Interview: Hank Markowe

Q. What was the perception of the debt collection industry when you began? In what ways has it changed?

A. Just to set a framework here, my first job in the debt collection industry was in 1956. Things were very different back then. People were shouting "I like Ike" at the time, as they elected him to a second term as President shortly before I began my career in the collections industry. Trolley cars were commonplace in New York City and the five boroughs. Telephone numbers sounded like Bryant9-9466, and "Bill Collectors" and the "Debt Collection Business" was looked upon as seedy people working in a really nasty business.

There were several reasons why people looked down on our business back then. The first and most important reason was because debtors were treated without respect and more like criminals. There was no regulation at all and people in debt were viewed by their creditors as bad customers. The whole industry has come a long way, mostly through self-governance and partially due to laws like the FDCPA, FCRA, GLBA, and HIPPA. Back then, collectors and collection agencies had no boundaries once they received an account. They could call the debtor 10 times a day, every day. A collector could stop by the debtor’s employer if they really wanted to be mean. For skip tracing, a collector could call all of the debtor’s neighbors, and discuss the facts of the case with them!