If your customers are consumers, this episode is going to be of special interest. We’re going to pull back the curtain and have a frank discussion with debt collection specialists about how they try to resolve people’s debt problems.
Most consumer debts aren’t big – a reminder or call from a third-party collection agency like MetCredit is enough of a wake-up call to get paid. For a minority of people, debt is a big problem. And by big problem, I mean a house-sized problem.
“House poor” is more than just a label – when it happens, it’s a real crisis. This may sound like a nightmare, but it’s a reality for more people than you’d think: You own a house, you have a mortgage, but you spend more than you make every month, credit cards are maxed, banks won’t lend you money, and the bills just keep on coming.
Bankruptcy isn’t a great solution because everyone loses. The creditor may only get a portion of what they’re owed, and the person in debt gets a ruined credit rating that guarantees higher interest rates in the future.
This episode is about how MetCredit’s collectors work with mortgage brokers to recover the maximum amount of your debt and allow them to keep most of their assets and recover their credit rating. MetCredit’s strategy is to turn people in debt back into paying customers.
Quinn Yule is a collections manager at MetCredit, and Zak Abdi is a collections advisor. When debt situations get serious or complex, they’ll refer the file to Jayde Samarzija – a mortgage broker with Canadian Financial Solutions.
Quinn, Zak, and Jayde talk about the current state of consumer debt, how they deal with it, the situations they see, and the kinds of creative solutions and resolution for people who would otherwise have to declare bankruptcy.