Adam Parks (00:07)
Hello everybody, Adam Parks here with another episode of Receivables Podcast. Today I’m here with my longtime friend, Mr. Yale Levy, to talk to us about an interesting position in the marketplace where being neutral and providing a neutral platform for communications doesn’t necessarily make you passive.
And so I wanted to talk with Yale today about some of the different pieces and parts of the platform that he’s working with and how it’s bringing the consumer and the collector together.
How are you doing today, Yale? Good to see ya.
Yale (00:39)
Yeah, I’m good. Things are good. It’s sunny outside in Columbus, Ohio, and it’s been a great day.
Adam Parks (00:44)
Well, I’m glad we get an opportunity to connect and have a chat today. But Yale, for anyone who has not been as lucky as me to get to know you through the years, could you tell everyone a little about yourself and how you got to the seat that you’re in today?
Yale (00:56)
Yeah, it was a pretty remarkable story. I founded Levy & Associates back in 2004. It was originally a single-state law firm based in Columbus, Ohio. I got into some debt collection inadvertently. Somebody sent me some medical debts to collect, and before I knew it, Atlantic Credit and Finance- you remember that name, Adam, don’t you? Boy, that was a name from the past. They were my first national client.
And from there it grew and grew. I got TRAKAmerica and then some other clients as well. And before I knew it, I was operating in five states: Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia. And it was doing really well; I had a lot of major clients on board. At the end of 2023, I sold my practice to another lawyer.
I thought I was retired. And lo and behold, after nine months of being retired, I was fifty-three at the time; none of my friends were retired. I had nothing to do. And this guy named George Simons called me out of the blue on LinkedIn saying, Hey, we’re looking for somebody to help open doors in the collection industry, especially collection law firms. Would you be interested in the job? At that point, I really wasn’t, but he offered to fly me out to Salt Lake City. I drove up to Sundance.
We met, and we did a hike in Sundance. It was great. And before I knew it, in September of 2024, I got hired by Solo as the Director of Client Development, and off the races, we went. It was a really fun journey so far.
Adam Parks (02:30)
Well, Solo has a couple of different hats as an organization, but tell me a little about the organization and your role there and what you guys are doing.
Yale (02:39)
Yeah, so I primar primarily work with Solo Settle. It’s really a revolutionary platform that George Simons invented. He was interviewing consumers and collectors, and he realized that everybody wanted the same thing: settlement as fast as possible. And that’s what kind of germinated Solo Settle.
Solo Settle is a tech-enabled settlement platform that allows consumers to initiate settlements with their creditors, collectors, law firms, and collection agencies to try to settle their debts digitally without ever talking on the phone. And consumers love it because, as you guys know, I have three boys, 25, 23, 19, no 20, and they never talk on the phone. They would rather cut off their hand than pick up a phone. So the only person they really talk to on the phone is their mother.
And creating a digital platform that allows people to communicate without being on the phone makes it a lot easier for people who could do it on the couch while they’re watching TV. And these people that we have at Solo Settle actually want to have their debts paid, have the intent to pay their debts, maybe not exactly the amount that the creditor or law firm wants them to pay, but at least it’s a starting point for negotiations. And it all could be done digitally- no phone calls, no phone tag, no hold time; all that friction is gone.
And it allows consumers and collectors to try to do it all digitally. Once a settlement is reached, the collector or law firm could upload a settlement agreement. We have DocuSign built into our platform. We send that document to the consumer to review, approve, and sign. And then we send it immediately to the collection agency or law firm or creditor to process. So it makes the whole system really frictionless, easy to use, and consumer- and collector-friendly.
Adam Parks (04:36)
And so talk me through a little about, from the consumer’s perspective, what problem are you trying to solve and where in the process does your platform fit? Consumer doesn’t pay their bill. You know, walk me through where you fit into the ecosystem.
Yale (04:52)
As we all know, as collectors, since you know I have been in the collecting industry for twenty years, as I said, collect can no consumer will buy; most consumers don’t buy something not meaning to pay. What happens is a change of circumstance: death, injury, loss of job, divorce, separation. Some change of circumstance causes them to go off the rails, and they need some time to rehabilitate. And they do that.
