A QA scorecard that measures dignity, not just compliance
Most call scorecards check whether the collector said the required words. Here is one that also checks whether the consumer could have said yes.
The Resolvah team
Operators, not observers
Every agency has a QA form. Most of them were built by compliance, and they check what compliance needs to prove: mini-Miranda, identity verification, the disclosure, no threats, no third-party disclosure. Fine. A collector can score 100% on that form and still leave a consumer feeling small, and that consumer will not call back, will not pay, and may well write to a regulator.
A scorecard that measures dignity is not softer. It is more demanding, because it asks whether the call worked for the person on the other end. Here is the one we use, in five sections, with how to score each.
1. Compliance (the gate, not the score)
Keep everything you have: required disclosures, verification, no prohibited statements, time-of-day, consent for the channel, dispute and cease handling. Score it pass or fail. A failed item is a coaching event regardless of anything else on the form. But once it passes, it stops contributing to the score. Compliance is the floor, not the ceiling.
2. Listening (30 points)
Did the collector let the consumer finish their first explanation without interrupting? (10)
Did the collector repeat back the consumer's situation in their own words before offering anything? (10)
Did the collector ask at least one question about what the consumer could actually afford, rather than starting from the balance? (10)
3. Clarity (25 points)
Was the balance explained in plain language, with the original creditor and what the amount is made of, without being asked twice? (10)
Did the collector explain the consumer's options, including the option to dispute, without being prompted? (10)
Could a listener with no background tell, at the end of the call, exactly what was agreed and what happens next? (5)
4. Pressure (25 points, scored in reverse)
Start at 25 and subtract for each of these. Any single one is a coaching flag.
Urgency the situation didn't have ("this offer expires today" when it doesn't). (−10)
Repeating the ask after the consumer has clearly declined it. Once is a clarification; twice is pressure. (−10)
Consequence language that isn't in the agency's actual practice. (−15)
Tone shifts when the consumer says no. (−5)
5. Outcome quality (20 points)
If an arrangement was made, was it one the consumer proposed or agreed to without being talked up? (10)
Did the collector offer the self-service option (portal, link, callback window) so the consumer could act on their own time? (5)
Did the consumer end the call sounding the same as or better than they started? Score it honestly. (5)
How to run it
Sample by outcome, not at random. Pull calls where a plan was set and calls where the consumer hung up. The scorecard learns more from the second group.
Score five calls per collector per month, by someone who is not their supervisor, and calibrate monthly: three scorers score the same two calls and argue about the differences.
Publish the section averages for the floor, never the individual scores. Coach one-on-one from the recording, starting with what went well.
Track the kept-promise rate alongside the score. Collectors whose listening and clarity scores rise usually see their plans survive longer within a quarter. That is the argument that wins over the skeptics.
A collector can score 100% on the compliance form and still leave a consumer feeling small.
The scorecard applies to Dee, our virtual collector, exactly as it applies to a person, and it is how we tune her. If a conversation cannot pass the dignity sections, it does not matter that it passed compliance.
This is how we think — and how Resolvah works. See it for yourself.
