Debt: Do Collectors Deserve Their Bad Reputation?
The Bottom Line
BBC
4.6 • 606 Ratings
🗓️ 10 October 2024
⏱️ 32 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
It must be one of the most-maligned professions out there - on a par, perhaps, with traffic wardens - but debt collectors perform a vital service to businesses and the wider economy. So why do we love to despise them?
Evan Davis and guests discuss the industry's inner workings, from the public image of aggressive, burly bailiffs, to the reality of repayment plans prompted by artificial intelligence. We ask how most try to ensure they collect debts fairly, and also hear the other side of the debt story - how damaging and stressful it can be for businesses who desperately need the money.
Plus, why do we find it so hard to talk about debt in the UK? We hear about the industry's efforts to tackle the stigma.
Evan is joined by:
John Pears, UK CEO, Lowell; Amon Ghaiumy, co-founder and CEO, Ophelos; Dana Denis-Smith, CEO and founder, Obelisk Support.
Production team:
Producer: Simon Tulett Researcher: Farhana Haider Editor: Matt Willis Sound: Dafydd Evans and Sarah Hockley Production co-ordinators: Rosie Strawbridge and Katie Morrison
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts. |
| 0:05.1 | Thanks for downloading this episode of the Bottom Line podcast. |
| 0:08.0 | It's got lots of extra content that we couldn't squeeze into the radio version. |
| 0:12.1 | If you like it, you might want to check out the other episodes we've made on similar themes, including Buy Now, Pay Later. |
| 0:19.9 | That was from April 2022. Hello, welcome to the including Buy Now, Pay Later. That was from April 2022. |
| 0:21.6 | Hello, welcome to the program. Now, if we twisted your arm and forced you to think hard about the most disliked industry in existence today, |
| 0:30.6 | after some reflection, you might come up with the industry we're talking about in this program, debt collection. People struggling with debt |
| 0:39.5 | are often facing all sorts of other struggles in their lives. Debt can be a vicious and |
| 0:43.4 | incredibly damaging spiral. Some may have had distressing experiences of bailiffs or had their debts |
| 0:49.1 | made worse by unscrupulous lenders. So it is easy to see why debt collection isn't associated |
| 0:55.6 | with much that's good, but I think most of us can also recognise that it is a job someone has to do. |
| 1:03.4 | Now, if a personal business fails to pay for something they've bought, we can't just leave it at |
| 1:07.6 | that, surely. The question is how to chase and collect that debt fairly. So, |
| 1:13.6 | with my three guests today, let us explore this world in order to understand how it works and |
| 1:18.8 | whether any aspect of its reputation is deserved. And first up, here's John Pear's UK, |
| 1:24.9 | chief executive of Lowell. John, I think you refer to yourselves as credit management company. |
| 1:30.5 | Just tell us what Laos do. |
| 1:32.9 | So Laos are primarily in the UK, but we also operate in the Nordics and in Germany and Austria. |
| 1:38.3 | In the UK, for example, we have circa 9 million customers and we serve them to try and help them alleviate their debt. |
| 1:46.2 | But that debt can originate from retail banks all the way through to utility companies. |
| 1:51.2 | Your 9 million, those are people who are managing debt, struggling with debt. |
| 1:57.1 | You're talking about them as your customers. |
... |
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