Latest / Receivables Podcast | Discussions About Debt Collection / Why Consumers Prefer Digital Debt Resolution | Yale Levy | Ep. 290

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Why Consumers Prefer Digital Debt Resolution | Yale Levy | Ep. 290 · Receivables Podcast | Discussions About Debt Collection

• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: Hello, everybody, Adam Parks here with another episode of Receivables Podcast.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: Today I'm here with my longtime friend, Mr.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yale Levy, here to talk to us about well, really an interesting position in the marketplace where being neutral and providing a neutral platform for communications doesn't necessarily make you passive.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: And so I wanted to talk with Yale today about some of the different pieces and parts of the platform that he's working with and how it's bringing the consumer and the collector together.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: How are you doing today, Yale?
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: Good to see you.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'm good.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_01: Things are good.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_01: It's sunny outside in Columbus, Ohio, and it's been a great day.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I'm glad we get an opportunity to connect and have a chat today.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: But Yale, for anyone who has not been as lucky as me to get to know you through the years, could you tell everyone a little about yourself and how you got to the seat that you're in today?
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it was a pretty remarkable story.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_01: I uh founded Living Associates back in 2004.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_01: It was originally a single state law firm based in Columbus, Ohio.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_01: I got into some debt collection inadvertently.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_01: Somebody sent me some medical debts to collect.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_01: And before I knew it, Atlantic Credit and Finance, you remember that name, Adam, don't you?
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_01: Boy, that was a name from the past.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_01: They were my first national client.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_01: And from there it grew and grew.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_01: I got track of Maryland and some other clients as well.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_01: And before I knew it, I was operating in five states Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Virginia, and District of Columbia.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_01: And it was doing really well.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_01: It had a lot of major clients on board.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_01: End of 2023, I sold my practice to another lawyer.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_01: I thought I was retired.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_01: And lo and behold, after nine months of being retired, I was 53 at the time, none of my friends were retired.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_01: I had nothing to do.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_01: And this guy named George Simons called me out of the blue on LinkedIn saying, hey, we're looking for somebody to help open doors in the collection industry, especially collection law forms.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_01: Would you be interested in a job?
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_01: At that point, I really wasn't, but he offered to fly me out to Salt Lake City.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_01: I drove up to Sundance.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_01: We met and we did a hike in Sundance.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_01: It was great.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_01: And before I knew it, September of 2024, I got hired by Solo as the director of client development.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_01: And after the races, we went.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_01: It's been a really fun journey so far.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: Well, in solo having a couple of different hats as an organization, but tell me a little about the organization and your role there and what you guys are doing.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so I primarily work with Solo Settle.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_01: It's really a revolutionary platform that George Simons invented.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_01: He was interviewing consumers and collectors, and he realized that everybody wanted the same thing settlement as fast as possible.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_01: And that's what kind of germinated Solo Settle.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_01: Solo Settle is a tech-enabled settlement platform that allows consumers to initiate settlements with their creditors, collectors, law firms, collection agencies to try to settle their deaths digitally without ever talking on the phone.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_01: And consumers love it because, as you guys know, I have three boys, 25, 23, 19, no, 20, and they never talk on the phone.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_01: They would rather cut off their hand than pick up a phone.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_01: So the only person who really talks on the phone is their mother.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_01: And by creating a digital platform that allows people to communicate without being on the phone, makes a lot easy for people.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_01: They can do it on their couch while they're watching TV.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_01: And these people that we have at Solo Settle actually want to have their debts paid, have the intent to pay their debts, maybe not exactly the amount that the creditor or law firm wants them to pay, but at least it's a starting point for negotiations.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_01: And it all could be done digitally.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_01: Nothing else, no phone calls, no phone tag, no hold time.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_01: All that friction is gone.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_01: And it allows consumers and collectors to try to do it all digitally.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_01: Once a settlement is reached, the collector or law firm could upload a settlement agreement.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_01: We have documents signed built into our platform.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_01: We send that document to the consumer to review, approve, and sign.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_01: And then we send it immediately to the collection agency or law firm or creditor to process.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_01: So it makes the whole system really frictionless, easy to use, and consumer and collector friendly.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: And so talk me through a little about from the consumer's perspective, what problem are you trying to solve and where in the process does your platform fit?
