In Focus Consumer Credit
It is clearly our duty to prevent this in our industry.
Disability is not pain Most guidance on vulnerable persons includes individuals with disabilities. Disability in itself does not make a person vulnerable. Many disabled people live full and happy
lives. People with disabilities should not be treated as vulnerable, unless they experience pain in respect of their debt. Such pain may not be immediate, but
may be delayed if they are pressured into agreeing to payments that they cannot afford. Treating all disabled people as vulnerable
stigmatises them, and assumes that they are not making valuable contributions to society. Instead of labelling disabled people as
vulnerable, we already have an overriding policy of fairness towards all people. There should be no difference in how we
listen to someone who needs to be heard and how we find the best customer outcome
October 2018
Many disabled people live full and happy lives. People with disabilities should not be treated as vulnerable, unless they experience pain in respect of their debt
for that individual whether they are disabled or not.
Identifying pain Recognising someone in pain may be direct, indirect or perceived. The individual may expressly state that they are experiencing pain and that discussions relating to debt are increasing that pain. The individual may refer to medication
or support which implies that they are experiencing pain. Where a collections agent feels that their customer is experiencing pain or is in fear of pain it is their moral and
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professional obligation to explore their own feelings and ask the right questions. Empathy, genuine unconditional positive
regard and an active listening ear will enable the agent to discover those messages coming from the customer. When a customer asks for help, consciously
or unconsciously, we must respond to that request, and try to make someone down on their luck feel lucky to speak to our caring and well-trained agents. As an industry we need to take a step
back from the nervousness around vulnerability and be open and clear about what we mean. We should not treat everyone as vulnerable simply because they need more time to understand their debt, or because it is uncomfortable to deal with debt. However, where people experience real
mental and physical pain, or real fear of such pain, they should be put into a separate, over-compensating treatment pathway where we, as custodians of the quality of their lives, have an obligation to help them every way that we can. CCR
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