It seems as though companies all over are “going green” these days and collection agencies have jumped on the bandwagon. Companies such as Pacific Northwest Collections have chosen to dispose of paper files and use a program called Document Locater instead. The new system is beneficial in many ways.

Collection agents can now use the document locater to access files for information and can use the data to answer debtor questions over the phone in real time. This is beneficial because it is more efficient. Before, payers often had to wait on the phone for information, or even for a call back from the company.

Because contacting debtors may prove to be difficult, the ability to quickly access information is a useful and effective way to collect. If a collector does get a payer on the phone, it can prove to be frustrating for the person to wait on questions and often times a they may not be able to answer a call back from a collections company.

Fiscally the new system has turned out to be quite profitable. With the new green system, hours of work are now not neccessary. There is no more typing, filing, or copying required. This leaves agents with more time to contact debtors instead of doing office work.

The new system also lends to professionalism of the company. It may seem like a collection agency is uninformed when they cannot access information immediately. The more creditable an agency seems, the more likely those in debt are to take the company seriously. Although shifting the information to software and purchasing the software itself may be costly at first, the whole procedure seems to pay for itself. A manager at Pacific Northwest Collections asserts that the company saves $2,000 with the new system.

In a recession, collection agencies are struggling with retrieving money from debtors. Companies who are creative and have the ability to think outside of the box may very well turn out to be the most successful.

Mallory McGuinness-Hickey is employed by debt collection agency Rapid Recovery Solution and writes free lance pieces on financial news and other subjects.