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: Consumer doesn't pay their bill.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: Walk me through where you fit into the ecosystem.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_01: As we all know as collectors, since you know I was in the collector industry for 20 years, as I said, collect could no consumer will buy, most consumers don't buy something not meaning to pay.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_01: What happens is a change of circumstance, death, injury, loss of job, divorce, separation, some change of circumstance causes them to go off the rails and that they need some time to re to rehabilitate.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_01: And they do that.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_01: But now in this day and age, in the digital world with Chat GPT and digital communication and texting, so many people now don't want to talk on the phone.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_01: They feel collectors, even though the collectors are like Leving Associates, who I used to work at, were very good and passive with consumers.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_01: There's still that angst of the unknown about having to pick up the phone, talk to somebody that knows more than you, and they feel a lot of fear about being yelled at or being undermined.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_01: So by using a digital collection platform like Solo Settle, it really kind of frees up the consumer to engage with the collector digitally so they don't have to do it over the phone.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_01: And what we do is break it down to the bare necessities.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_01: Why can't you pay?
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: How much can you pay?
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_01: And how long is it going to take to pay?
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_01: And we take those variables and we help the consumer make offers to the collectors.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_01: The collectors are in full control.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_01: They're able to either accept or count off, and it goes back and forth between the parties until a settlement is reached.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_01: And again, all we provide at Solo Settle is the platform.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_01: We do not tell consumers or collectors what to do.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_01: It's all up to the two parties to try to get the debt settled on their own.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_01: We just provide the technology to allow digital communications to happen so that people don't have to wait 20 minutes on hold or talk to a collector that might be having a bad day or has issues that are coming up that they can't explain.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_01: So we try to take all that friction and tension out of the conversation and allow the collector and consumer to just deal with numbers.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_01: How much are you going to settle this debt for?
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_01: How many, how many months is it going to take, and what is your monthly payment?
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_01: And people level.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_01: We have thousands of people that have gone through solo settle.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_01: We have a, I don't know, a couple hundred, not a thousand collectors using solo settle every day to get cases settled without everyone talking to somebody on the phone.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_01: It's phenomenal.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_01: If I was at a law from today, a collection lock from today, I would be using solo setup and heartbeat because it is so efficient and so easy to use.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: And what does the consumer need to have available to them in order to start the process of using the platform?
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: Like if they want to go research their accounts or start the process, what do they need to have in hand in order to start?
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_01: They don't really need that much in hand.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_01: They really just need the name of the creditor that they owe money to, how much it's owed, and if there's a lawsuit.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_01: Our digital flow on the internet at www.solosetter.com walks the consumer through about 12 slides about the information that we need to validate who they are and what the debt is and who the creditor is or collector is that is trying to collect on the debt.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_01: We gather all that information.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_01: And once they give us the collector name, we have a database of email addresses wherever to send the offers to.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_01: And then we ask the collect the consumer to make an offer, either a lump sum, a monthly payment plan or a tiered payment plan, and we send that to the collector with the authorization network.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_01: Explain to them that this consumer has an offer that they would like to make to you to settle their debt.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_01: And you can either accept it or counter it.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_01: And it's all done digitally, either through email or through our platform.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_01: And we do have a group of consumer representatives that could call law firms and collectors and consumers to try to get responses from them.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so you've got some folks that are are kind of sitting in between.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: So you tell the consumer what you need, you go research those accounts, and then look to start that process.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I mean, what kind of settlements are are we talking about here, right, in terms of uh settlement percentages?
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my gosh, it is unbelievable.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_01: I I would tell you, I've seen the data myself.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_01: I would say 20% of the people start off at 100%, either lump sum or over time.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_01: Our average settlement rates in a low 80 percentile.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_01: So if you take all of our settlements over time and we take an average of that, it's about 80.5%, which is as you know, Adam, is relatively high.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's easy, I think it's a little bit too high, but this is what consumers want.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_01: They have to take responsibility for their debts.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_01: They want to pay their debts, and they want to do it the way they want to get done.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_01: And what they want is digital communication.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_01: They don't want to do it on the phone because they don't want to be on hold for 20 minutes.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_01: They all they are fearful of what who's gonna pick up that phone.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_01: That person probably knows more about collections than they do, which is obvious because a collector's job is to know about how to do collections, and they don't want that fear and anxiety.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_01: So if they could use a digital avenue like Solo Settle, it is great.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_01: And what's even better is solo settle is neutral, it's free to collectors, and it does not take away any of the collector's control.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_01: Because the collectors always at the end of the line saying accept or counter.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_01: So they have the ability to either accept the deal the consumer is offering or countering it.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_01: And that provides purity for both parties.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: What do you think drives such a high settlement percentage?
