Doorstep Visits

[angry cat]

A day in the life… The doorstep collector Special report - Issue Date: 1 April 2010 courtesy of Credit Today

 

As increasing numbers of people find themselves in financial difficulty, more debtors than ever before are putting off paying back their debts. Ashley Armstrong spends a day with a doorstep collector as he tries to get the "won’t pays" to cough up

 

"This is a great area," Richard beams when I meet him on a bright winter’s day at Chelmsford rail station. Richard Mayhew, UK field manager at debt collection firm Scotcall, isn’t talking about the good transport links, or the flattering glow the sun casts on the town – he is referring to the swarms of council houses and the high number of poor people, which makes it a great area for collecting debt.

 

"We tend to work on council estates. The poorer the area you work on the better it is and the more money you can collect – plus you get to meet some great people", he says.

 

This part of Chelmsford is largely made up of weaving cul-de-sacs and council houses. We will be stopping at a total of 38 CM postcodes, hoping to rake in debts owed by Chelmsford residents.

 

Rich explains how it all works: "We tend to give a collection agent a postcode area and the collection work is linked to that. They then work out a route and simply knock on the door and ask for the money." Debtors normally receive a letter first, following final demand letters on bills, and are given the options to pay by cheque or giro. If they fail to do so doorstep collectors are the next option.

 

15:15

As we set off on the road Richard explains how the debts end up in his hands: "Some people have got a dispute and refuse to pay what they owe on that basis. But then there are some people who just can’t be bothered to go down the post office."

 

Most of the people we call on over the course of the day are on benefits or a low income. "Many of them pay just £5 once a week or every fortnight. We’re trying to encourage them to pay more – it helps them clear their debts quicker, and it’s better for business."

 

He adds: "Some people expect me to drive round every week to collect a quid – but we’ve got to make a living, and it just doesn’t add up economically." This morning Richard has touched base with his team of collectors and managed his workload from a wide-ranging client base including telecoms companies, catalogue firms and utility groups using the laptop in his car – his "mobile office".

 

15:20

Rather anti-climatically, at the first house we visit there is no one at home. Rich pops a calling card in an envelope through the door and hopes they call. As we stride up to the next house I ask what his worst encounter has been on a doorstep. "I’ve had a cup of tea thrown over me and a dog bite," he says. I prod further, cautiously asking what kind of dog it was. "An alsatian," he replies. Richard nonchalantly opens a gate to a house and marches through, dogs barking close by. I hesitate, prompting him to add casually: "It was just one of my regular customers, nothing serious – just a trip to casualty."

 

15:30

The next place we set out for is a council block. After being buzzed inside we climb a dark and dingy stairwell. The flat door is opened by a woman who greets Richard with all the warm pleasantries you would expect from an old friend. The whole family peek their heads around their door to check who is calling and say hello, while the youngest comes to the door blowing his train whistle and proudly shoving a toy telephone in our faces. Richard makes small talk on serious matters of Thomas the Tank Engine, and we’re off again – £15 in cash collected.

 

The warm interaction between debtor and collector shatters the "thug at the door" reputation the industry is often branded with. However, Richard is a familiar face to many debtors in the area. Due to tightened purse strings many debtors can only afford to pay small amounts of cash, meaning it takes a lot of regular visits from Richard before their debts are cleared.

 

Part of the friendly interaction is also down to Richard’s attitude. While he is quick to make small talk, he sticks to pleasantries. He makes a conscious effort never to pry or comment on the financial situation of the debtors – or customers, as he prefers to call them.

 

He tells me: "I never mention the word debt. I might say that they have an outstanding balance or an outstanding bill. They know they have a problem and they don’t need someone rubbing it in."

 

15:45

An elderly man answers the next door we knock on. After a moment of blankness he calls his wife, who fetches a sandwich bag containing five iron-flat £20 notes. The payment is from the elderly woman’s son who has racked up the debt and has given her the money to clear it with the collector. Richard hands back a card saying the debt balance is now nil and nothing is owed. "Hang on to this and make sure he looks after it for a few years, just in case," he urges the woman.