But now in this day and age, in the digital world with ChatGPT and digital communication and texting, so many people now don’t want to talk on the phone. They feel collectors, even though the collectors are like Levy & Associates, where I used to work at, were very good and passive with consumers, there’s still that angst of the unknown about having to pick up the phone, talk to somebody that knows more than you, and they feel a lot of fear with being yelled at or being undermined.
So by using a digital collection platform like Solo Settle, it really frees up the consumer to engage with the collector digitally, so they don’t have to do it over the phone. And what we do is break it down to the bare necessities. Why can’t you pay? How much can you pay? And how long is it going to take to pay? And we take those variables.
And we help the consumer make offers to the collectors. The collectors are in full control. They’re able to either accept or counter, and it goes back and forth between the parties until a settlement is reached. And again, all we provide at Solo Settle is the platform. We do not tell consumers or collectors what to do. It’s all up to the two parties to try to get the debt settled on their own.
We just provide the technology to enable digital communications so people don’t have to wait 20 minutes on hold or talk to a collector who might be having a bad day or has issues coming up that they can’t explain. So we try to take all that friction and tension out of the conversation and allow the collector and consumer to just deal with numbers. How much are you going to settle this debt for? How many months is it going to take, and what is your monthly payment?
And people love it. We have thousands of people that have gone through Solo Settle. We have a, I don’t know, a couple hundred, not a thousand, collectors using Solo Settle every day to get cases settled without ever talking to somebody on the phone. It’s phenomenal. If I were at a law firm today, a collection law firm today, I would be using Solo Settle in a heartbeat because it is so efficient and so easy to use.
Adam Parks (07:22)
And what does the consumer need to have available to them in order to start the process of using the platform? Like if they want to go research their accounts or start the process, what do they need to have in hand in order to start?
Yale (07:51)
They don’t really need that much in hand. They really just need the name of the creditor that they owe money to, how much it’s owed, and if there’s a lawsuit. Our digital flow on the internet at www.solosettle.com walks the consumer through about 12 slides about the information that we need to validate who they are, what the debt is, and who the creditor or collector is that is trying to collect on the debt.
We gather all that information. And once they give us the collector name, we have a database of email addresses wherever we want to send the offers to. And then we ask the collector to make an offer, either a lump sum, a monthly payment plan, or a tiered payment plan. And we send that to the collector with the authorization, explaining to them that this consumer has an offer that they would like to make to you to settle their debt.
And you could either accept it or counter it. And it’s all done digitally, either through email or through our platform. And we do have a group of consumer representatives that could call law firms, collectors, and consumers to try to get responses from them.
Adam Parks (09:02)
Okay. So you’ve got some folks that are kind of sitting in between. So you tell the consumer what you need, you go research those accounts, and then look to start that process. Now, I mean, what kind of settlements are we talking about here, right? In terms of settlement percentages.
Yale (09:12)
Exactly. My gosh, it is unbelievable. I would tell you, I’ve seen the data myself. I would say 20% of the people start off at 100%, either lump sum or over time. Our average settlement rate is in the low 80% range. So if you take all of our settlements over time and we take an average of that, it’s about 80.5%. Which is, as you know, Adam, relatively high. I think it’s a little bit too high, but this is what consumers want.
They want to take responsibility for their debts. They want to pay their debts, and they want to do it the way they want to get it done. And what they want is digital communication. They don’t want to do it on the phone because they don’t want to be on hold for 20 minutes. They are fearful of who’s gonna pick up that phone. That person probably knows more about collections than they do, which is obvious because a collector’s job is to know how to do collections, and they don’t want that fear and anxiety.
So if they could use a digital avenue like Solo Settle, it is great. And what’s even better is Solo Settle is neutral, it’s free to collectors, and it does not take away any of the collector’s control. Because the can collectors are always at the end of the line saying accept or counter. So they have the ability to either accept the deal the consumer is offering or counter it. And that provides parity for both parties.
Adam Parks (10:45)
What do you think drives such a high settlement percentage? So many consumers coming in and offering to pay a hundred percent versus going direct. What do you think that catalyst might be?
