A Bill Collector

A Bill Collector

BY ROBERT CUMMINS News Staff Reporter

Any bill collector can tell you the job has its difficult moments.

Just ask Bob Barden who owns and runs the Ann Arbor Credit Bureau at 311 N. Main St.

The rough-and-ready days of the flint-nosed, cigar-smoking bill collector are over, says Barden. But he still remembers a few adventures from the days “when we were permitted much more latitude in customer contacts.”

“I was working for Household Finance in Saginaw at the time,” Barden recalls, "and I was assigned to find out why a man from the hill country of the South was behind in his payments.

“Now, he was a very hard-headed individual and during our discussion he became enraged and brought out a butcher knife. We waltzed around the living room, then down into the basement and around the furnace, with me all the time trying to reason with him. He was in no mood to accept any counsel from me, however. So I escaped into the backyard and from there went to call my boss.

"My boss, really a kindly old fellow, told me I had not done a very good job and to go back and try again. For a few minutes I pondered whether to go back or to write my letter of resignation. I decided to go back. To my surprise, the man’s wife had calmed him down so much that the three of us were able to work out a satisfactory program for settling the debt!

Barden says the challenge of finding people is probably the most “fun” part of bill collecting. “It can be a great thrill — kind of a detective game,” he adds.

He recalls going to a small town near Saginaw in search of a young single woman who owed a bill.

"She was a hairdresser,” says Barden, “and so I went first to the beauty shop, but it was closed. I had heard she was sort of a swinger, so I went to the local tavern. There I saw a very beautiful girl at the bar. I approached her and asked if she knew the person I was looking for. She replied that she had heard of her but had not seen her for a long time.

“So I went down to the gas station and found out the address of the parents of the woman I was seeking and went out there. The mother came to the door. She was reticent. Just then, looking over her shoulder, I saw a framed picture of the beautiful woman I had talked to at the tavern!

"I went back to the tavern and spoke to her by name. She said, ‘Well. Mr. Barden, you got me,' and smiled prettily. But I didn't have any luck in collecting that bill.”

Bill collecting has become more sophisticated over the years, says Barden. “We now belong to two national associations that require the most ethical behavior,” he says. “We’re also in the second year of the licensing act. Both the agency and its manager must be licensed.”

The tremendous amount of credit information that comes to the bureau is systematically processed and is an important aid to bill collecting, he adds.

But all the streamlining and modernization still don’t eliminate surprises from the job.

“One letter we sent out was forwarded to the delinquent debtor — in Jackson Prison,” says Barden. “He wrote back, saying the number after his name wasn't his Social Security number. The letter was humorous, and skillfully written. I replied in the same vein. A year later, a well-dressed man came to the office and asked to see me. As you can guess, he was the ex-prisoner.

“ ‘Well, about the bill,’ he told me, ‘I don’t intend to pay it. I just wanted to visit with you!’ ”