 

15:55

We encounter the first flicker of hostility at the next house. A man suspiciously eyes up Richard’s Scotcall jacket when we inquire whether his partner is at home. We are met with a curt response that she is cooking and asked what it regards. Due to data protection laws Richard cannot pass on a message about who he is, that he works for a debt collection firm or even a brief summary about the debt. The man reluctantly takes over the cooking and a woman comes to the door. She instantly knows why Richard has paid her a visit. Rich explains that he works for Scotcall, a debt collection firm, and we are calling to collect a £500 outstanding balance on her creditor’s account. After explaining that she can split this into affordable chunks, Richard sets up a direct debit card to take out £5 a week on Fridays, when she receives her money.

 

Very few of the debtors own bank cards, due to poor credit ratings, so the majority of the collections we do today are in cash.

 

16:45

The residents at the next house we call on are eager to divulge information about other debtors. The debtor’s partner reveals that his ex-wife, who also owes money, has moved to an address nearby. However, despite obtaining this information Richard cannot visit the alleged address: "That’s not our line of work, we can’t just act on a say-so from one individual – especially when it’s clear there is a separate agenda involv*ed. You just have to encourage them to pass on my calling card."

 

The woman settles her own debt and tells Richard that next week she will start paying off her partner’s debt. Richard says it’s common to call on houses where every adult owes money. He has even called separately on three generations of the same family. "They see it as completely normal. The children watch their parents buying, owing money and having visits from collectors – it’s what they’ve grown up with. And they follow the pattern," he says.

 

17:15

At the next house a young child answers the door and, despite hearing a woman’s voice in the background, we are told that her mother is not in. Richard is left with little choice but to hand a card over asking her to call – he is used to the excuses. "The sad thing is when kids aged between four and five years old are taught to lie on a repeated basis and say that mummy and daddy aren’t in when you know they are. But I am probably just one of many people calling and being lied to."

 

17:45

While Richard is a world away from the baseball bat and bulldog reputation of a debt collector, the industry is still considered an odd career choice by many. Richard says that in his social life he varies his job title depending on who he’s talking to. "Sometimes I’ll say I’m a manager for a debt collection agency, but when I say I’m a debt collector some people are surprised and don’t believe me. The most common response is ‘you don’t need to come knocking on my doorstep’. But the fact is, the people who say that are the ones I tend to be visiting next."

 

18:30

The next debtor we visit initially pleads that business has been bad and he’s hard up. However, with perfect timing, his young son pipes up: "Daddy’s got loads of money." We wait patiently and slightly awkwardly as the father glares at his son and eventually fetches his wallet. When he does, it is full of notes – and he hands us the relevant cash amount.

 

19:00

Richard says that during the recession the debt collection industry has been "booming" and he’s visiting more middle-class debtors every week.

 

However, he says that because people feel more cash-strapped than ever before he now has to work twice as hard to get customers to hand over money. But he adds: "It’s a definite growth industry. The recession has brought new customers, and new agents. People who wouldn’t normally have considered a job as a debt collector are now seeing it as a career choice."

 

While the recession is keeping him busy, Rich warns against thinking of debt collection as a "get rich quick" job.

 

"It’s extremely difficult to be a self-employed debt collector. It takes a while to get a collection going in one area, a minimum of 12 weeks. It’s a hard job to start. You need to drop lots of cards and make lots of calls. And then when customers start paying you need to replace them with new customers to bring in new cash each week."

 

In the last three years Scotcall has reshuffled its employee structure and turned self-employed managers into part of the company. The company prides itself on its training of new agents who must accompany an experienced collector on a couple of rounds to see how it’s done before they are permitted to work alone.

 

20:00

We make our way round the last of the houses and then head to Chelmsford’s central restaurant, McDonalds, to balance our collections on a spreadsheet. Rich admits: "This probably isn’t the healthiest of lives – sitting, driving round all day and eating fast food." Out of the 38 doors we knocked on today, 18 people have paid up. Many of them were out, and some just couldn’t afford the £5 we were asking for. Richard says one of the central philosophies of doorstep collection is "you can’t get blood out of a stone". But he listens to their excuses for the essential nugget of information – when they will next have money.

