By including a link to the Know My Debt resource on your website, you can help consumers find the critical information they need to feel comfortable talking to your company representatives.
03/31/2022 12:00 P.M.
3 minute read
April is Financial Literacy Month and ACA International has resources for members to support consumer education on topics such as identity theft, scams and incorrect information on credit reports. You can include the link to our new Know My Debt website on your agency’s home page and give it to collectors to share with consumers.
Linking to vetted financial literacy resources on your website helps consumers find the critical information they need to feel comfortable talking to your company representatives.
Many ACA members are using the Know My Debt consumer education site to enhance the ways they serve consumers and, ultimately, clients. Be sure to remove any existing references to Ask Doctor Debt (www.askdoctordebt.com), which is no longer online, to ensure consumers have access to the Know My Debt resources.
“Any opportunity for agencies to offer guidance to consumers has value. Many organizations had the Ask Doctor Debt link on their websites,” said Harry Strausser III, president of Applied Innovation Inc., who serves on ACA’s Financial Literacy Committee. This new consumer tool, Know My Debt, created by the Financial Literacy Committee of ACA, is an outstanding way to be more consumer-centric. An educated consumer is much more likely to pay.”
Financial Literacy Month Tips
Know My Debt delivers clearly worded explanations to help consumers improve their financial literacy and resolve their debts.
Why should you add Know My Debt to your website?
Because it clearly explains:
- The laws and regulations related to debt and credit that protect 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.
“The entire culture of the ARM space has changed over the decades. Today’s agency must develop collectors that have a customer service orientation, can be a resource for ideas that can help consumers find a pathway to payment, and can recommend resources to help consumers navigate their financial lives,” Strausser said. “Know My Debt is filled with solid information.”
When creating a link on your website, ACA recommends calling it Know My Debt: Explaining Consumer Rights and Navigating Debt Solutions.
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 shows clients that you care about their customers. Plus, it helps collectors when consumers trust their motives and the debt collection process in general.
According to a National Financial Educators Council survey in 2021, the average respondent said they lost $1,389 due to lack of financial knowledge.
A total of 3,389 respondents to the survey were divided into six age ranges. Extrapolating the results across the U.S. adult population of 254 million, financial illiteracy can be estimated to have cost the country more than $352 billion in 2021, according to a news release on the survey.
Including a link to Know My Debt on your website, and encouraging your collectors to refer consumers to it in their phone conversations, ultimately builds confidence in the debt collection process and helps expand consumers’ financial literacy.
Visit the Know My Debt website to learn more about these valuable resources and read the Collector magazine article “Leading the Way with Transparency and Education.”
If you have executive leadership updates or other member news to share with ACA, contact our communications department at [email protected]. View our publications page for more information and our news submission guidelines here.