ACA’s new financial literacy website can help you provide answers to consumers’ debt questions.
11/8/2021 13:00
By Anne Rosso May
How long will a debt stay on my credit report? Can I be held liable for my spouse’s debt if we get divorced? Wait, how do I know if you are a legitimate debt collection company?
Debt collectors hear these questions all the time as consumers often struggle to understand the debt collection process. The answers aren’t always quick and easy. After all, your employees are trained in compliance with federal and state laws, information gathering and account resolution—but they aren’t financial advisers.
By including links to vetted financial literacy resources on your website, you can help consumers find the critical information they need to feel comfortable talking to your company representatives. Many ACA International members are using the new Know My Debt consumer education site to enhance the ways they serve consumers and, ultimately, clients.
Developed by ACA’s Financial Literacy Committee, Know My Debt delivers clearly worded explanations to help consumers improve their financial literacy and resolve their debts.
“Know My Debt is about giving people a resource that provides them with an understanding of the credit and collection industry,” said Debbie Frank, CEO of Credit Bureau Services LLC and chair of ACA’s Financial Literacy Committee. “Everyone is on a financial journey and Know My Debt is here to guide, inspire and engage people when making decisions about their money and planning for their financial future.”
Know My Debt explains:
- The laws and regulations related to debt and credit that protects consumers.
- How to work with a debt collector on delinquent debts, including specific explanations for student loan debt.
- Answers to common questions about credit reporting and credit scores.
Building consumers’ financial literacy is good for everyone. It helps consumers understand how they got into debt, how to work with collectors to resolve their account and how to right the ship going forward. It also shows clients that you care about their customers. Plus, it helps collectors when consumers trust their motives and the debt collection process in general. By including a link to Know My Debt on your website, and encouraging your collectors to refer consumers to it in their phone conversations, you ultimately build confidence in the debt collection process.
Sometimes consumers have never been contacted by a debt collector before and don’t know how the process works. Or maybe they are grappling with other stressors such as illness, job instability and divorce.
“I do believe consumers struggle [with understanding the debt collection process], but I also believe the biggest reason why is due to a sense of being overwhelmed and frustrated with being contacted about an outstanding debt,” said Jeff Simendinger, co-founder and chief operating officer of SIMM Associates Inc. “This frustration acts as blinders, with most consumers not taking the time to ask questions or understand what options may be available to them. This leads to avoidance, which leads to more attempts by the agency to contact the consumer and the level of irritability by the consumer is raised.”
That’s why for years SIMM Associates has included a financial resources page on its website. When Simendinger heard about Know My Debt, he added the link to his website right away.
“Financial literacy is a big part of our conversations with consumers these days,” he said. “Providing resources to help a consumer navigate through their current financial situation provides a building block for a positive and successful outcome.”
Because the internet acts as a free-flowing information exchange, anyone with a $10 website domain can pass along false narratives and bad advice about managing finances and eliminating debt. Consumers may be inclined to believe a simple, albeit false, solution is legitimate when, in fact, it only adds to their problems.
“I’ve always wanted to include financial education on our website, but I didn’t want to put any link on our site that I hadn’t read through first and felt confident that it provided good information for consumers,” said Brian Himmel, president of First Federal Credit Control Inc. “I’d looked at other financial literacy websites but either the information was too broad or it was too difficult to understand. Know My Debt hits that sweet spot. It addresses the questions that we often hear from consumers and it takes them to a third-party, so we aren’t the ones telling them how these processes work.”
Know My Debt is a resource your collectors can share with consumers and feel confident the information is correct and helpful.
“I think the Know My Debt website is magnificent,” said Michelle Gallino, president of Western Mercantile Agency Inc. “We’d used ACA’s previous financial literacy website, Ask Doctor Debt, for years, and when the new site came out we updated our website links right away. I strongly believe that everyone in the collection industry needs to do what they can to educate consumers. Consumers need to know that we’re not the bad guys. We want to help them.”
Visit the Know My Debt website at www.knowmydebt.com and see below to learn how to add the link on your website.
Anne Rosso May is communications director and editor-in-chief at ACA International.
How to Add Know My Debt to Your Website
- On your website, create a link on your consumer resource page called Know My Debt: Explaining Consumer Rights and Navigating Debt Solutions.
- Use this address for the hyperlink: https://www.knowmydebt.com.
- Remove existing references and hyperlinks to Ask Doctor Debt (www.askdoctordebt.com). ACA will soon permanently retire the Ask Doctor Debt site.