Overspending is good business for CCS in Oxford
OXFORD – Business is very good at The CCS Co.’s Oxford facility, says its manager, Mike Cloutier, with a wry smile.
That’s because more and more people are overspending and getting in debt.
“Our society is such that now it’s pretty rare to find somebody who doesn’t have debt, who haven’t extended themselves beyond their financial means,” Cloutier said. “People are finding it more and more difficult to pay down their debt.”
CCS, which stands for credit collection services, is one of the nation’s leading privately-held debt collection agencies, servicing more than 3,000 businesses in such fields as medical, Internet, cable, insurance and retail. They also have call centers at Newton, Mass., and Portsmouth, N.H.
“Our goal is to help them get their account out of collections,” Cloutier said. Their approach is to be respectful, positive, flexible and helpful. They focus on negotiating a payment arrangement or other solution to the debt, using carefully scripted methods and state-of-the-art computer technology.
Since opening the Oxford Center in the back of the Schiavi building on Route 26 seven months ago, 32 telephone service representatives have been hired. Cloutier said the company wants to be up to 40 workers by the end of February, and eventually fill all 80 stations.
New hires spend a week or more on a special training simulator that teaches them the intricacies of dealing with the public and debt. CCS’s fully-automated telecommunications system allows the service reps to respond to both inbound and outbound calls with the push of a button. The computer screen changes color to tell the reps what kind of call they are dealing with before they activate the call.
Between 60 and 70 percent of the debtors who agree to a payment arrangement by mail break the agreement, Cloutier said. The only thing CCS can do is “re-establish contact, and try to work with them.”
The company has a much higher success rate with a “check-by-phone” agreement, in which the debtor agrees to have CCS withdraw money from their checking account using a specific numbered check. The check can be postdated for up to 30 days, Cloutier said.
“We get very few (checks) returned for insufficient funds,” he said.
CCS always sends the debtor a letter before calling, he said. Sometimes people don’t realize that they have a financial obligation that has gone into collections.
CCS telephone representative Judith Sellers of West Paris admits to being a bit apprehensive when she first applied for the job. She and her husband moved to the Oxford Hills from Boston where she worked in an accounting office for a large architectural firm.
She was surprised to find that the benefits at CCS are better than what she received at the architectural firm. “The benefits are amazing, and the environment is good.”
Workers give their cubicles their own personal touch, with photos, plants or other adornments. “We do need to punch a time clock here, but there’s nobody going around cracking the whip,” Sellers said.
The bonus program CCS offers is incentive enough to keep the telephone reps on task, she said. “The more efficient you are, the more calls you can handle.” Sellers collects, on average, $12,000 to $13,000 a month in debt, and regularly receives bonuses. Starting pay is $9 an hour, and can reach $13 an hour with the bonus program
“I really do love it,” she said of the job. “I needed a job that I could do and leave and not have to bring it home with me. You’re not selling anything, and most people know they have the bill.”
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