Collection services

Collection Agencies Perform Essential Role

Why do so many otherwise sane individuals hate the collection service industry so much? It’s easy to see why those on the receiving end of its work are among its less enthusiastic fans, but for the wider population the industry is performing an absolutely indispensable service.

Some people will always be better at spending money than making it. If they were allowed to fund their spending at other people’s expense indefinitely, and with no sanctions, then the impact on society would be disastrous. Certainly, any capitalist economy would soon grind to a halt if there were no brake on their profligacy.

If collection agencies are performing functions that are essential to the smooth running of a fair and free society, why do they get such a bad press?

Collection Service Industry Bad Apples

Part of the answer has to be the very few bad apple collection agencies. These don’t turn the rest of the barrel, but they certainly tarnish the industry’s image.

Collection Agencies’ Clients Not Blameless

But often those in collection agencies get bad publicity through no fault of their own. Too often, it’s the client rather than the agency that either has made a genuine mistake, or is pulling a fast one.

Cowboys and…

For example, AOL made a bad decision when it set its collection service on Jason Zweig. The man writes a column in the Wall Street Journal.

Mr. Zweig says that the agency had been told by AOL that he owed $103.60 for a service to which he had been automatically upgraded without his consent. Given recent unwelcome coverage, it seems unlikely that AOL will wish to pursue this.

One further point arises from this story. In his WSJ piece, Mr. Zweig says: “About a month ago, we started getting bizarre phone calls from a collections agency in India.”

In India? Didn’t AOL originally stand for America OnLine? If so, couldn’t its finance people find an American collection service?

The fact is that collecting debts is like collecting taxes. Nobody wants to pay them. Those who collect them are unpopular. And yet the nation couldn’t last past next weekend without them.

Those who work in the collection service industry shouldn’t be blamed for rogue criminals or careless clients. But they are. It’s part of the job.