Debt collectors are using some new high-tech tactics to collect and track down consumers. New software is allowing debt collectors to insert voicemails into phones by the thousands without a single ring, bypassing regulations that restrict how often they can call consumers.
Ringless Voicemails
Companies such as Stratics Networks maintain that because no phone calls are made, regulations prohibiting auto-dialed collection calls do not apply. But consumer protection attorneys disagree, arguing that just because the phone does not ring, does not mean it’s not a call. The Telephone Consumer Protection Act forbids debt collectors from harassing consumers.
Avatars
Animated cartoon characters show up in borrowers’ inboxes and smooth-talk borrowers into paying up. Collections managers design personalities of avatars, who speak multiple languages and weigh debtors’ credit scores when negotiating payment.
Speech Analytics
Advanced language-recognition programs not only track keywords during a conversation but identify the emotion of the borrower. Cursing out a debt collector? Prompts generated by CallMiner Inc. software help steer conversations back on track.
Supervisors using the speech-analytics company’s system see color-coded boxes on call-center computer monitors. Small green boxes represent routine conversations. During those calls, agents are reminded to recite mandatory “mini-Miranda” statements that inform consumers of their rights. But a box turns red and expands when a call contains expletives or long silences.
Skip Tracing, Spoofing and Scrubbing
In a practice called skip tracing, collection agencies search databases to find borrowers who have skipped out on paying their debts. Some collectors track debtors on Facebook and other social media sites. A Texas agency is linking Social Security numbers to social media accounts, raising privacy concerns. Another tactic known as spoofing, debt collectors insert local area codes in caller-ID displays, enticing the person being called to answer the phone. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is proposing to ban the practice.
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