Under my skin

I got three of the strangest phone calls in the space of a few hours last week. One was an outlier I'll use for a different post, but the other two are a good combination of the extremes of dealing with people on the phone.

The first was a guy who seemed to own his own business but had a strange rash of commentary when called at work. "Borrower lives in Fiji and is not in very often" is one that comes to mind. So I called at work.

"Hey, is Mr. Jones in?"
"No, this is the warehouse. He's on the Executive Board."
Sure. "Alright, is there a better number I could reach him at? A front desk number?"
"Where are you calling from?"
A killer question. Per company policy, directly asked, have to answer. So I answer.
"Hmm...don't know anything about them. But you know what I think?"
"What?"
He laughs a bit. "Shouldn't you be dialling for dollars?"
I have no response to this. I wait.
"I'll tell you what. I think you should go get the Sunday paper, check out the want ads, shine your shoes, pull out your suit. Polish up the 12 year old Honda Accord Mommy got you for graduation. And go find yourself a real job."
And I answer with the wittiest, sharpest comeback imaginable. "Well, you have a wonderful evening, sir." And I hang up.

I've had various people inform me I'm going to Hell, that I'm harassing them, that they are going to report me to the Proper Authorities where I Will Be Dealt With Severely. I've been called an asshole, a bloodsucker, a fucking bastard, a disgrace to humanity, and had someone run a circular saw near the phone and tell me I'd face that if I call again. I laughed at all of them.

This guy bothered me. I had to go take a walk.

The walk made me calm down so I could take the second call, but still hadn't figured out what bothered me about the call until recently.

In my mind I do have the sense that this isn't a real job, since it is a diversion from the path I'd intended to take. There is a part of me that is terrified that it is a permanent diversion, which is silly, but is a fear nonetheless. (If nothing else, with no improvement in performance I'll be fired by the end of February - thus ending that stage of the diversion.)

There is always a sense of desperation in the field - this is not the ideal of where anyone ever expected to be. There are a very select few who do feel this area as a natural fit - I can say I've honestly met one, and I don't work with him. Even in training, the emphasis wasn't on job satisfaction, but on the large bonus checks that can pay for the stuff you want. And for some that works, though it turns bitter when the promised riches don't come.

So what am I doing? At the moment, working a job where I can exist conveniently, and enjoy mornings and early afternoons with my son. Where I have health insurance, which was needed desperately when Sam got pneumonia back in October, the first month I'd had insurance since February.

Yes, I should be doing something else. And I will be doing something else. But for the moment, I will be doing this. And eventually, I will call him again.

Garnishment - no, not parsley

Garnishment is the only area of collections I have any qualms about at this point. I have two specific qualms about it - one the nature of the act, the second being reactions from other collectors and my own.

When I once told someone they were facing a wage garnishment for non-payment of their student loans, they told me quite dramatically, "YOU can't garnish me! YOU must first get a judgement! And I have not been served with one! So THERE!" *CLICK*

This statement is true for almost all debts - a judgement in a court of law must be issued in order for a garnishment to take place. There are three exceptions to this rule, and in pecking order of importance: Back Child Support, IRS taxes owed, and....

Yep - student loans. Legislation signed by Bill Clinton in 1993. Not dismissed by bankruptcy, and collection abilities on par with (but behind in pecking order to) IRS taxes owed.

The guidelines for garnishment vary depending on who the loan originated from, and I think my particular line has the most stringent requirements in the office. First, we need to verify by SSN that a person has worked at the place of employment for over a year. Then, verify they make more than full-time equivalent minimum wage per week. Then make sure they are not in a legally protected class of workers from a set list. And that is part one.

Part two is a follow-up phone call to find out where the order of wage garnishment should be sent. Then some paperwork is filed, and the garnishment usually comes out of the next paycheck the borrower receives.

