It seems as though companies all over are “going green” these days and collection agencies have jumped on the bandwagon. Companies such as Pacific Northwest Collections have chosen to dispose of paper files and use a program called Document Locater instead. The new system is beneficial in many ways.

Collection agents are now able to use the document locater in order to access files for information. They can use this data to answer payer questions over the phone in real time. This benefits the company because it is more efficient. Before, payers often had to wait on the phone for information for quite a while, or they may even have to wait for a call back from the company.

Being able to quickly retrieve information is a helpful and effeciant way to collect, because contacting debtors may prove to be a difficult task. If an agent does get a payer on the phone, it can be frustrating for them to wait on questions and often times a debtor may not be able to answer a call back from a collections company.

The new system has turned out to be profitable financially as well. With the new paperless system, hours of work are obliterated. No more typing, filing, or copying is neccessary, leaving collectors with more time to get in contact with debtors rather than do clerical work.

The new system also lends to professionalism of the company. It may seem like a collection agency is uninformed when they cannot access information immediately. The more creditable an agency seems, the more likely those in debt are to take the company seriously. Although shifting the information to software and purchasing the software itself may be costly at first, the whole procedure seems to pay for itself. A manager at Pacific Northwest Collections asserts that the company saves $2,000 with the new system.

In a recession, collection agencies are struggling with retrieving money from debtors. Companies who are creative and have the ability to think outside of the box may very well turn out to be the most successful.

Mallory McGuinness-Hickey works for collection agency Rapid Recovery Solution and writes free lance pieces on financial news and other subjects.