Make sure your collectors are asking the right questions to capture consent once they’ve verified right party contact. They should ask these questions during the talk-off at the end of their call with the consumer.
Before allowing the consumer to opt-in, you’ll want to ensure the consumer goes through all of the necessary checks to verify right party contact. Matt Kiefer, Chief Officer of Information, Compliance & Development at The Preferred Group of Tampa, recommends capturing consent in the first email or text that you send.
In general, your goal should be to capture consent ASAP. Tim Collins, Chief Customer Officer at Indebted, suggests encouraging consumers via your website to text or email you first. Then, you can reply with a standard message that confirms whether they want to opt-in. When the consumer texts you first, carriers can see that a relationship is present.
To be even more proactive, you can discuss broader Terms of Service when taking on new clients. You might include something along the lines of “XYZ Agency can use any digital communication method that is acceptable to the consumer,” for example.
By putting all three of these measures in place to capture consent at the right time, you may reduce the risk of costly lawsuits and improve your outcomes when using the bonified error defense.
As for when to start putting these procedures in place, Matt Kiefer’s philosophy is that it’s more beneficial to get in the habit of capturing consent now, rather than waiting for the Comprehensive Debt Collection Improvement Act to pass. If you start being proactive about capturing consent now, you’ll be ahead of the competition if and when the Comprehensive Debt Collection Improvement Act passes.
In the words of our product manager Kaitlyn Filippi, “more work now, less work later.”