How do we find out where someone works? All depends. We get credit reports, and often they are found there. Sometimes through internet postings of positions on publicly accessible sites. (Run a quick Google search - I'll bet you can find out where you work real fast.) And if you work for a large company, chances are they do verifications through a service that we subscribe to, and when those reports are run once a week, we get a gift from the garnishment Gods with the verification of employment and garnishment address in a neat little package.

Garnishment is not a small amount of money, either. Assuming a borrower isn't already being garnished for back taxes or child support (we're third in line), the garnishment is 15% of gross salary.

This is the first issue I have with garnishments. It requires very little effort, and we have a certain number we are supposed to put through every month as a collection group. My bonus check does not directly depend on a number of garnishments, but there are colleagues of mine whose bonus checks do.

So here is an example of the problem - I got a "gift" of a subscription hit for a borrower who is verified to be employed by a large business concern that is well-known to be solely located in the State of Washington. All the contact information I have for the borrower is most decidedly NOT in the State of Washington, and all reasonable attempts to locate them in Washington have failed, as well as any attempt to locate them directly at the place of employment. So, with no contact to the borrower whatsoever - there goes 15% of salary.

Should they contact us after the garnishment is attached, it cannot be removed - only reduced if they make voluntary payments on top of the garnishment, and they make the same number of payments as if they had their loan "rehabilitated" as noted in previous posts. Though when the loan finishes the rehabilitation and is funded through a new agency, the garnishment is then lifted.

The second problem I have is with the attitude toward garnishments. Not everyone has the same queasiness about the nature of garnishments that I do (especially those whose bonus checks are tied to a number per month). When someone has verified a borrower's employment only to find out that they do not meet garnishment requirements, there is a gnashing of teeth and a grumbling that a borrower is not "garnishable". It strikes me almost as a dehumanization - making that person really just a screen of information.

When I did mention my queasiness to the former senior collector on our team, he gave me two suggestions of other ways to look at it: the first being the personal responsibility of the borrower to keep track of their affairs, and the second being that the set-up garnishment is a leverage tool for getting a borrower into a payment plan - you will be garnished beginning on this date unless we get you into an arrangement now. I see that value, and have tried to adopt that view.

The problem is a borrower who has the Angry reaction and is garnishable. There can be almost a vindictiveness on the part of collectors with borrowers who have that combination. The phrase of "well, he wants to yell at me, let's see how he likes that 15% garnishment" has been heard on our team more than once (and out loud from some other teams much more frequently). And, though I hate to admit it, has flown from my own mouth at least once that I remember.

And anyone who says it will fully point out that the individual had more than sufficient opportunity to defer, or work with us, or be reasonable when they called. And I'm aware of that. We all have many opportunities to alter our reality to stay in reasonable positions. But I am far too aware of the circumstances that lead people into situations they never intended. And there, but for the Grace of God, go I.

Call reactions

One of the things that has amazed me is the range of reactions that I get when I actually get someone one the phone. They have to know something is up, since we have to verify by either date of birth or social security number to make sure we are speaking to the right person. (I tend to use date of birth - for some reason people get really freaked out when you tell them what the last four digits of their SSN are. Can't imagine why.)

So after they say yes to the date of birth question, the bomb is dropped regarding what the call is. And provided they don't just immediately hang up (the Extreme Panic reaction) there are some stock reactions.

Anger - How dare I! How dare I insist on this! I have the audacity and the nerve to...etc. I don't get this reaction often, as I usually give the benefit of the doubt with the question "Did you realize your loans were in default?" said in a tone implying I'm aware this may be complete news to them. Get as much info as you can, and pass off to supervisor if can't get further.

Excuses - Yes, the economy sucks, and catastrophe X has befallen you. Or multiple catastrophe x, y, z, and q. You still owe the debt, and we have many programs that can help you. Keep them talking, show them you want to help. Will generally end up in something.

No time - A variation on the excuse. Can't deal with this right now, caught me at a bad time. Hard to pin these people down - now that they know what you want, they don't have a whole lot of impulse to really want to speak with you further. Unless you have something definitive to hold over their head (tax withholding, wage garnishment) they are going to dodge and dodge until they vanish off into the sunset.

