Credit Management 2019

CONSUMER CREDIT
THE GENTLE
TOUCH
Collections teams must balance
structure and empathy when training
agents to identify and support customers
with vulnerabilities.
AUTHOR – Heather Greig-Smith
INSTEAD of following scripts, frontline
collections staff are being trained to
use emotional intelligence, empathy
and listening skills.
“Agents have to find their own
way of speaking to customers. They
need to get the customer’s trust, engage with
them and be able to identify triggers,” says
Arrow Global Head of Operations, Adelle
Smith.
Identifying vulnerability is the first step in
the process. Staff are trained to listen for the
nuances on a call. They may be speaking to
an individual with dementia who doesn’t
recall previous conversations, or someone
struggling with their mental health and feeling
suicidal.
Some flags of potential vulnerability may
not be obvious. “Calling to change address
could be because the customer is in prison,”
says Adelle. “We can’t cover everything. That
comes with experience on the live floor with
constant monitoring and calibration.”
John Thompson, Head of Compliance at
Hoist Finance, agrees: “Early identification
of vulnerability is key to ensuring the best
outcome for a customer during the collections
process. Our representatives are trained to
effectively engage with our customers so
that they can explain their current situation,
which in turn allows us to adapt our processes
– thereby ensuring their account is correctly
managed. It is often not the vulnerable
condition that drives any change in how
we manage their account, but instead the
impact that vulnerable condition has on the
customer.”
EVOLVING LIST
At Cabot Credit Management, there is an
evolving list of 50-60 vulnerabilities, from
learning difficulties to terminal illnesses
and mental health conditions. “We have
to make sure we are factoring in all of
these considerations,” says Cabot Financial
Customer Operations Enhancement Manager,
Emma Bantges.
Clearly it’s not possible to train agents in all of
these areas: “We are not medical professionals,
but we do have a duty to understand the impact
of vulnerability,” says ARC Europe’s Operations
Director, David Sheridan. “It’s about getting the
balance right.”
Debbie Nolan, Chief Executive of Arvato
Financial Solutions UK, agrees: “We don’t
expect them to be experts on any of these
things. We train them to adopt an empathetic
approach and get the information without
causing distress.”
Some potential vulnerabilities will not affect
a person’s ability to deal with their finances.
“Someone identified as having a terminal illness
is very different to a builder who has fallen off a
ladder and broken his leg and will be returning
to work when his leg has mended,” she says.
Not everyone wants their account ring-fenced
for specialist treatment. “We wouldn’t force a
customer to have support. The customer may
feel they are quite capable of dealing with their
finances,” says Emma.
BEYOND THE MODELS
There are many training models that have
been developed to help shape approaches
to vulnerability. For example, Chris Fitch
and Colin Trend at the Money Advice Trust
developed TEXAS – a framework used when a
customer is giving information.
Chris Collins, HR and Customer Experience
Director at Intrum UK, points also to BRUCE
– a tool to recognise red flags around mental
health and BLAKE – a conversational structure
when customers are disclosing suicidal
thoughts (which supplements its suicide first
aid programme ASIST).
However, Chris says the fundamentals of
training are more nuanced than a framework:
“It’s about equipping people: understanding
procedure and having the emotional
intelligence to ask questions at the right time,”
The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / March 2019 / PAGE 21
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