If you're directing much of your organization's time and resources towards growth strategies rather than back-end operations, such as debt collection, meeting the required levels of compliance may be difficult. Outsourcing to a digital debt collection agency such as InDebted can help as its system is built to automatically address all compliance issues in any region.
Regulations around debt collection can be cumbersome – and for good reason as consumers need to be protected – but that can come with its challenges. As a digital agency, we believe good compliance is more than a business requirement, it's also a competitive opportunity that can reduce regulatory oversight, litigation, and customer complaints – all which enhance an organization's reputation.
Our robust platform has inbuilt compliance that meets requirements no matter where in the world our clients are based. Being digital end-to-end, if any new regulations are introduced, they are automatically updated on our system so there's no need for organizations to check every email and SMS to ensure the correct wording and disclosures are included.
A Robust Framework Addresses All Compliance Requirements
InDebted’s Chief Customer Officer, Tim Collins says a good compliance framework should start with a fundamental understanding of customers, including knowing how they want to be treated. "A lot of regulation is based on the minimum standards for looking after customers but the service we provide is above the minimum," he says. "We give customers positive, personalized and frictionless experiences that are also compliant."
For example, our platform is programmed so all message content is approved before being sent. It also automatically knows how many messages can legally be sent and at what times. We build into the system the repetitive actions that must be done perfectly in every communication with every customer. Organizations also expect us to hold the appropriate certifications related to collections and ours include:
- Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) which ensures companies that deal with credit card information maintain a secure environment.
- ISO/IEC 27001 – the international standard relating to managing information securely.
- ISO 9001 – the international standard for quality management systems.
- SOC 2 – a voluntary standard for US organizations that specify how customer data should be managed.
Our digital platform also includes a compliance firewall that enforces compliance at every stage of the collections process and inputs any new rules and regulations at scale by code.
One Setup Covers all Compliance Needs
A key advantage of our platform is that organizations only need to go through the set-up procedure once and all their compliance requirements are met, even if they open in other geographies. Collins says this is a feature that clients appreciate. "They know if any regulatory body in the world comes out with a new rule or requirement, our platform automatically updates to cater for it – there's no waiting time as there's no human involvement in the process."
For example, the US-based Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has announced updated rulings within the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, that allow collection agencies to interact with consumers across all forms of electronic communications.
"Organizations ask us how we're going to meet these new regulations," Collins says. "But our platform is built to always be compliant. Back-end operations such as these can be cumbersome for some but not us, as our digital-first and customer-focussed platform is designed so no matter what we send, when we send it, or in what format, we're always compliant."
