Collections & Social Media
by Reagan Merchant, MBA
Collections and how we
collect a debt have changed
dramatically over the last
10 years. In the collections
industry we are accustomed to
using skip tracing tools such
as LexisNexis, Accurint, and
Credit Reporting, as well as
calling co-signers and
references. We have also added
tools to our arsenal over the
years—but have you thought to
add Social Media?
Social media is everywhere and
everyone is using it. It is a part
of everyday life. People use it to
keep up with trends, find out
news and celebrity gossip, to
keep up with family and to
show others what they have
users, 798 million mobile daily
been doing in their lives.
active users on average, 1.44
billion monthly active users,
Social media is defined as
and 1.25 billion mobile monthly
texting, email, Facebook,
active users. (see page 19, note 2)
Google Plus, MySpace, Twitter,
forums, blogs, customer review How does this impact you?
sites, bulletin boards, Yelp,
Well, financial institutions can
photo and video sites such as
use social media in a variety of
Flicker & YouTube, professional ways. For example, you can
networking, virtual worlds
post your new loan promotions,
(Second Life). (see page 19, note 1) market new products, invite
feedback from members, and
According to Facebook’s annual take payments. You can also
report, 95 percent of people
use social media to manage
who use the internet use
vendor relationships; post
social media of some form.
company updates, new product
Documents, pictures, personal offerings, acquisitions and
and business info, videos, and employee promotions; follow
music are common things
industry blogs; or keep tabs on
shared. As of December 2014,
trends in the industry.
Facebook had 936 million daily
Interestingly, people are more
willing to expose personal
details on social media sites
than ever before. For example,
on March 24, 2015, police in
Orange, CT, were able to
identify two suspects in a bank
robbery, as well as identify their
getaway car, after receiving an
anonymous tip that led them to
several Facebook pages. "This is
an example of using good old
fashion police work combined
with today's social media that
led to the successful and quick
arrests in this case," said Lt.
Andrew Steinbrick. (see page 19,
note 3)
A bank robber in Pontiac,
Michigan, was identified and
located after posting a selfie
Continued on page 18
The Credit Professional
17
October 2015