Panic - As long as it doesn't escalate to Extreme Panic, this is the best reaction possible. Often happens when calling at work. It's the "holy shit, you found me" sometimes said in exactly that fashion. These people are terrified, and if you can push quickly enough, will agree to pay you out of fear for what might happen because You Found Them. Often involves a lot of calming (at least in my handling), and a reassurance that while I am reasonable, I might also be the last reasonable person they will deal with.

I got a variation combination of the Extreme Panic/No Time today that just baffled me. I called, she said she didn't have time to speak with me right then, and then we set a time to call later on that evening. At the appointed time, I hear whispered "Tell him he has the wrong number" and a male voice informing me that I clearly have the wrong number. Nope, never heard of her. No one else home, no sir. Thank you very much. Because I'm just going to go away after that, right?

So what to do with that? Well, I have a verified phone number (at least on my end it is). From there, see if I can track an address, verify a town, and possibly maybe even track down a place of employment from one piece of information. Then call her at the office. It's a little puzzle, a mystery to work out.

And a note to those who control the music at work - turn off the Christmas music. I do NOT need to hear Bob Seeger crooning about poor Little Drummer Boys while I am explaining to someone what a Federal Tax Offset is (seizure of tax return). My head will eventually explode, and someone will have to clean that up.

The bonus and how to swing it

Alright - the changes I feared weren't so bad. We have a new senior collector who seems pretty cool, our old senior collector just moved over one row, and those of us who are front-end collectors on the team were just informed that we had to hit bonus this month, no questions asked. Had to happen. That's it.

In order to hit bonus, you have to make enough money for the company that in their eyes, you are making a profit for them. I came very close to hitting that margin this month, but fell just short. So a quick pep talk for the upcoming month, and all is well.

There's several factors that go into hitting that profit margin. Most they are "rehabilitating" loans, and preferably at the highest rate listed. Then there is making sure people keep paying on their loans after they've been signed up. You can also earn toward that profit through "hardship" programs, but those don't offer nearly as good a return as a rehabilitation. And there is also the one area of collecting that I still have qualms about - garnishments. (THAT will be a separate post all on its own.)

So at this point, it is hunt, hunt, hunt and get people on the phone to pay. Christmas is always a rough time, since no one has any money, as they are trying to buy all their Christmas gifts. We'll see how all that works out this month.

So close...

and yet not close enough. No bonus check for Nick this month. Boo hoo.

Manager was strangely zen and serene and calm, which frankly put has me worried. Apparently there are major personnel changes coming down the line - one senior collector is out on leave since his wife just had a baby, and the other is transferring to a different line of business at his request. We're getting one new senior collector, and apparently a whole bunch of west-coast people are being shuffled around to different lines of business back and forth. We'll see how that works out.

I doubt I'm being moved, just from some comments my manager has made about how to structure the team, but we'll see.

More tomorrow on changes, and possibly an explanation of bonus structure that I just barely missed. Debt collection is a very strange world, yet a major factor of our lives today. Right now I need sleep desperately, as I will be back in my office chair in 8 1/2 hours.

End of Month Madness

Today is the last day of the month, which means everyone at work will be going mildly insane. Mildly insane being an average, as some will be calm, some slightly insane, and my manager in particular will probably be climbing the walls.

Collections works very similarly to commission sales. There is a base salary, and then there are monthly goals in order to get a bonus check. The monthly goals vary between lines of business in the office, taking into account what kind of loans you are collecting on, part of the country, and average time in default of the loans on your line of business.

In my line of business, the idea is to get someone to make payments to us on the loan for nine months, at which point the loan is then taken over by another student loan company. After nine months of establishing a new payment history, the loan is considered "rehabilitated", and will be considered by new agencies. There are different levels of payments, and the best one for reaching goal being a payment that is slightly higher than what the person would pay to pay off the loan over ten years.

To make the pyramid even more interesting, senior collectors and managers get a bonus check based off how many of the team members hit goal. So, for example, the team in the row next to ours hit goal right before Thanksgiving, so their manager is all mellow and smiles. Our team...not so much.