Yale (10:55)
Right. I believe the catalyst is the people we have coming to us want to pay. They acknowledge that they owe the debt and they are voluntarily coming to the collector and saying, Hey, I don’t want this lawsuit, I don’t want this collection effort, I don’t want this communication, I want to settle this debt, and I am so motivated to get this debt settled that I am willing to pay sometimes a hundred percent to get the debt settled.
And sometimes it’s over, you know, 12 months, 24 months, 36 months. But we try to educate the consumer by giving them our tips, saying, hey, a 120-month payment plan typically doesn’t work. Or we say, hey, the average settlement rate for this debt could be between these two numbers.
So we provide some guidance to consumers, but we really help them focus on what is a viable settlement offer and what is not. I see very few settlement offers under 50% on the platform. I think most of our settlement offers are 50% and north. And with 20% of people offering 100%, that’s what gets our average up into the eighties because that 100% is really powerful.
Adam Parks (12:10)
And do you think that maybe there’s some value to their being, I mean, similar to the way the third party collections works with a second voice and then when they hear a voice that you know Solo’s involved where it’s a let’s say some level of trust with that individual consumer, whether it be through consumer content or or whatever the the angle might be, but do you think that might help to drive those higher numbers?
They’re just looking for that connection point or finding a way to deal with a law firm that is not over the phone or in court.
Yale (12:44)
Exactly, Adam. You hit it on the head. What we do is gain the consumer’s trust through our blogs, YouTube videos, and articles on our website explaining what a summons is and what to do when you receive a complaint. What is a default judgment? How do you negotiate with a collector?
We provide hundreds, if not thousands, of articles and blogs, YouTube videos that help consumers gain trust with us. We’re not selling them anything. What we’re doing is educating them, because in this country, financial literacy, as you know, Adam, is at an all-time low. People don’t understand credit. People don’t understand that not paying your bills is going to cost you more money down the road. And that you need to take responsibility for your debt, stand up, make an offer, and communicate. I mean, that’s the most important thing in collections is communicate with your collector.
So we encourage consumers to communicate. You don’t have to use Solo Settle, but if you want to use Solo Settle to communicate, you can. There’s nothing that stops you from picking up the phone and calling the collector directly yourself. We are just one of the possible avenues they can use to get this done. So it’s very helpful to them. And people, I mean, we have like a 4.6 Trustpilot review on the internet. People love it because it makes it so easy for them.
Adam Parks (14:13)
And so the tools that you’re providing to the consumer are yet another channel of communications that they can leverage. And as you mentioned, you know, your kids and you know my family as well avoid the telephone and are really looking at text messaging and other written communications. And I’m sure that’s a driving factor.
How does that engagement work? Because not every law firm has all of those tools available. Does this become that centralized communication hub?
Yale (14:42)
Yeah, I think so. We have so many law firms that are still in, you know, the 70s and 80s that don’t have that; they do have email, and that’s it. So we provide what I tell people every collector every day is: we don’t step on your toes. We’re just providing you an additional flow of digital communications.
So if they have it or not, we just provide an ancillary amount of consumers to the creditor wanting to pay. So I just say, just layer it on top. We don’t want to step on your toes. You do what you want with your digital communications if you have any. But if you don’t, we do it for you. And if you do have it, we just provide you a supplemental flow of consumers that we find, that we educate and encourage to communicate to the law firms and collection agencies.
Adam Parks (15:36)
Yeah, from a collector and from a consumer standpoint, help me understand how this impacts the compliance pieces. Right. From a consumer’s perspective, they’re looking to develop trust. From a collector’s perspective. They’ve got requirements most likely being handed down to them from a creditor client. But what does that intersection of the two worlds of compliance really look like?
Yale (15:59)
Right, I mean that’s really a great question, Adam. Compliance on Solo is so easy because everything is in writing. So you don’t have a collector going off the reservation and saying something ’cause they had a bad day, they had a fight with their wife, or somewhere, you know, pushing the buttons. We really have to take all that out of the equation. We really just deal with why can’t you pay, how much can you pay, and how long is it gonna take you to make those payments?
And that’s what we boil down all of the conversation to. We document every transaction, every conversation, or communication in our notes. And we have a date and time of when that happened. So that if you come get audited, we have all that information saved for you in easy-to-read and understand language. It allows a client or a regulator to say, look what they said. We also have disclosures on every communication.
