April 24, 2008
Debt Collection Done From India Appeals to U.S. Agencies
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/24/business/worldbusiness/24debt.html?hp=...
By HEATHER TIMMONS

GURGAON, India — In a glass tower on the outskirts of Delhi, dozens of young Indians are on the telephone, calling America’s out of work, forgetful and debt-stricken and asking for cash.

“Are you sure that’s all you can afford?” one operator in a row of cubicles asks politely. “Well, how do you take care of your everyday expenses?” presses another.

Americans are used to receiving calls from India for insurance claims and credit card sales. But debt collection represents a growing business for outsourcing companies, especially as the American economy slows and its consumers struggle to pay for their purchases.

Armed with a sophisticated automated system that dials tens of thousands of Americans every hour, and puts confidential information like Social Security numbers, addresses and credit history at operators’ fingertips, this new breed of collectors is chasing down late car payments, overdue credit card debt and lapsed installment loans. Debt collectors in India often cost about one-quarter the price of their American counterparts, and are often better at the job, debt collection company executives say.
......
Manju Muddanna, 27, who uses the name Michelle Green when she is on the phone, is one of Encore’s best collectors. With laced-up stiletto sandals, wood bangles and a wad of chewing gum, she wheedles work and cellphone numbers out of debtors’ relatives to track them down. Like most Encore collectors, Ms. Muddanna handles several hundred calls a day, but actually makes contact with only a handful of borrowers.

Ms. Muddanna’s telephone voice veers to the school-marmish, her learned American accent into Blanche DuBois territory . When people on the other end of the phone mumble, she upbraids them, politely, “Ahhh just can’t understand you, ma’am.”

Encore pays its collectors in India an average base salary of 17,000 rupees ($425) a month, and they earn bonuses — sometimes more than $1,000 a month — for getting customers to pay. In contrast, collectors in the United States, make about $6,500 a month. Thanks to the income, a windfall in India, where the average monthly income is $63, collectors are amassing some of the status symbols that probably got their clients into trouble in the first place — new scooters, iPods, Swatch watches and exotic vacations.
--------------------

Gus: How much legality is there for confidential information like Social Security numbers, addresses and credit history to be at operators fingertips — especially in another country?

A contract or an agreement whether company or personal should not be divulged to anyone else even in case of defaulting, unless ALL contracts and agreements are made public — especially those between private and the public purse that often hide behind "business in confidence" clauses... It seems we accept cowboys rummaging through our affairs, even if they have a nice tone of voice and live on another continent. I had dealing with one phone company operators in Mumbai that made many promises to me that the Australian company could not deliver, once the switch was made. I dump them in a jiffy. I suppose that for legal purposes, the records are "kept" in the country of origin, but "accessible" to someone in India. Is this the new way to globalise the way one looses one's pants?