules and regulations, but dissatisfaction of some sort by the consumer. Whatever the nature of the complaints, there is much to learn that can assist our organizations create a safer, more compliant environment.

We continually welcome thoughts and best practices from our readers. Feel free to send us your feedback for possible inclusion in a future column. Until next time, I’m at my ACA Office waiting to hear from you!

Harry A. Strausser III is the Director of Education and Membership Development at ACA International and can be reached at Harry can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Since the inception of the accounts receivable management industry there has been a key player in every successful organization that has been a central element to growth and employee satisfaction. This guy is well known and although he is getting up there in years, his very presence has propelled struggling operations to higher levels of profitability. He has instilled a sense of fulfillment with those who work in this difficult industry. Let me introduce you to Moe Tivayshun.

Attracting a Quality Workforce

There is no doubt that any job within the collections industry today is stressful, laden with a multitude of rules and regulations. It requires a level of acumen previously not required in the earlier days of the industry. Although the skill set of today’s collection professional has to be much more fully developed, technology and compliance speaking, there is still a foundational rule that exists with human beings and the jobs they perform. We want to be happy at work. We want to feel appreciated.

Experience or No Experience

There are differing opinions relative to the value of hiring a collector with years of experience or hiring a candidate that has never ventured into this culture. Popular is the mindset that we should hire smart people and then coordinate training that gives them the tools that they need to succeed and the knowledge to feel comfortable in their new position. We can offer the most outstanding education in the industry, but the real dynamic that separates the winning organizations from failures surrounds the nurturing of the heart over the nurturing of the mind.

Improved Performance

People that love their job will go to extraordinary lengths to perform well, exceed expectations and produce results that are second to none. Today, organizations care more about treating the consumer professionally, compassionately and empathically than turning the numbers required for effective liquidations on portfolios. Don’t misunderstand, the financial metrics are still very critical, but often secondary to the culture we create that transfers to the effective communications that take place in our offices daily.

People of all backgrounds that gravitate to our industry bring with them a set of life experiences, hardships, struggles and successes. It was Stephen Covey that said, “I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions.” The decisions made by our staff members on every call are often not the result of what they know, but of how they feel. Motivated teams package their message differently and communicate in a manner that recognizes the worth of the consumer as they attempt to understand what that person is experiencing while navigating the pathway to payment. Richard Eyre professed, “Change begins with understanding and understanding begins by identifying oneself with another person; in a word, empathy. (True success in collections)…enables us to put ourselves in the minds, eyes, ears and hearts of other human beings.”

Moe Tivahshun has worked in every company in America in one form or another. He is sometimes forgotten and cast aside when we forget about his importance to our operation. He is sometimes resurrected briefly when good fortune shows its face. Firms that reject him, fire him, cast him away, find that no other staff member loss has ever been so devastating to the very foundation of human resource success. Companies that recognize his worth, position him properly, let his ideals flow regularly, are the companies that will survive the evolution of this industry. Welcome him in. Give him a job and never let him retire!

We continually welcome thoughts and best practices from our readers. Feel free to send us your feedback for possible inclusion in a future column. Until next time, I’m at my ACA Office waiting to hear from you!

Harry A. Strausser III is the Director of Education and Membership Development at ACA International and can be reached at Harry can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Many moons ago, after witnessing what the Resolution Trust Corporation did with the debt left behind by the Finance Industry collapse in the 1980s, a group of collection entrepreneurs approached the banking industry with the unprecedented concept of selling their charge off accounts to creative investors. It appeared that there might be an opportunity for investors to make a healthy return by negotiating repayment plans with consumers who had been charged off due to default. Insane, some proclaimed. The rest is history.

Although the debt purchase industry has suffered setbacks over the past 10 years, the market is on a resurgence and opportunities abound, but not for everyone. Regulators have looked cynically at the practice of buying and selling debt and although billions of dollars of portfolios have passed through sales over the decades, the mandate today is for a more controlled and compliant culture. Rogue buyers and sellers are no longer tolerated and the mantra is compliance, compliance, compliance.

It is quite appropriate that this edition of Collection Advisor focuses on both debt purchase and compliance. The only way the uptick in the debt purchase market will continue into the future is to have a strong dedication to managing compliance processes, data security and ethical standards. Education will be more important than ever for businesses engaged in this industry sector. We need to train, train, train.

The new culture throughout the entire collection industry mandates that servicers maintain impeccable standards and those standards have to be tested and validated. The educational programs, certifications, designations and learning opportunities available in 2019 provide a wealth of guidance to keep every collection organization operating within regulatory and legal boundaries. However, simply attending a seminar, preparing impressive proposals and touting your organization’s years of experience won’t cut it moving forward.

RMA Certifications

The Receivables Management Association (rmassociation.org) launched their Certification program in 2013 which offers professional designations to companies and individuals operating and employed in the receivables management industry, specifically debt purchase and servicing. Their goal is to provide enhanced consumer protections by implementing uniform industry standards of best practice. At a recent conference I served on a panel with debt purchase industry veterans and it was noted that few deals are orchestrated today without the respective players maintaining these critical credentials.

ACA International Certifications

ACA International (www.acainternational.org) likewise offers a host of credentialing programs that allow firms to demonstrate their compliant focus by encouraging key staff members to further their education. Some of the professional designations include:

• Credit and Collection Compliance Officer (CCCO)
• Credit and Collection Compliance Attorney (CCCA)
• Credit and Collection Compliance Professional (CCCP)
• Professional Collection Specialist (PCS)
• Collection Industry Professional (CIP)

Most of these industry titles include the need to renew the credentials periodically, thus ensuring that designees have the most up-to-date and critical information to make compliance decisions central to their collections processes.

Debt will be dynamic in the US culture for generations to come. The value of that debt and willingness of investors to play in this market may ebb and flow. Knowledge of compliance and the need for participants in the market to create, track, educate and demonstrate their knowledge of the rules of the game will continue to grow in importance. The game has changed, the rules are tougher and the only organizations that will be in business in 10 years will be those that embrace a consumer centric world with no patience for those who don’t play that game fairly.

We continually welcome thoughts and best practices from our readers. Feel free to send us your feedback for possible inclusion in a future column. Until next time, I’m at my ACA Office waiting to hear from you!

Harry A. Strausser III is the Director of Education and Membership Development at ACA International and can be reached at Harry can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..