Why are Collections Organizations Hesitant to Call Mobile Numbers?

Tom Sizer is Director of Receivables Management Product Management at LexisNexis® Risk Solutions.

As you read this, you may think a guy like me is a typical techie working at a Fortune 500 technology company. But in reality my personal life and my work life create a wide contrast.

For example, I just got cable about a year ago, I still take my kids to get candy for a penny at the local ice cream shop and while I have a cell phone, in conjunction with my job, I still use a land line in my home.  I’m living a life of contrast – high tech Product Manager by day, and farmer with chickens by night.

I know that there are still many consumers that use both a cell phone and a land line, but I have no doubt that within the next few years I expect to find myself to be a part of the minority of “land line users” in a majority world of “cell phone only users”.   

America, it seems, continues to move forward in terms of the personal use of technology.

Today over 20 percent of Americans only use wireless phones—meaning no land lines at home.  In less than two decades, wireless devices have become common place in many countries around the world. According to CTIA, a leading wireless industry association, there were 109.5 million U.S. wireless subscribers in December 2000. By December 2008 that number had jumped to 270.3 million users.

If so many people (and therefore debtors) are using wireless phones, why are collections companies so hesitant to call wireless phone numbers?

Debtors that range in age from 20-40 are already the highest adopters of wireless only lifestyles. As these populations age and are replaced by younger generations who also elect wireless service over landlines, the total population of “mobile debtors” is guaranteed to increase.

Legislation is pretty clear that calling cell phone numbers are permissible if you have prior consent from the consumer or if you call the number manually (not from a dialer).  Your legal counsel will have more details, but the fact is you can call a cell number to try and collect a debt.

For me, going low tech keeps me “grounded”.  But, I know that I am not representative of the population as a whole.

When we are talking about contacting debtors via cell phones – it is not a good thing to be “grounded”.  People of all ages are leaving behind the world of land lines for the world of “cell phones only”. We must seek to find debtors via their preferred method of contact – cell phones.  Regulations do allow for contacting debtors via their wireless phones.  We can’t stay grounded in a wireless world.

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