The Accountant Nov-Dec 2016

Information Technology
Social Media
Collections Tips
As a collections professional, • Desist from “publishing” a list of names
you may need all tools at of debtors anywhere online.
your disposal to ensure the • Ensure not to make false reports to a
money that is out there with credit bureau.
customers is back to support • Never, use a fake name or company
By Wasilwa Miriongi , wmiriongi@gmail.com
your cash-flow needs. One such tool
technology based known social media.
I remember in 1990s before the advent
name.
• Do not request to be added as a “friend”
by a debtor on a social networking site.
of real-time technologies, we could mail an The above notwithstanding, and
invoice then give time say a week for the
invoice to reach the customer then contact
them for payment all those days if summed
will have eaten into the Days Sales
Outstanding (DSO) posing a challenge to
your liquidity issues.
I remember there is a debtor I have
been following whose director has a health
challenge and is in India, I just managed
to get the director’s Whatsapp number
and sent a message which has triggered a
response from them. They have all along
been giving me the excuse “The Director is
away”
Well, all said and done, social media
given the advantages of social media
and technology in general, not using it
will mean you are lagging behind and
you surely need to keep abreast with the
worldly changes or so called globalization.
The question you may ask is that
are there guidelines on how one can use
social media in collection, the answer is
resoundingly Yes! These could include:-
• Communicating with your customers
or debtors is not a single communication
effort, in order for any of your efforts
to work you need to use a multicommunication
strategy that works for
your business, your customers and follows
collection poses different challenges the law, online and off. Make sure to add
than the commonly used methods and
when used wtih utmost care needs to be
exercised and my suggestion would be you
apply the following tips:
• Remember to use private or provided
email addresses when contacting your
customers that want to be contacted
by email and keep a record of every
correspondence.
• Ensure never to converse with a debtor
using social media sites, utilizing the
email feature or comment feature.
• Take it as a rule not to email a debtor
about a debt if you think a third party
can ever see that email.
• Do not instant message a debtor about
a debt.
• If a debtor does not respond to
any social Media efforts being used by
credit personnel to your official company
credit policy.
• By using social networks to add to your
information or verify your information
helps you to find a person while continuing
to use old-fashioned methods of gathering
information. All must be used together for
you to be successful.
• Debt collectors that are working for
collection agencies or third party collectors
should keep their eye on the law.
• First party collectors or business owners
should keep an eye on their country laws
and the laws in the states their debtors
reside in for updates in the laws regarding
social networks as well as email, texting and
instant messages regarding debt collection.
your email after authorizing
you to email them, stop emailing and
use traditional methods to try and
collect, such as phone calls or letters.
• Never attempt to send any
communication that could be seen by a
third party.
What to do when contacting
debtors on social media sites
• When you use a social media site to
locate a debtor, to then try to collect from
them by phone, or mail, there normally
won’t be a problem. The problems arise
when someone contacts a debtor through
one of these social websites. Since the
information, messages or conversations on
these types of websites is not private and is
available to many people to see, this would
not be a tool to use in debt collection
without violating federal laws specifically
applicable to consumer debt collections.
• Most of these types of websites are
integrated with electronic mail and one
can send email to one specific person,
BUT, just how private is this? How can
you be sure? Better safe than sorry – do not
utilize the email tools on these websites to
contact someone who owes money. You
can run into legal problems and violate
privacy laws.
How social media can help or
hurt a collector
Social Media can help and hurt a collector
in contacting debtors. In my opinion,
until the laws are changed a collector,
third or first party, should NOT contact a
debtor through social media email, chat or
comments. This could be considered third
party disclosure since you don’t know who
will see your posting or how secure a social
media networks communication function
is.
Social Media can help a collectors’
ability to contact debtors by giving them
information they may not have such as a
mailing address or phone number – which
they can then use to contact a debtor by
traditional methods, the phone or by postal
mail.
For many collectors the first thing
they do to try to locate a debtor or get
information is do a search on a major
search engine and visit social networks.
People make themselves very easy to
be found and post all kinds of personal
information that makes your job easier.
An obvious conclusion to draw from
this may be that with its negative impacts
social media however, the collection
industry has benefited tremendously from
social media technology.
22 NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2016