Responsible Debt Collections

The other day, I was reading a collection article about how another collection agency came out with a “Consumers Bill of Rights”. I have to say after reading their Bill of Rights, I wasn’t very impressed. First of all the document was 5 pages and could have been summarized much better.

In short, their consumer bill of rights states what to expect if you deal with that collection agency.:

• If we buy a debt, we will tell you that we own it.
• If we will contact you, we will try and resolve the debt quickly and honestly.
• If we can’t sue you then we will not attempt to collect from you, ei, you’re in bankruptcy.
• If we collect from you and you default on a payment plan, the plan may be invalid and we will l pursue other collection routes.
• We will safeguard all consumer information.
• If we can’t resolve the debt, we will tell you that were going to use litigation.

I’m curious if anyone else notices what they missed in their Consumer Bill of Rights? They completely ignored what the Consumers’ rights are!. Like how the consumer has the right to requested a cease to all communication, or the right to dispute the debt. I have been working as Collection Specialist at American Profit Recovery for over four years and can count on one hand how days I have gone without getting a Consumer request for validation or dispute. Consumers have this right when it comes to dealing with debt collectors, that the debt we claim is owed be validated. Telling a Consumer what their actual rights are empowers the Consumer to resolve their debts quickly and diplomatically.

Shortly, after I read the article I realized that APRs’ internally policies are designed to honor Consumer rights better than this agency’s so called ‘Consumer Bill of Rights’. I want to let our clients and their customers know that we agree, Consumers have rights and these rights will be honored.  Here at APR, we take Consumer rights seriously. From the first day I started I was trained as to what Consumer Rights are. Only after I could fully understand and appreciate what  Consumer Rights were did I take The ACA Collector’s Pledge. This pledge, I honor every day I come to work at APR. I believed APR owes it to both our clients and our Consumers to write a document expressing both what a Consumer should expect when they deal with APR as well as what rights have.