We always have the Mini Miranda and every email from the collector to the consumer, and they can add as many other disclosures as they need to make sure they’re compliant with their client guidelines. And all that is documented in their notes, and they’ll be able to see them.
Adam Parks (17:09)
Yeah. And so all that gets committed back to the system. It’s available there in the records. Now, when we talk about these systems, right? And I think one of the challenges that debt collection companies have is that there are so many different siloed pieces of data. How well can they integrate? Is it just through the interface that they can go through and connect with the tool set, or are there other connection points that they can leverage?
Yale (17:33)
But at this point in time, there are basically two ways of doing it. We do send an email every time the consumer communicates with the collector; the collector gets an email communication of what the consumer said. And also on our dashboard, they could open their dashboard, see what the consumer sent to them, they could copy and paste it and put it in their system of record. That’s really easy to do.
We have little copy buttons that you hit; the button that copies that whole line or that whole paragraph, and they can just paste it into your collection system’s notes. Again, all of your for the collector side, because I know this audience is mostly collectors on the platform, we never delete anything. So we have a whole history of communications back and forth. If a collector ever needs it, they could go back, they could sign onto the platform, come see it and copy it and paste it or show it to their client.
So it’s all very easy, all compliant. And we take out the human factor. So you don’t get angry, you don’t hear any yelling or screaming. It’s all just typing, and it’s all neutral and very calm and collected.
Adam Parks (18:33)
And so the original question that we set out to try and answer today was about kind of the neutrality of a platform like this, not necessarily meaning that the organization or the tool set is passive. Help me explain that to our audience in terms of how your system operates as a neutral platform while truly not being totally passive, but kind of being active in that resolution process. What does that balance look like?
Yale (18:41)
Yeah. Right. So neutrality means to us that we provide a structured digital channel that consumers can easily submit an offer online or via email, that collectors can accept, counter, or decline, or ignore its own authority and policies, that both parties have documented records of what happens back and forth, and the process is transparent and controlled.
Firms and agencies, again, always remain the final decision maker. Consumers can make offers. The collector or agency can either accept or counter, making them the final decision maker. So neutrality should be comforting for collectors.
It means that Solo Settle does not take sides; we do not have any control over the outcomes, and we’re not trying to replace the law firm or agency. We’re just creating a better channel for communication and resolution. Make sense?
Adam Parks (20:10)
I think so. I mean, you’re trying to find that balance for being a channel of communication. But I think in being neutral, right? In providing that place for conversation, it’s not necessarily passive. I think it’s an active act because you are bringing those consumers to the table. There’s action in getting those folks who have these outstanding situations to the table, helping them identify where those debts are, how much those debts are, and kind of giving them an opportunity to start resolving it.
So that you know, it feels like there are some actions to it because it’s not just totally passive. I have a platform; you can use it or not use it. I think you’re providing some of those tools with the intent of being active, using the neutrality of a platform that sits in between the two parties and isn’t favoring one or the other.
But still, there’s some activity to that. It’s not like you guys aren’t doing work over there, right? Like you’re bringing those consumers in, you’re engaging with them, you’re bringing them to the table, you’re facilitating some of these negotiations.
And I can imagine that the communications back and forth and the follow-ups on those communications are probably where you spend a whole lot of your human labor time because getting responses to accounts is not always the easiest thing. And so the more that that process can be organized and fed, I would think the faster you’re actually able to move through those resolutions.
Yale (21:45)
Exactly. And with staffing at the levels it’s at, we need things to go efficiently and effectively. And you hit it right on the head, Adam. If we could get things done digitally, with collectors remaining in control, we can eliminate that friction of hold times, long conversations that might take twenty minutes, verification that could take five or ten minutes alone. All that could be removed from the equation.
And look how much easier that makes it for everybody. And that’s why we say we are neutral. It doesn’t mean we’re passive. Neutral means fair. Neutral means structured. Neutral means documented. And neutral means both sides have a better way to communicate and resolve that with each other.
Adam Parks (22:22)
I think you hit it on the head there with you: neutral means fair. It’s a balanced place where these conversations can be facilitated. And if we can have the conversation through a digital format, that makes it even easier for both sides of the equation because that’s where the consumer wants to be met. It’s the channel that they want to be using. And I think we’ve seen an increase in the volume of accounts and potentially a decrease in liquidation over time.
