Debt collection by
SMS is effective and reduces costs.
Until Debthound arrived, only big business could afford to send reminders and invoices to clients via SMS. Those that did so for the purposes of debt collection have seen a greatly improved response over conventional methods.
It is clear from below examples, that the informal yet direct approach of SMS makes clients eager to comply. The benefits of a rapid response and significantly reduced costs make debt collection by SMS an obvious choice. Our scheduled SMS service provides the most intuitive and mobile solution, not to mention being the cheapest (membership is free).
Here's the proof:
Randburg-based legal firm, Munnik Basson DaGama (MBD), implemented an automated SMS solution for debt collection and discovered:
Immediate cost savings: collection costs reduced by more than 60% and less outbound call centre activity and more inbound calls.
Beget Solutions also tried SMS and noted a better success rate for debt collection than conventional telephone call or correspondence.
"Possibly debtors who receive a personalised SMS gets a feeling of being tracked down with no place to hide as a cellphone is generally always in close proximity to the user, almost an extension of their person," said Delme Hawkins.
Legal firm Willemse Benade Venter Davis, which collects debt for companies such as Edgars and Joshua Doore, has chosen SMS as its main means of debt collection.
"On 6 June we sent out 45 SMS messages on behalf of a client, of which 43 received the message," said lawyer Coenie Kukkuk. "Within 15 minutes seven debtors contacted us and a total of 19, or 44%, responded." "One person with outstanding debt for four years made a payment of R4 000 immediately. The response represents an increase of 200% in reactions to letters and even summonses."
Another debt collection firm said the recovery rate for doctors using SMS instead of letters or telephone calls had improved to 90% three months after the company adopted the system.[2]