 

20:30

After the cash is counted we make our way home in the darkness and I ask what he predicts for the industry. He believes that as more and more people land in financial difficulty, demand for doorstep collection services is going to soar.

 

"It is the person knocking on the door that is the final nail in the coffin for many. They don’t have to answer the phone, they can rip up a letter, but they can’t ignore someone on their doorstep."

 

Yes, they Can!

[hillards]

It's already been posted in this thread - http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/debt-collection-industry/259692-day-life-doorstep-collector.html

[angry cat]

Okay fine!

Wouln't have liked it if anyone missed the little; Gem...

 

AC:)

X

[Guest Cartaphilus]

"We tend to work on council estates. The poorer the area you work on the better it is and the more money you can collect – plus you get to meet some great people", he says.

Sanctimonious. Should I translate that as 'the poorer the area you work on the better it is to bully people who don't know what their rights are and will be rightly more scared of a doorstep visit?'

 

And with one fleeting soundbite there, he's managed to equate being in debt with people who are poor and they all live on council housing estates. Needless to say, but life experience tells me otherwise. Still, there you go.

 

Richard says that during the recession the debt collection industry has been "booming" and he’s visiting more middle-class debtors every week.

Oh, I just bet it has. But maybe more people are getting to know more things and fighting back so ... enjoy it whilst you can.

 

As for 'Chelmsford's central restaurant, McDonalds'. Was it a Happy Meal, then?

 

PS I have no idea how my posts got duplicated above but somehow they were/did.

Edited May 19, 2010 by Cartaphilus
To remove a duplicate post.

[angry cat]

The friendly collection (scotcall) agent....

[Guest Cartaphilus]

I am trying to decide whether or not they've shot themselves in the foot with all the stuff about 'accounts in dispute' and some people pay £5 per week but we 'try to encourage' them to pay more? By which point all attempts at peaceful and reasonable negotiations and letter writing processes between debtor, creditor and then subsequently DCA ie financial statements clearly demonstrating what someone can afford, the disputing of CCAs and whether or not the DCA has any right to collect on the debt, followed by the relentless hounding of people by phone, in good or poor health, has all been exhausted ... Oh, well.

 

and it’s better for business."

 

Pah!

[angry cat]

:

 

"It’s extremely difficult to be a self-employed debt collector. It takes a while to get a collection going in one area, a minimum of 12 weeks. It’s a hard job to start. You need to drop lots of cards and make lots of calls. And then when customers start paying you need to replace them with new customers to bring in new cash each week."

 

In the last three years Scotcall has reshuffled its employee structure and turned self-employed managers into part of the company. The company prides itself on its training of new agents who must accompany an experienced collector on a couple of rounds to see how it’s done before they are permitted to work alone."

 

"An experienced collector"

[Guest Cartaphilus]

It’s a hard job to start.

Oh, how my heart (does not) bleed for them.

The company prides itself on its training of new agents who must accompany an experienced collector on a couple of rounds to see how it’s done before they are permitted to work alone."

Mmm. On the job training, then. But do they get any training in any legislation eg OFT for one or when a debt is clearly in dispute all collection processes (my understanding, as I am a little rusty after being away from it for a while eg having to deal directly with creditors/DCAs after leaving it to someone else) must cease including doorstep ones? Also, a person is utterly free to slam the door in their faces if they ask for payment.

 

As for this:

However, with perfect timing, his young son pipes up: "Daddy’s got loads of money."

 

Almost sounds made up. LOL

Edited May 19, 2010 by Cartaphilus

[angry cat]

Yes, I had to do a double take on who wrote the article!

[lemon_martini2]

There's a lot of assumptions-'despite hearing a woman's voice,we are told that Mummy is not in.' and then goes to add 'it's sad when kids are told to lie like that'. Perhaps Mummy wasn't in...and the woman's voice was Granny or big sister or auntie or babysitter or the woman from next door popped over...