At the recent DBA International convention in Las Vegas, Capital Club Radio’s Michael Flock interviewed five past DBA International presidents whose administrations spanned the 19 years of the association’s existence: Walt Collins, Bob Morris, Mike Cushing, Mike Bendickson and Rich Munroe.
The following is a glimpse of the key topics discussed.
DBA was created to give creditors and government regulators confidence that the debt buying industry had credibility and quality. As an industry association, DBA would create the ethical standards and best practices that would assure creditors that they were not dealing with “gunslingers”.
According to the past presidents, DBA was founded on the spirit of revolutionizing the collections industry. Debt buyers had a different belief about how to collect than collection agencies. Debt buyers took a more consumer friendly approach because they had more motivation and patience to work with the consumer to find solutions. Collection agencies needed to get payments in 3-6 months. Debt buyers have a longer period of time to help the consumer with options that would enable them to recover and get back into the credit cycle.
From its beginning through today, DBA has seen its purpose as the provider of best practices to demonstrate to creditors, regulators, funders and debt buyers that there are proven behavioral and procedural standards and that the industry is self-regulated. In the beginning, these practices were the cornerstone for creating the industry. Today, through the certification program, DBA has demonstrated that debt buyers can provide an effective collections solution in a regulated consumer centric world.
Over the years, one of the key strengths of DBA has been its culture. This culture has been created by the shared values of seeing the debtor as a consumer and encouraging competitors to work as a team. The collaboration of various members has encouraged the creation of recovery solutions for the industry, while also developing new skill sets for debt buyers to deal with the ever- changing industry challenges.
About Capital Club Radio
Hosted by Michael Flock, Chairman & CEO of FLOCK Specialty Finance, Capital Club Radio provides a forum for leaders in the middle market segment which has typically been underserved by traditional banking.
Capital Club Radio provides listeners an opportunity to gain valuable business insights and perspectives to deal with market uncertainty. Topics will include: key success factors, both personal and professional, dealing with adversity, outlook for the industry and your business.
The show airs live periodically on Business RadioX and is sponsored by FLOCK Specialty Finance.