The collection agencies and law firms or creditors are required to do more with less. And this is one of those opportunities to execute without having to throw more human resources at it, because 80% of companies are having trouble hiring. 81% are having trouble retaining the folks that they are able to hire. So I think there are some real challenges there for the collection industry on the whole. And this is one of those tools in the toolbox of solutions.
That can help us keep our liquidation rates moving.
Yale (23:34)
Right. Yes, I totally agree, Adam. For collection law firms and agencies, the question is not whether consumers want digital operations options. They already do. The question is whether your organization is prepared to meet willing consumers where they are. If your former agency wants to reduce friction, improve documentation, and create a better path for consumer-initiated settlements.
I would welcome the opportunity to show you how Solo Settle works. It’s easy to do. The demo takes less than 20 minutes. I’ve done it probably 150 times by now. And when I meet with people- creditors, collectors, law firms alike- once they see it, the light bulb goes off, and they realize how easy it is. And most importantly, for collection law firms and agencies, there’s no cost to you.
The consumer is so engaged and wants to use digital communication so badly that they’re willing to pay us a small tech fee to use our platform to digitally communicate with law firms and agencies to get their accounts settled. I mean, that speaks volumes about what’s going on. People in debt are willing to pay a little bit more so they can use our platform and our technology to try to get these things settled. It’s unbelievable.
Adam Parks (25:02)
Well, it’s service or a tool that they’re purchasing, like any other app that they might put on their phone. It’s their opportunity to engage with data or to engage in a conversation that they don’t necessarily wanna have in a more comfortable format, which I do think adds value and is probably worth the fee from their perspective.
Having done one of the the webinars with George, talking with consumers and hearing their stories directly and all of that, you really start it made me realize just how much help they really do need and how scary and how much lack of of knowledge there is out there around the debt collection process and resolving the accounts because the only real advice or the only advice that they’re hearing from is maybe occasionally from a David Ramsey type character with a lot of qualifications. But the majority of what they’re seeing is TikTok. It’s Instagram Reels, it’s content from people with no business having these discussions or, you know, speaking in public.
Yale (26:00)
Right. It takes people down the wrong path. I mean, they give people bad advice to say, Hey, stop paying, turn off your phone, don’t take the calls. That is the worst thing to do.
Adam Parks (26:05)
I agree, Yale. I think it makes it significantly more difficult for those consumers that are actively trying to resolve their accounts when the collectors have to deal with ridiculousness because then they have to kind of manage things in the way in which the majority of communications are happening.
So feels like this is an opportunity for both the consumers to come in and find that new engagement channel as well as for the collectors to try and communicate through yet another channel that’s not outbound because we all love the inbound calls and this is inbound communications; we’re just not doing it
Yale (26:52)
Right. And most importantly, the consumers want it. The consumer experience is now part of a collection strategy. We have to think about that as we try to collect these debts. These debts need to be collected. I truly believe that people need to pay their bill and be financially responsible for the debts that they acquire and accrue.
And a consumer-initiated settlement is great because at least these people are standing up, taking responsibility for what they bought, and trying to get these debts resolved amicably and digitally, which is very exciting times.
Adam Parks (27:30)
Well, Yale, I really do appreciate you coming on today and sharing your insights. It sounds like you’re on to something over there and that you really have found that niche where you can be neutral and provide active, not a passive service to both the collector and the consumer. So I really appreciate you coming on and sharing your insights.
Yale (27:51)
Yeah, thanks, Adam. Had a great time.
Adam Parks (27:53)
Absolutely. For those of you that are watching, if you have additional questions you’d like to ask Yale or myself, you can leave those in the comments on LinkedIn and YouTube, and we’ll be responding to those. Or if you have additional topics you’d like to see us discuss, you can leave those in the comments below as well. And hopefully I can get Yale back here at least one more time to help me continue to create great content for a great industry. But until next time, Yale, I really appreciate your time today. Thank you for your insights.
Yale (28:01)
Yeah, thanks, Adam. I had a great time. Glad we could do it.
Adam Parks (28:17)
And thank you, everybody, for watching. We appreciate your time and attention. We’ll see you all again soon. Bye everyone.
