Vision Credit Education, Inc.

Collection agencies have long sought cheap labor by basing operations in inexpensive communities and relying on lower skilled yet trainable hires. It only makes sense then, that they are tapping into markets in India and the Philippines in order to find even cheaper ways to collect.

Advances in telecommunications allow for collection calls to be routed electronically over the internet. That way, a collection agency can base operations overseas without having to pay traditional international calling rates.

The large labor pools feature college graduates that speak English. The pay can be less than $3 an hour.

When a debt collector calls you on a collection account, the call could very well be coming from workers in another country. Either way, if you owe on a debt, the call can be very uncomfortable to take.

One problem that can occur is that many of these employees are highly scripted and may respond with a statement that does not fit the situation. Additionally, they may lack the discretion to work with you in a productive manner to resolve the debt.

The trend is for a growing percentage of collection calls to originate from overseas. As long as higher collection rates reward such offshoring, the practice will be sure to continue!