There was also a structural change - our manager used to manage two small lines of business, and is now just managing us. The other line of business hit goal regularly, which got her a bonus check. Our team hasn't hit goal for a while now, which is making her a bit, well, cranky. Understandably.

Personally, I am very close to hitting goal for the first time since I started this job. This is making my manager very excited, but also adds to the pressure that I can only imagine is going to be put on my shoulders when I walk in the door today, as I am one of two people on our team who has any hope of hitting goal right now.

So, on the one hand, I'm excited to be going in to work today to see if I'll get a bonus check with impeccable timing (bonus checks are usually issued on the 15th). On the other hand, it's going to be walking into a pressure cooker, with the pressure being directly applied to me for the first time. Very different from anything else I've ever done, which is why I took the job in the first place - a change.

"When forced to choose between two evils - pick the one you've never tried before."

We'll see how that works out. And no, I won't be calling the guy who doesn't answer his phone today. Last thing I need today is to be told I'm pathetic by a ringtone.

This is an attempt to collect a thought, and any information obtained will be used for that purpose.

American men have a tendency to identify themselves by their profession. It's how introductions are made: "I'm Bob - I'm a lawyer/teacher/doctor/insurance salesman/Mafia hitman." (Okay, maybe not so much the last one.)

I've held a wide range of professions - one of those people who keeps pushing up the average number of careers you will hold. For careers, I've been a theatre technican and then was a school librarian, and had started on potentially career #3 by entering law school. For "jobs", I have also been an archivist, music store salesman, desk jockey, Muzak installer, convenience store clerk, food service worker, Diet Dr. Pepper promotion person (you want to try this, really!), and Tony the Tiger impersonator. And I've been able to announce most of them with pride. (Tell someone you dress up as Tony the Tiger for a living, and just watch the smile. It's fun!)

However, at the moment I am none of those. For reasons that require way too much explanation (and occasional bouts of TMI), I have taken a year's leave from law school and I am currently working as a Student Loan Recovery Specialist for a local company.

Yes, that does mean what you think it does. I am a bill collector, calling people all through the day, telling them to pay their student loans. My line of work is for a west coast loan agency, which I specifically requested due to knowing fewer people on the west coast. (Our company also handles collections for the Finance Authority of Maine, which I politely told them was a business line I didn't want to work. Ever.)

It has been an interesting experience so far - I've received fairly extensive training on many aspects of financial law relating to third party collections, which I'm hoping will have some application when I'm back at school. I've learned how to find people using common sense and advanced skiptracing tools. I've learned how to argue with people and generally win, not scream at people who are blatantly lying in the face of all reason, and that someone changing their ringback tone specifically for you is a sign that you're actually doing your job.

I'll have much more to say about collections in later posts, but I'll just tell you about the ringtone. Called the individual, and he didn't answer the phone, as he hadn't the many other times I've called. The new ringback tone was: "I'm not away from my phone. I'm just not answering your call. And yet you keep calling. Which makes you sad and pathetic." As it is a short ringtone, I heard it twice before it went to voicemail. It then went to his name and request to leave a message. Which I did. And will again.

It's a funny story I would love to share. But the stigma attached to my current job has made me reluctant to tell people what I do currently. I've already got one friend who is not speaking to me over it, which has made me a bit gun-shy about sharing with others.

But if Life hands you lemons, you must make lemonade. Or, as the sage Jim Rodda put it once, "When Life hands you lemons, throw them at Life's head. Then steal Life's pocket change while it's unconscious."

So, it's fodder for restarting the blog. I'll post about what I've learned, interesting things, with other personal stories interspersed as well. To follow the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act, any and all personal information will be removed to not identify the person I'm speaking about. (I do plan on passing the New York Bar ethics exam, and it might be hard to explain away a charge of, well, breaking Federal Privacy laws. Always dicey, even at work.)

So, off to bed, and to finish off the month tomorrow. More on the importance of that later.