"No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted."
- Aesop
DCM Services leverages Probate Finder to help us locate probated estates and file claims. Learn more.

brand risk

Your brand is one of your company’s most valuable assets. Yet the collection of deceased debt can present serious risks to that brand. While most collection agencies today readily comply with the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, according to a recent report in insiderARM, “…collection agencies top the list of consumer complaints with the Federal Trade Commission.” In fact, as recently as 2006, “the agency received more than 69,000 complaints related to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), the law regulating collection agencies. That was an increase in the number of complaints and as a percentage of all complaints…”

But in deceased collections, the stakes are higher because different rules apply. Those agencies that violate the FDCPA or other consumer protection measures can quickly taint a creditor’s billion-dollar brand due to the unique risks involved in collecting decedent debt:
  • With estate collections, collectors are pursuing people who may not have incurred the debt in question, who may be feeling vulnerable, and who are preoccupied and protective of the memory and legacy of those who did.
  • Too heavy a reliance on live debtor collection tactics leaves collectors and creditors treading in a sea of phone calls, letters, bad feelings, and possible harassment claims.
  • Finally, if the survivor is feeling threatened or harassed, any opportunity to create goodwill is damaged and, according to recent marketing research, can become a minefield of negative word of mouth that impacts the creditor’s brand long after the collection process is complete.
DCM Services mitigates these risks through our innovative Survivor Recovery Services. Leveraging the power of the Probate Finder® Solution from Forte, LLC, DCM Services protects our clients by focusing on the probate process – the most effective legal avenue for estate collections. The probate process enables exclusive communications between our account representatives and estate representatives or estate attorneys, allowing DCM Services to shield the survivor from the stress of collections while minimizing client brand risk.

Learn more about our Survivor Recovery Services.

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