AmSher Collectors Hear Painful Stories

Birmingham's Nate Thomas Jr. finds himself on the front lines in the worst recession in a generation.

A debt collector at Birmingham's AmSher Receivables Management, Thomas spends eight hours each working day talking to people behind on their bills to phone companies, hospitals and other AmSher clients - as many as 300 phone conversations daily.

Thomas said he has heard many stories that would tear your heart out. There was a woman in Texas who fell on hard times and had to choose between keeping a roof over her head and paying medical bills. An elderly man living on Social Security found that his prescription costs began to exceed his monthly income. Many people simply can't pay their bills any longer because they have lost their job.

"I've heard it all," Thomas said during a break one day last month at AmSher. "Every day you come in, you don't know what to expect."

Thomas is among a group of workers in Birmingham - credit counselors, foreclosure prevention specialists, bank loan modification officers and others - who are hearing first-hand accounts of the suffering being felt by families caught up in the economic downturn.

Their jobs have put them in a position to see close-up the personal wreckage caused by a downturn that often is measured only in statistics about rising unemployment or foreclosures.

You don't have to tell them that more than 16,000 Birmingham-Hoover area jobs have disappeared over the past 12 months, sending the area's jobless rate to a 22-year high of 8.3 percent in March, more than double the rate of 3.8 percent from a year ago.

They're aware that Alabama's bankruptcy rate was fourth-highest among the states last year, as filings jumped 24 percent from 2007, according to the American Bankruptcy Institute. They already know that foreclosure activity in Alabama surged in March, rising 248 percent in a year, according to research firm RealtyTrac.

The numbers come as no surprise to Thomas, who has been a debt collector at AmSher for nine years.

"I know people are hurting," he said. "I would say 80 percent of the people I talk to are people who want to pay their bills, but got caught up in a situation nobody saw coming. Sometimes I say a silent prayer for people."

Art Cara, an outplacement consultant in Homewood who has a doctorate in psychology and offers career assessment for laid-off workers, said many professionals working on the front lines of the recession are getting burnt out by the extra work.

Folks suffering job losses and financial challenges are also being overwhelmed by stress, Cara said.

"It's normal to feel stress in this economy," Cara said. "For me, the best way to manage stress is to think about how you can make a difference."

Cara said he is advising clients to remember that the economy will turn around.

Thomas admits that trying to collect debts in the most fragile economy since the Great Depression can be stressful. But given the growing number of folks overwhelmed by debts during this downturn, AmSher's clients are more willing to work out repayment plans than in the past, he said.

"We stretch out payments a lot longer than we used to," he said. "Things have definitely changed from a few years ago. I had to polish up on my renegotiation skills."

Not everyone, of course, is interested in paying off their debts. There are a few folks, Thomas said, who simply choose to ignore paying their bills. On this particular day in the office, he was trying to track down a woman who owed a cell phone debt of $148.

"The last time she paid was June 2000," Thomas said.

Thomas acknowledges that the collection industry has its share of bad apples, but he insists the bulk are good people. "We are not the bad guys," he said. "We simply have a job to do. But we share the same challenges they do in this economy."

AmSher's owners, brothers David and Martin Sher, in the early 1990s wrote a book called "How to Squeeze Blood from a Turnip." They say Thomas has a natural talent for getting debtors to trust him.

Sher, whose 80 collectors make more than 1 million calls a month on behalf of clients, said Thomas is a floor team leader, helping many of the collectors at AmSher handle disputes with debtors.

Thomas said he can tell within the first few seconds how a call is going to go. He has had his share of calls from debtors who curse me out" and don't want to be bothered.

"You have to remain calm," Thomas said. "It takes a certain temperament to do this."

Despite the tough times, Thomas said in many ways his job can be satisfying.

"The biggest satisfaction I get is when I'm able to tell a person, Congratulations, this is your final payment. Your account is now paid in full,'" Thomas said.

© 2006 The Birmingham News