ACA International has published the results of a survey it conducted of its members regarding the troubling issues that collection agencies are having with call blocking and labeling, showing just how much harder it is to get in touch with individuals on the phone today.
According to the survey, 62% of collection agencies have seen a decline in their right-party contact rates in the past year, while only 8% have seen an uptick in RPCs. More than 75% of respondents indicated that their calls to individuals to try and collect on unpaid debts are being blocked, while only 8% of respondents said their calls were not being blocked. Nearly 75% of respondents indicated that their calls are being labeled as “scam” or “fraud” or with some other improper label.
One respondent reported a 40% drop in right-party contact rates in prior years which has led to a corresponding drop in collection rates.
“The impact is the life or death of the company,” said one respondent.
From the survey: The misclassification of legitimate business calls as a scam and the blocking of such calls is a serious issue that threatens the fundamental ability of debt collectors to communicate with consumers to share important account information. This has prompted complaints about legitimate call attempts against the industry and causes reputational harm when calls are labeled with confusing and potentially slanderous labels.
The Federal Communications Commission is still seeking comments on a proposed rule related to call blocking.
AccountsRecovery.net recently held a webinar, which was sponsored by VoApps, that convened a panel of ARM industry executives to talk about how best to deal with call blocking and labeling technology being used by carriers and individuals.
