Communicating with consumers during a natural disaster.
8/5/2019 15:00
Do you know your agency’s communication response plan during a natural disaster? Natural disasters not only interrupt consumer communications, but they also impact community well-being. Depending on the disaster, your collection efforts may need to be modified or temporarily halted.
ACA International’s Compliance Education Specialist Angela Czerlanis has some suggestions for a communications strategy in Collection Tips, featured in the August issue of Collector magazine.
- Review your company’s disaster response and communications plan on a regular basis. If your company doesn’t have a plan, rally the team and create one.
- Debt collectors should work with their clients to determine how to service consumers faced with natural disasters and develop policies and procedures that prevent inconveniencing consumers during that difficult period.
- If you do reach a consumer affected by a natural disaster, proceed with compassion. Document their circumstances in the account notes and update contact information as accurately as possible with a temporary housing address and a working phone number.
Read more tips from Czerlanis in Collector magazine, or ACA International members may access ACA SearchPoint on Natural Disasters.
Subscriptions to the Collector magazine digital edition and email notifications for each new issue are available for ACA International members by logging in to ACA International’s website here. Members and nonmembers can also purchase a print subscription. Nonmembers can create a guest profile on ACA’s website to subscribe to available publications.