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: So many consumers coming in and offering to pay 100% versus going direct.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_00: What do you think that catalyst might be?
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_01: I I I believe the catalyst is the people we have coming to us want to pay.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_01: They acknowledge that they owe the debt, and they are voluntarily coming to the collector and saying, hey, I don't want this lawsuit.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_01: I don't want this collection effort.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_01: I don't want this communication.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_01: I want to settle this debt, and I am so motivated to get this debt settled that I am willing to pay sometimes 100% to get the debt settled.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_01: And sometimes it's over, you know, 12 months, 24 months, 36 months.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_01: But we try to educate the consumer by giving them tour tips saying, hey, a 120-month payment plan is typically doesn't work.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_01: Or we say, hey, the average settlement rate for this debt could be between these two numbers.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_01: So we provide some guidance to the collectors.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_01: I mean to the consumers, straight down to the consumers, but we really help them to try to focus in on what is a viable settlement offer and what is not.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_01: I see very few settlement offers under 50% on the platform.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_01: I think most of our settlement offers are 50% in north.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_01: And with 20% of people offering 100%, that's what gets our average up into the 80s.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_01: Because that 100% is really powerful.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_00: And do you think that maybe there's some value to there being, I mean, similar to the way the third-party collections works with a second voice, and then when they hear a voice that, you know, solos involved where it's uh, let's say, some level of trust with that individual consumer, whether it be through consumer content or whatever the the angle might be, but do you think that might help to drive those higher numbers?
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: They're they're just looking for that connection point or finding a way to deal with a law firm that is not over the phone or in court.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly, Adam.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_01: You you hit it on the head.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_01: What we do is we provide, we gain the consumer's trust because about blogs, YouTube videos, articles that we have on our website explaining to consumers what is a summons?
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_01: What do you do when you receive a complaint?
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_01: What is a default judgment?
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_01: How do you negotiate with a collector?
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_01: We provide hundreds, if not thousands, of articles and blogs, YouTube videos that help consumers gain trust with us.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_01: We're not selling them anything.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_01: What we're doing is educating them, because in this country, financial literacy, as you know, Adam, is at an ultimate low.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_01: People don't understand credit.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_01: People don't understand that not paying your bills is going to cost you more money down the road down the road, and that it is that you need to take responsibility for your debt, stand up, make an offer, communicate.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, that's the most important thing in collections is communicate with your collector.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_01: So we encourage consumers, communicate.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_01: You don't have to use solo setter, but if you want to use solo setter to communicate, you can.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_01: There's nothing that stops you from picking up the phone and calling the collector directly yourself.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_01: We are just one of the possible avenues they can use to um get this.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_01: So it's very helpful to them.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_01: And people, I mean, we have like a 4.6 trust pilot review on the internet.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_01: People love it because it makes it so easy for them.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_00: And so it the tools that you're providing to the consumer is yet another channel of communications that they can leverage.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: And like you mentioned, you know, your kids and you know, my family as well avoids the telephone and is really looking at text messaging and other written communications, and I'm sure that's a driving factor.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_00: How does that engagement work?
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_00: Because not every law firm has all of those tools available.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_00: Does this become that centralized communication hub?
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I I think so.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_01: We have so many law firms that are still in, you know, the 70s and 80s that don't have that it doesn't have email and that's it.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_01: So we provide what I tell people, every collectors every day is we don't step, we don't step on your toes.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_01: We're just providing you an additional flow of digital communications.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_01: So if they have it or not, we just provide an ancillary amount of consumers coming to their to their form agency, to the creditor, wanting to pay.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_01: So I just say just lay road on top.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_01: We don't want to step on your toes.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_01: You do what you want with new digital communications if you have any.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_01: But if you don't, we do it for you.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_01: And if you do have it, we just provide you a supplemental flow of consumers that we find, that we educate and encourage to communicate to the law firms and collection agencies.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: From a collector and from a consumer standpoint, help me understand how this impacts the compliance pieces, right?
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: From a consumer's perspective, they're looking to develop trust from a collector's perspective.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_00: They've got requirements most likely being handed down to them from a creditor client.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_00: But what does that intersection of the two worlds of compliance really look like?
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, that's really a great question, Adam.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_01: Compliance and solo is so easy because everything is in writing.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_01: So you don't have a collector going off the reservation and saying something because they had a bad day, they're in a fight with their wife, the consumers, you know, pushing the buttons.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_01: We really get take all that out of the equation.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_01: We really just deal with why can't you pay?
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_01: How much can you pay, and how long is it going to take you to make those payments?
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_01: And that's what we boiled down all of the conversation to.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_01: We document every transact, every conversational communication in our notes, and we have a date and time of when that happened.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_01: So that if you come get audited, we have all that information saved for you in easy to read and understand language.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_01: It allows a client or a or a regulator to say, Oh, look what they said.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_01: We also have disclosures on every communication.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_01: We always have the mini-mirand on every uh email from the collector to the consumer, and they have the ability to add as many other disclosures as they need to make sure that they're compliant with their client guidelines.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_01: And all that is documented in their notes and they'll be able to see them.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: And so all that gets committed back to the system.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_00: It's available there in the records.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_00: Now, when we talk about these systems, right, and I I think one of the challenges that debt collection companies have is that there's so many different siloed pieces of data.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: How well can they integrate?
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_00: Is it just through the interface that they can go through and connect with the tool set, or are there other connection points that they can leverage?
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_01: At this point in time, there's basically two ways of doing it.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_01: We do send an email every time the consumer communicates with the collector, they get the collector gets an email communication of what the collector the consumer said.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_01: And also on our dashboard, they could open their dashboard, see what the consumer sent to them.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_01: They could copy and paste it and put it in their system record.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_01: And it's really easy to do.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_01: We have little um copy buttons that you hit the button and it copies that whole line or that whole paragraph, and they can just paste it into your collection system's notes.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_01: Again, all of your for the collector side, because I know this audience is our mostly collectors, on the platform, we we never delete anything.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_01: So we have a whole history of communications back and forth.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_01: If a collector ever needs it, they could come back.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_01: They could sign onto the platform, come see it and copy it and paste it or show it to their client.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_01: So it's all very easy, all compliant, and we take out the human factor.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_01: So you don't angry, you don't have any yelling or screaming, it's all just typing.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_01: And it's all neutral and very calm and collective.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: And so the original question that we set out to try and answer today was about kind of the neutrality of a platform like this, not necessarily meaning that the organization or the tool set is passive.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_00: Help me explain that to our audience in terms of how your system operates as a neutral platform while truly not being totally passive, but kind of being active in that resolution process.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_00: What does that balance look like?
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_01: So neutrality means to us that we provide a structured digital channel, that consumers can easily submit an offer online or via email.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_01: That collectors can accept, account, or decline, or ignore its own authority and policies.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_01: That both parties have documented records of what happens back and forth, and the process is transparent and controlled.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_01: Consumers can make offers.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_01: A collector or agency has the ability to either accept or counter, making them the final decision maker.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_01: So neutrality should not be comforting, should be comforting for collectors.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_01: It means that solo settled does not take sides, we do not have any control in the outcomes, and we're not be trying, we're not trying to replace the law former agency.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_01: We're just creating a better channel for communication and resolution.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_01: Make sense?
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_00: I think so.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_00: I mean you're you're trying to you're trying to find that balance for being a channel of communication.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_00: But I think in being neutral, right, in in providing that place for a conversation, it's not necessarily passive.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's an active act because you are bringing those consumers to the table.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_00: There's an action to getting those to finding those folks that have these outstanding situations, getting them to the table, and then helping them identify where those debts are, how much those debts are, and kind of that opportunity to try and start resolving it.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_00: So that you know, it feels like there are some actions to it, because it's not just totally passive.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_00: I have a platform, you can use it or not use it.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_00: I think you're providing some of those tools with the intent of being active, using the neutrality of a platform that sits in between the two parties and isn't favoring one or the other, but still there's some activity to that.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_00: It's not like you guys aren't doing work over there, right?
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_00: Like you're bringing those consumers in, you're engaging with them, you're bringing them to the table, you're facilitating some of these negotiations.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_00: And I can imagine that the communications back and forth and the follow-ups on those communications is probably where you spend a whole lot of your human labor time because getting responses to accounts is not always the easiest thing.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_00: And so the more that that process can be organized and fed, I would think the faster you're actually able to move through those resolutions.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_01: And with staffing at the levels it's at, we need things to go efficiently and effectively.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_01: And you hit it right in the head, Adam.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_01: If we could get things done digitally, with sectors remaining in Control.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_01: We can eliminate that friction of hold times, long conversations that might take 20 minutes, verification that could take five or ten minutes alone.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_01: All that could be removed from the equation.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_01: And look how easier that makes it for everybody.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_01: And that's why we say we are neutral.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't mean we're passive.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_01: Neutral means fair.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_01: Neutral means structured.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_01: Neutral means documented.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_01: And neutral means both sides have a better way to communicate and resolve that with each other.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_00: I think you hit it on the head there with your neutral means fair.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's a balanced place where these conversations can be facilitated.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_00: And if we can have the conversation through a digital format, that makes it even easier for both sides of the equation because that's where the consumer wants to be met.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_00: It's the channel that they want to be using.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I think as we've seen an increase in the volume of accounts and potentially a decrease in liquidation over time, the collection agencies and law firms or predators are required to do more with less.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_00: And this is one of those opportunities to execute without having to throw more human resources at it, because 88% of companies are having trouble hiring, 81% are having trouble retaining the folks that they are able to hire.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_00: So I think there's some real challenges there for the collection industry on the whole.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_00: And this is one of those tools in the toolbox of solutions that can help us keep our liquidation rates moving.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, I I totally agree, Adam.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_01: For collection law firms and agencies, the question is not whether consumers want digital operation options.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_01: They already do.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_01: The question is whether your organization is prepared to meet willing consumers where they are.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_01: If your firm or agency wants to reduce friction, improve documentation, and create a better path for consumer-initiated settlements, I would welcome the opportunity to show you how solo setter works.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_01: It's easy to do.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_01: And most importantly, for collection law firms and agencies, there is no cost to you.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_01: The consumer is so engaged and wants to reduce digital communication so badly that they're willing to pay us a small tech fee to use our platform to digitally communicate with law firms and agencies to get their accounts settled.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, that speaks volumes of what's going on.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_01: People in debt are willing to pay a little bit more so they can use our platform and our technology to try to get these things settled.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's unbelievable.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it's a service or a tool that they're purchasing, like any other app that they might put on their phone.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_00: It's their opportunity to engage with data or to engage in a conversation that they don't necessarily want to have in a more comfortable format, which I do think adds value and is probably worth the fee from their perspective.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_00: Having done one of the webinars with George, talking with consumers and hearing their stories directly and all of that, you really start, it made me realize just how much help they really do need and how scary and uh how much lack of knowledge there is out there around the debt collection process and resolving the accounts because the only real advice or the only advice that they're hearing from is maybe occasionally from a David Ramsey type character with a lot of qualifications.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_00: But the majority of what they're seeing is TikTok.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_00: It's Instagram reels, it's content from people with no business having these discussions or speaking and they're on the wrong path.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, they give people bad advice to say, hey, stop paying, turn off your phone, don't take the calls.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_01: That is the worst thing to do.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_00: I agree.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_00: I agree, Yale.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_00: I think it makes it significantly more difficult for those consumers that are actively trying to resolve their accounts when the collectors have to deal with ridiculousness because then they have to kind of manage things in the way in which the majority of communications are happening.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_00: So it feels like this is a opportunity for both the consumers to come in and find that new engagement channel, as well as for the collect to try and communicate through yet another channel that's not outbound because we all we all love the inbound calls and this is inbound communications.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_00: We're just not doing it.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_01: And most importantly, the consumers want it.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_01: The consumer experience is now part of that collection strategy.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_01: We have to think about that as we try to collect these debts.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_01: These debts need to be collected.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_01: I truly believe that people need to pay the bill and be financially responsible for the debts that they acquire and accrue.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_01: And a consumer-initiated settlement is great because at least these people are standing up, taking responsibility for what they bought, and trying to get these debts resolved amicably and digitally, which is very exciting times.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_00: Well, Yale, I really do appreciate you coming on today and sharing your insights.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_00: It sounds like you're you're on to something over there and that you really have found that niche where you can be neutral and provide active, not a passive service to both the collector and the consumer.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_00: So I really appreciate you coming on and sharing your comments.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, thanks, Adam.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_01: I had a great time.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_00: For those of you that are watching, if you have additional questions you'd like to ask Yale or myself, you can leave those in the comments on LinkedIn and YouTube, and we'll be responding to those.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_00: Or if you have additional topics you'd like to see us discuss, you can leave those in the comments below as well.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_00: And hopefully I can get Yale back here at least one more time to help me continue to create great content for a great industry.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_00: But until next time, Yale, I really appreciate your time today.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for your insights.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, thanks, Adam.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_00: I had a great time.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_00: And thank you everybody for watching.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_00: We appreciate your time and attention.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_00: We'll see you all again soon.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_00: Bye, everyone.