A Collector's Perspective: Part II

Kathleen started out nervous about her job as a collector at JCC Healthcare Collections.

“I needed a little more time with the trainers. I needed to get comfortable. I was very nervous about being on the floor.”

Collectors are contacting hundreds of consumers a week, countless hours spent on the phone with people who, for the most part, aren’t necessarily looking forward to the conversation. “The toughest part for me was getting consumers to understand that I wasn’t a Big Bad Bill Collector.”

That can be a common refrain – whether it’s a news story about the state of the collection industry, or when it comes up in conversation at a gathering as part of the inevitable “What do you do?” question. Conversations about financial responsibility are tough enough with family; having that conversation with a stranger on the phone is even more charged.

But Kathleen has a different take on collections: “It’s about helping people. When I explain my job that way, no one is surprised that this is what I do. Everyone who knows me knows that’s how I am.”

Read the rest of the post on JC Christensen & Associates’ blog.

For Part I of this series, click here.