ABC's 20/20 to Run Investigative Report on Collectors

Corrections: This article has been edited to correct the title of the 20/20 program and to add additional information. — Editor 

When writing about abuses in the debt collection industry, a popular figure to bandy about is 14 percent, or around 66,627.  That would be the percentage up of complaints from 2004 to 2005. 

What’s interesting about that 14 percent is how consumer advocates feel it’s a stand alone number.  Read, in passing, in a Boston Globe harangue about the collection industry, say; or, for example, in the story about to show up on ABC’s 20/20 this Friday at 10 p.m. Eastern (titled “Flat Broke: Begging and Borrowing in America”); that 14 percent increase in complaints should be cause for worry and much soul-searching throughout the industry.

However, that 14 percent increase is _not_ a stand-alone number.  It’s a number that needs perspective and that also needs to be taken into context.  While there’s no doubt that the FTC’s 66,627 figure is correct, what isn’t taken into account – either when the Boston Globe or 20/20 runs them – is how many of those reports were legitimate.

According to the 20/20 site, “By far, the most common complaint to the FTC was from people who say they were pursued for payment over charges they did not owe.”  Which is to be expected.  What the FTC numbers do not track, though, is what the ultimate outcome of those complaints were.  That 14 percent figure only counts the number of complaints – not their veracity.

Stories like these are popular with the media.  In the course of the program 20/20 is producing, they will pull from the worst of the worst debt collection offenders, presenting them complete with taped phone calls and weepy consumers.  And again: not that these abuses don’t happen.  However, armed with faulty statistics and emotionally compelling stories, it’s easy to forget that the majority of the industry _does_ follow the law.  In many cases, collection agency managers will say that the law makes their jobs easier.

While the program spends some time examining abusive practices, David P. Duryea, Executive Vice President of Sunrise Credit Services, Inc., one of the agencies profiled in the 20/20piece, said in an email to insideARM.com, "A good portion of the collection agency piece features our company, and shows our industry in a more positive light.  I can’t remember a media piece in the 20 years I’ve been in the industry, whether print or television, which gives us this chance to show our human side."

The program, “Flat Broke: Begging and Borrowing in America,” airs Friday, January 19, at 10:00 p.m. Eastern.