Eleos Services aims to be a kinder, gentler collection agency

If compassion isn’t the first thing that jumps to mind when you think of debt collectors, Trey Hall understands.

Hall, owner of a new debt collection service, is trying to change that perception. He describes his business, Eleos Services, as being based on Christian principles.

“It’s been working very well, actually,” he said. “We’re receiving thank-you letters and cards from debtors.

“They’re not used to people being calm, cool and collected when talking to them. All of our collectors say, ‘Yes, sir,’ ‘No, ma’am,’ ‘please’ and ‘thank you.’ ‘I understand what you’re going through. What can we do to help get this resolved?’ ”

Hall opened Eleos on July 1, not long after the collection agency he was working for closed.

“I figured we could do it, for lack of a better term, in a better way,” he said.

A high school math teacher and football coach for 10 years, Hall followed a friend into the collection industry. He worked in sales, finding clients for the agency, and learned about other aspects of debt collection as well.

Hall said potential clients of Eleos – which means mercy or compassion in Greek – aren’t concerned that his approach goes too easy on debtors. That’s because businesses understand that debtors tend to associate any unpleasantness arising out of the collection process with the creditor, not the collection agency.

“When we don’t do things right, the original creditor gets the black eye,” he said. “We understand that we’re an extension of the creditor.”

Handled correctly, a debtor may well want to do business in the future with that creditor, he said.

Hall said the approach is as effective as the tactics that many people associate with collection agencies.

“Overall, we’re seeing close to a 35 percent collection rate,” which is as good or better than the industry average, he said.

Eleos employs 10 people. Hall handles sales, business and personnel decisions, using one supervisor to oversee collectors.

Of those collectors, he said, “We’re very selective if they’ve been in the industry before, just to make sure they really can do things our way.

“Honestly, not everybody in collections is bad. We can still find those that are doing it right and just tweak it a little bit.”

The collection industry is heavily regulated by the government, meaning that employees must be trained and monitored closely, Hall said. Finding and contacting some debtors is so difficult and expensive, he said, that’s it crucial that Eleos “not upset that individual” if it hopes to recoup its investment.

Hall hopes to have the same kind of success he did as a coach at Sunrise Christian Academy, which went to the state football championship three straight years in the Kansas Christian Athletic Association, winning once.

“I think the leadership tools that I used while running a football team are the same ones I use here,” he said. “It’s a team. It’s just a different type of team.”

This story was originally published October 28, 2015 at 8:06 PM with the headline "Eleos Services aims to be a kinder, gentler collection agency."