Adam Parks (00:08)
Hello everybody, Adam Parks here with a special episode of the Receivables Podcast. Today I'm here with my good friend, Mr. Manny Plasencia with TransUnion, who has been the driving force this year behind the 2025 TransUnion Debt Collection Industry Report. The survey is now open.
Manny and I are just getting back from the ACA annual conference last week in Louisville, where we had an opportunity to present the results of the 2024 report from the perspective of collection agencies.
Manny, thank you for coming on, taking a few minutes with me to share some insights and talk a little about this project.
Manny (00:49)
Adam, you know, well, first off, thanks for having me. Thanks for sharing stage with me over at ACA. Thank you for ACA for having us. What a great event and great time. It was great to share time with colleagues and obviously speak about the future of collections, where we're going and what we're doing. The 24 results were amazing, but I am so excited about what you and I just reviewed. I know...
You know, we don't have a crystal ball and we can't always determine what's going on in the industry. But it's great to see some of the advances that we anticipated from the 24 report and where that's taken and opened some other doors for agencies and how some of our respondents are now shifting gears. you know, some of that data is mind blowing considering where we're making investments or where we're going, especially seeing that, you know,
It appears that our agencies are making smart decisions because there's a lot of satisfaction with those decisions. And I really want to applaud you and your team for, gosh, the detail in the questioning. I don't know how many more questions or how much we thought about changing or amending the questions from last year's service, but I just feel like we got so much more deeper into each subject matter.
I know we're still talking about closing the report.
later on in September, think it is? September 1st. September 1st, but I'm excited to see where the rest of that engagement drives the KPIs that we're looking at. And on that note, I'm going to make the shameless plug. Please, partners, this data is not only important to you in the marketplace, you should know where the industry is going, where investments are being made, how those investments are working into different strategies and different segments and...
Adam Parks (02:07)
September 1st.
Manny (02:31)
of collections as well as helping people like me and other data providers and people who empower those type of strategies through data and services like TransUnion does to make decisions about how we should enhance our products and how we can deliver better service to you. I know this report has not only been informative for me to make those decisions, but also how I engage you in summits and our other engagement events so that we can get
the most out of that and deliver the best engagement products we can. Because that's what we do in Collectors, we engage, right?
Adam Parks (03:05)
Well, being able to dissect
this information, I'll say one thing, we did not ask more questions this year, we asked better questions. Last year was my first year really going through this exercise. And you know, it's a learning experience for me too. And what I realized was there was opportunities for us to ask more, not just about BPO services, but the use cases behind using a BPO service.
So we can better understand how the different disciplines of debt collection are actively engaging with those types of services. Law firms have a different use case for the most part when using a BPO than a collection agency might, than a debt buyer might, than a creditor might. And better understanding that dynamic. I realized last year that everything's not a flat chart and a lot of things live in a world of a matrix and understanding how things live at the different cross sections.
of different data points. And that's where we really modified the questions that we were asking. We came away from some things that made people uncomfortable, like liquidation rates, and started talking more about how they're deploying data points, how, what's happening in the world of hiring and staffing and having the right people in place within your organization and how the marketplace is changing, how products are changing.
Manny (04:09)
to explain and point out what's happening in the world of...
Adam Parks (04:23)
And from the early results that we've seen, because when we built everything out last year, we built out a dashboard system that allows us to anonymize that data and better understand what's happening, I'm going to say in real time as we're collecting results. And what I've seen so far this year is indicative of the changes that we've seen in federal regulation, right? The different level of fear of the unknown that existed in 2024 has become, I think, somewhat known in 2025.
Although the situation of the consumer is still a challenge, the charge off rates may be dropping and originations are rising. And I feel like there's an interesting dynamic for us to discuss in the world of what are the consumers actively facing today. But I get the opportunity next week to hang out with Dan Simmons at the RMAI Executive Summit.
Manny (05:13)
Yeah, it's working with brilliant people like Dan on my team and it's the greatest part about working at TransUnion. Being able to marry data with processes and operations and using consumer pulse information that only, quite frankly, we get and we can put together is a very unique opportunity and lens for me to have into the industry.
Our RMAI partners are fantastic. Unfortunately, I won't be at this year's executive conference. I have to miss it for personal reasons, but I'm excited that you and Dan are gonna be there representing TransUnion in the report and our consumer information. That credit trend information that goes into everybody's strategies these days should be, if it's not, something that should be utilized and it's free, it's available. It's not like it's secret sauce. What's interesting lately, and I hope I'm not,
I don't want to create any spoilers or anything, but what's really interesting to me is the dynamic changes in some of the stuff you described. Hiring has been a challenge for such a long time. I'm excited to see some of the early indications that we're seeing in that report, and I'm hoping the rest of the data plays out that way. AI, our two favorite letters. You and I have been talking about this for years at this point. I'm excited.
to see the great advances there. And there's so many differences in the way that we were using it and what we were comfortable with just last year compared to what we're seeing today. Oh, that's the part that's got me excited and jumping off of my chair, because we're really utilizing this new technology in very, very unique ways. I don't want to say unique because this has been around for a while, but ways that we weren't comfortable with our period not to be comfortable with as early as last year, maybe even a few months ago.
I hate to be the plugger here, but I'm going to keep encouraging all of our agency partners to participate. We'd love to work with ACA, RMAI.
all of our industry partners, CID, see everybody who, are industry associations who really help us not only from a legislative perspective, but of information, education, and everything that they do. And we want to be part of that. You we want to be part of that. I you and I spoke it passionately about being that single source of truth in the collection industry. I love using that word because I want to provide that. And I want to use our perspective from an operational perspective, you know, strategic perspective, take that tactical and strategic, line it up and say,
This is where we're going, folks. I think that's valuable information for all of us. And I think if we can rally engagement and all really rally behind this collective effort, we'll be a better industry for it.
