How a collections team used Real-Time Guidance to make sure agents always had the right information when they needed it — before a compliance violation

The Challenge

Printed sheets of rebuttals don’t prevent compliance violations or win calls

Collection agents need to follow an array of rules, laws, and regulations to stay compliant. As if this isn’t stressful enough, these regulations change frequently, as with the introduction of Regulation F in 2021.

Keeping agents away from compliance landmines while trying to overcome objections on the phone is a daily struggle for agencies like Midwest Fidelity Services.

In an average month, Midwest agents talk to about 4,000 consumers and, in the past, usually made 30 compliance violations. That’s not bad, but it came at a cost: Agents were so worried about saying something they couldn’t, they wouldn’t push back on consumer objections.

“A new client could come in one day and collectors were expected to call [consumers] the following day and explain why they had them on the phone. Overcoming consumers’ objections was difficult for a collector because they just didn’t know.”  — Operations Manager, Midwest Fidelity Services

The only resources agents had to answer objections (and stay compliant) were printed sheets of rebuttals and client information stored in a cloud drive. During calls, agents scrambled to find the information they needed before consumers hung up. Without an easier way to get compliant information, agents weren’t able to consistently win calls.

The Solution

AI-powered Real-Time Guidance empowers agents with accurate information on calls

Agents needed an easier way to get compliant rebuttals. Based on a referral, Midwest’s operations team sought out Balto. They saw how Balto could surface rebuttals and guide agents on compliance in real-time, instead of having to search for information or find out what went wrong after the fact.

“Balto ​​offered us a powerful way to improve our results as well as look at areas to improve later. It simplified everything.” — Operations Manager, Midwest Fidelity Services

When managers started training agents, they explained the mechanics of how Balto works from start to finish so agents felt empowered by the tool, not threatened. Agents worked with managers to get every phrase just right and ready for calls.

Once Balto was live, the results were immediate. Agents didn’t have to dig for compliant information – it was ready for them when they needed it.

“Those who used Balto from day one, their numbers started to increase; their performance started to improve. It took the ‘hard’ out of hard work.’” — Laura Gomez, Operations Manager

The Results

Compliance violations drop to near-zero while CSAT scores soar

After a few months of using Balto, average monthly compliance violations dropped from 30 to one. As compliance violations dropped, fewer calls were lost and customer satisfaction scores soared by 45%. Within the year, the collection team broke their own record and completed a month without any violations across nearly 4,000 customer conversations.

“We improved compliance score trends from an average of 30 violations to maybe one to two a month. This month is the first month we’re actually looking to break a record and make it a hundred percent.” — Operations Manager, Midwest Fidelity Services

For businesses like Midwest Fidelity, compliance violations slow productivity and growth. Empowering agents with all the information they need to stay compliant with customers takes a lot of work. When they can get that information automatically, that work is much easier.