Collections Officer

About the Role

The Collections Officer assists Credit Union of Texas members in resolving loan delinquency and other account issues affecting loan repayment. Working primarily by outbound and inbound telephone contact, the role negotiates payment arrangements, processes payments, performs skip tracing, examines delinquent loans, and makes recommendations for extensions, due date changes, refinancing, and repossession when warranted. The objective is to reduce delinquency and charge-offs on loans, leases, and credit cards while delivering exceptional, regulation-compliant member service on every contact. The role uses CUTX-approved AI and analytics tools to prioritize accounts, draft compliant communications, and inform workout recommendations, with required human-in-the-loop review on every member-impacting output.

Responsibilities

• Member Contact & Delinquency Resolution
  • