Ohad Samet, TrueAccord’s co-founder and CEO, joined thought leaders in fintech at CB Insight’s Future of Fintech 2019 conference. Learn everything you need to know about how TrueAccord is reinventing the collection experience.
TrueAccord is dedicated to revolutionizing the debt collection industry by redefining the user experience for consumers in debt collection. We work to empower consumers to regain control of their financial health and help them to better manage their financial future. Our product leverages machine learning for intelligent digital communications and empathy driven UX interfaces.
The Debt Collection Market
Debt collection is an enormous market with nearly $13 billion in annual industry revenue. In the US alone, that equates to more than 17 million consumers per year who are impacted. These consumers are primarily pushed to provide payment by call centers which employ collectors —low-base, high-commission employees—who can contact a consumer to no end.
Incessant contact from these collectors, whose own income is contingent upon collecting debts, can lead to anything from a rising number of complaints to the federal government to consumers exhibiting PTSD-like symptoms that are a direct result of feeling hunted by their collectors.
The Future of Collections
To combat this, we reimagine the collections experience. That difference comes from placing the consumer at the forefront of our collections strategy; the consumer is given the choice to engage with TrueAccord’s personalized, digital solutions at their own pace.
This strategy empowers consumers to manage their debts in a way that makes sense for them and ultimately affords high customer satisfaction, whereby consumers feel that a weight has been lifted from them when they pay off their debt through TrueAccord.
Machine Learning
By automating collections communications, we are able to craft a more personalized experience for our users. With over 6 million users on the platform, we use the aggregate data to better understand what makes each of those users distinct and how to best communicate with each individual that we service. The learning aspect of the platform continues beyond simple understanding; it makes our communication strategies more dynamic and can cater our content and outreach to each user.
User Experience
For TrueAccord, providing a positive user experience means being transparent and giving consumers the options they come to expect across other financial services. This is best represented by the fact that more than 80% of consumers on the platform are managing their account on mobile devices, not on the phone with agents.
A positive user experience is just as necessary for TrueAccord’s creditor partners which have direct access and visibility into the inbound and outbound activity related to their debts as well as the amounts collected.
Rules, Regulations, and Refreshing the Model
Samet recently served as a member of the Consumer Advisory Board of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to assist in reviewing current collections rules and regulations using TrueAccord’s data. The CFPB is currently developing legislation that promotes our model; this legislation will severely restrict call center-based collections and will encourage adoption of digital channels instead.
With TrueAccord leading these changes, we aim to continue our rapid growth by setting industry standards and making debt collection a more empathetic experience.