Debt Collectors In India Target Stimulus Tax Refund

Are you wondering what you are going to do with your economic stimulus tax refund?  Debt collectors in India have the answer, and they are making tens of thousands of phone calls into the United States an hour, according to The New York Times reporter, Heather Thomas, in her article, Debt Collection Done From India Appeals to U.S. Agencies.  Here is an actual team pep talk, as reported by Ms. Thomas:

One hundred thirty million U.S. families will get a tax rebate this season” as part of the new economic stimulus package, Manu Sharma, the team leader, explained to a roomful of top-earning collection agents, most in their 20s. Those who qualify for the rebates will get as much $600 a person or $1,200 a household, he said, and “the I.R.S. is going to start paying this money in May.”  Start bringing up the rebate during calls, he told them. “This gives you an advantage so you can increase your wallet share,” he went on. “Get them set up on minimum balance arrangements” based around their tax rebates.

Encore Capital Group based in San Diego has about half its 300 plus collection force in India, and plans to grow the business.  Encore buys bank and credit card debt for pennies on the dollar and keeps whatever it collects over that as profit.  India’s collectors earn a base salary of $425 a month, about a fourth what collectors earn here in America, increasing the company profit margin.