Collections calls are some of the most sensitive conversations a business has. The customer is often under pressure, the rules are strict, and a single badly handled call can become a complaint, an ombudsman case or a finding in an audit.
This guide covers the checks collections QA teams most often need evidence for, and how to write them so each one can be proved or disproved from the call itself.
This is general guidance for QA teams, not legal advice. In the UK, collections firms are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, and the detailed rules sit in its Consumer Credit sourcebook (CONC) and the Consumer Duty. Check your own obligations with your compliance team.
Why sampling falls short in collections
Regulators increasingly expect firms to show that customers are treated well across the board, not just in the calls someone happened to review. The FCA’s Consumer Duty, for example, expects firms to monitor the outcomes customers actually get.
The failures that matter most in collections, such as missing a customer in financial difficulty or putting pressure on someone who is vulnerable, are also the ones that happen in a small share of calls. A handful of reviews per agent will miss most of them. See QA sampling: how many conversations do you need to review? for the numbers.
The checks
Opening the call
- Caller and purpose identified. The agent says who they are, which company they represent, and that the call is about a debt.
- Right person confirmed. Before discussing the debt, the agent confirms they are speaking to the account holder.
- Call recording disclosed. The agent tells the customer the call is recorded near the start.
Disclosing a debt to the wrong person is a serious breach, so check 2 should be critical.
Understanding the customer’s situation
- Ability to pay explored. Before agreeing a payment plan, the agent asks about the customer’s income and essential spending, or explains how affordability will be assessed.
- Financial difficulty mentioned. Warning: the customer mentions job loss, illness, other debts or struggling to pay essential bills.
- Vulnerability mentioned. Warning: the customer mentions a health condition, bereavement, caring responsibilities or anything suggesting they may need extra care.
- Difficulty acted on. When the customer mentions financial difficulty, the agent explains the options available, such as breathing space, reduced payments or free debt advice.
Checks 5 and 6 don’t fail the agent. They flag the call for a person, because those are the calls where the rest of the conversation matters most.
Agreeing a way forward
- Plan stated clearly. When a plan is agreed, the agent states the amount, how often, and the first payment date.
- Plan is the customer’s choice. The agent does not insist on an amount the customer has said they can’t afford.
- Free debt advice signposted. When the customer is in difficulty, the agent mentions that free, independent debt advice is available.
Tone and conduct
- No threats. The agent does not threaten action the business wouldn’t take, or suggest consequences that aren’t true.
- No unfair pressure. The agent does not pressure the customer to borrow money, sell belongings or pay more than agreed.
- Customer can end the call. The agent does not refuse to let the customer end the call or insist on an immediate decision.
Closing
- Next steps summarised. Before ending, the agent confirms what happens next and when the customer will hear from the business again.
Proving each check
For an auditor, “the agent passed” isn’t enough. You need to show where in the call it happened. That means every result should link to the exact line in the transcript, such as the moment the agent asked about income, or the moment the customer mentioned they had lost their job.
When a check fails, the evidence should show where it should have happened. For check 7, that is the line where the customer mentioned difficulty, followed by the agent moving straight to a payment demand.
Getting the rules right
Collections rules often need a condition. “Free debt advice signposted” only applies when the customer is in difficulty. Write the condition into the rule so it isn’t marked as failed on calls where it didn’t come up. How to write a QA scorecard that can be checked automatically covers this in more detail.
Where Assay fits
Assay checks every collections call against rules like these, written in plain English. Each result points at the line in the transcript behind it, warnings such as financial difficulty send the call to a person, and every change a reviewer makes is recorded with who, when and why. That gives your compliance team evidence across every call, not a sample.