Getting to Know Eric Burgos of Automated Collection Services

If there is another director of compliance who works at a collection agency who also wanted to be a DJ and is a “rabid amateur urbanist,” then we all need to play the lottery tonight. It’s hard to believe that someone else out there has the same eclectic tastes as Eric Burgos, and that just goes to prove how cool it is to read the origin stories of people who work in the credit and collection industry. Read on to learn more about Eric and how he doesn’t feel any guilt about his guilty pleasure.

Name: Eric Burgos

Company: Automated Collection Services, Inc.

Length of time at current company: 11 years.

Length of time in industry: 14 years.

How did you get your start in the industry?
As a bilingual collector back in 2005. Life was grim in those days, so I’m forever grateful the company took a gamble on me.

What is your career highlight so far?
Becoming Director of Compliance.

When or how are you most productive?
With a cappuccino by my side!

Which industry professional do you admire most?
Rick Blair, the President and COO of our company.

What is one thing you do better than everyone else?
I like to think I’m a better listener than most. That skill has really helped along the way not only with learning the job, but with leading my crews the right way over the years.

What do you like most about this industry?
This industry has allowed me to make a good living, check a couple “life goal” boxes and help people I care about along the way. Another favorite thing: it’s nowhere near over for me! 

What is one thing you wish you could change about this industry?
The misconceptions that exists about our industry.

If you weren’t in this industry, what would you be doing?
If this question were posed to 7-year-old me, I would have said I’d be a weatherman – no one seems to believe me when I tell them that was the answer to “what would you like to be when you grow up” for quite some time. I like to think that if I weren’t in the receivables industry, that DJ’ing career I was really shooting towards would have taken off!

Describe a typical work day.
Arrive, get briefed by my staff, put out fires, crunch data, put out new fires, and develop new leaders.

What is your guilty pleasure?
It’s not even a guilty pleasure, because I’m not at all shy about it: ’90s pop and R&B music.

What is the best advice you’ve ever received?
So long as you can use it as a learning experience, don’t be ashamed to know that you don’t know.

What are you currently reading?
“The World as It Is: A Memoir of the Obama White House” by Ben Rhodes.

What is one fact you’d like everyone in the industry to know about you?
I’m a rabid amateur urbanist. Living in Nashville, Tenn., has given me a chance to have a front row seat to watch how a city grows during a prolonged boom period. I’m pretty up-to-date on the history of the city, too (I’m also a big time history nerd), so seeing well-informed decisions made now versus the choices of the past.

Who else would you like to see answer these questions?
Susan Namm with Navient.