Fewer Calls, More Completions: What Auto Borrowers Want From Collections
A 2022 survey found that 69% of U.S. consumers prefer digital methods like email or text for collections contact, yet 73% said they were still receiving mostly letters and phone calls. That mismatch has consequences. Among unhappy delinquent borrowers, 71% say they'd consider switching lenders or providers over how they were treated during collections.
For a bank or lender, that delinquent auto borrower is very often also a cardholder, a deposit customer, or a future loan applicant. Here's what the survey data says past-due auto borrowers want, and why self-service has become such a big part of the conversation.
What Do Past-Due Auto Borrowers Want From Collections?
Two complaints show up consistently in borrower feedback: agent interactions that feel unsympathetic or rude, cited by 32% of dissatisfied past-due customers, and a lack of payment flexibility, cited by 23%. Neither complaint is about being contacted at all. Both are about how the contact happens and what options come with it. A borrower who can't pay the full balance today but could manage a partial payment or an installment plan is looking for an option a phone call often can't offer in the moment.
That lines up with the affordability pattern behind rising auto delinquencies more broadly. Many past-due borrowers aren't confused about what they owe; they're constrained by what they can pay right now. For a large share of auto borrowers, falling behind is a flexibility problem more than an awareness problem.
Why Self-Service Changes the Math for Collections Teams
A borrower who can pay today but has to wait for a callback, or repeat their situation to an agent before reaching a payment option, didn't need convincing. They needed access. Every one of those calls is agent time spent on an account that would have resolved itself through the right channel, time that could go to the accounts where a conversation makes the difference.
There's a relationship side to this too, and it matters more in auto than in many other portfolios because the delinquent borrower is so often a multi-product customer. A borrower who resolves a past-due auto payment through a portal, on their own schedule, has a very different experience of the lender than one who gets escalating calls until they pay or the account charges off. The first experience is much more likely to lead to the next loan, the next card, or the next deposit account.
What Does a Self-Service Auto Collections Experience Look Like?
A self-service experience for auto accounts goes beyond a "pay now" button on a website. It reaches borrowers on the channel they prefer, at a time that makes sense for their situation, and it offers real choices once they arrive: a minimum payment, a full payoff, or an installment arrangement.
EQ Engage is built around that experience. Its self-service payment portal gives borrowers a way to resolve an account on their own terms, and its digital-first communication across SMS, email, and other channels is personalized rather than generic.
Self-service doesn't replace a human conversation where one is needed. It gives the borrowers who would rather handle it themselves a way to do that, and leaves more agent time for everyone else.
Auto Collections Self-Service FAQ
Why do auto borrowers prefer digital payment options over phone calls? Survey data shows the large majority of consumers prefer digital contact methods like email or text, but most collections outreach still arrives as calls or letters. Past-due auto borrowers specifically point to unsympathetic agent interactions and a lack of payment flexibility as their biggest frustrations.
How does the collections experience affect customer retention? In the same survey, 71% of dissatisfied past-due auto borrowers said they'd consider switching lenders entirely over how they were treated during collections. For banks and lenders with multi-product relationships, that puts more than the auto loan at stake.
What payment options does an auto loan self-service portal typically offer? Most portals let a borrower make a minimum payment, pay the account off in full, or set up an installment arrangement, all without waiting on a callback.