Adam Parks (07:43)
I agree wholeheartedly. And when we talk about the source of truth, having that one place where we can have some data that we trust and understand and has ultimately the backing of the right organizations in terms of giving it the credibility that it deserves. In a recent trip, I think it was back in June to Washington, DC with the ACA Washington insights event, going in to see congressional leaders and actually being able to talk about challenges and hiring and
and what was actively happening in the situation that the consumers are facing, but being able to provide facts, figures, data, statistics behind those discussion changes the dynamic because it takes me from being a guy on the other side of the table going, well, you know, the consumers are in trouble and debt collectors are good.
to being able to say, look, we're employing a significant amount of people within your particular geographic region. And when we can't hire, we're forced to use BPO services and other things that fall outside of your constituencies. But being able to talk about these things with facts, figures, statistics, and data points is the difference between success and failure in some of those discussions. And it's been an honor to participate in.
Manny (08:29)
Hahaha
Adam Parks (08:54)
crafting the questions and trying to be able to find these nuggets of gold and insights from the mountain of data that we ultimately collect through this process.
I encourage everybody to participate agencies, debt buyers, law firms, creditors, even BPO services and what are you seeing in the marketplace because the more
data that we can collect from this, the more that we can draw that cross section and we can understand how things are impacting the different disciplines of debt collection, how things are impacting organizations of different sizes,
I'm not going to say that this industry is ever going to have a map of how to operate and where to go. But having a compass so you can understand which direction the winds are blowing and which direction you're trying to travel is something that we've been lacking for far too long.
Manny (09:41)
Yeah, I think I give him a shout out here. First off, our partnership, it means the world to me, right? think Mark Naiman, which is a shout out I mentioned that we share that nerding out or geeking out expression that all three of us use when we get all of the results. I think that's one of my favorite calls of the year is when you, Mark and I finally finalize the results. So we get to start talking about the implications and all of that. We start working with folks like Dan and everybody to validate that process to me is just
Adam Parks (09:49)
Of
Manny (10:08)
the absolute funnest thing I do all year. I know, you know, being new at TransUnion, right? I know we were halfway through it. Our great friend, Eric Folk, initiated this project and I wanna, you know, name him and call him out for it. It was an amazing idea that, you know, just gravitated towards all of us and I wanna continue to foster and build on, because it's important to me, you and I, not just personally, but also, which you said was perfect, right?
We wanted, and I wanted, an unbiased lens. I guarantee you nobody here has given you any marketing calls capturing your email. Not interested in your data here. I'm interested in your opinions and how much you're willing to share with us. And what I'm really trying to get, and if I'm selfish about it, is understand the entire marketplace from the most granular, smallest agency managing.
You know, two or three folks dialing for dollars and trying to figure out how they use their data compared to the biggest partners we have and how I could better service those.
I'm very grateful to this industry. It's been a very wild career ride for me. And I've always been that guy who wants to give back. And I don't necessarily want to say that I'm sitting here, you know, trying to just give back to our industry and do all of that bleeding hard stuff. But I want to say I believe wholeheartedly that we can all use the type of direction that you described. I don't think there's a manual, right? We're not handing out.
a playbook for you to go and implement in your business. We're telling you, this is what the market looks like. This is what the collections industry looks like where investments are being made, how they're working for folks, what things are coming up and popping up in people's minds that they're deploying that they're willing to share. It's just a great resource to look at and say, wow, I can't believe that we're struggling with this issue. You might not be, you might have the solution. You might have the secret sauce and that might be...
the competitive edge that you have over people on your scorecard. And you might learn that information just by public information that you're not gonna gather sitting behind your desk running your business every day. And then when you get granular to it and you get the everywhere and everything that we were getting out of this report, because I don't wanna give up too much, it's just an amazing resource I wanna say. And if we can provide that resource, I think TransUnion is a...
a great company to do. think our partnership creates that comfort and that, that bias lens and the security for people to reply honestly and openly and give us as much information as they're willing to share so that we can, you know, obviously make that public with the understanding that we're making that public. And I think you've done an amazing job. Your team has done an amazing job, not only gathering this information, but just being as passionate as I am about trying to decipher it and getting it right.
and getting it from the right people and making sure that it's, you know, it's not just sanitized, but that it's great information that's useful for others. I think it's been fantastic.
Adam Parks (12:52)
For those of you that are watching, if you're this far into the video, you could have already completed the survey for this year. It's going to take you 10 minutes. It's worth the time, effort and energy to participate in this source of truth and to help us provide the industry with that compass
Manny (13:09)
Thanks Adam, it was great, great being here as always. Thank you again for all of your support. And again, I just want to encourage everybody to get out there, participate in this data. We're only as good as the data and input you give us. We really, really, really want to continue to be that source of truth and be as informative as we can. Thank you all for your time, for your partnership and your participation. I look forward to seeing you at our next event, which would be, I'm gonna miss RMAI, but I think it was DCS after that, right?
Adam Parks (13:38)
That's the next one, yeah.
Manny (13:39)
Next one, so I'll see you at DCS folks.
Adam Parks (13:42)
I very much look forward to it. The link for the survey is down below tu2025.receivablesinfo.com. Go take 10 minutes, complete the survey, and you'll thank me later. I look forward to seeing you all again soon. Bye, everyone.
