Local TV Station Humanizes Debt Collectors

A television station in Tampa, Fla. visited the office of a local collection agency and found something shocking: a pretty nice office staffed with pretty nice people.

“We expected a big, corporate boiler room operation,” wrote FOX 13 consumer reporter Chris Chmura.“Instead, we found a bright, clean, and remarkably small office.”

The piece, “Behind the phones in a debt collection agency,” features Gulf Coast Collection Bureau.

Gulf Coast owner Jack Brown notes that a lot of the bad reputation most debt collectors get comes from fly-by-night operators that have no real standing in the ARM industry.

“Most of these people that are the bad apples and the bad actors are criminals, not debt collectors,” he said.

The article and accompanying five-minute video segment should not come as any surprise to most debt collection professionals. But the reporter frames the “this is just a regular business” revelation as something extraordinary.

Read the full piece and watch the video.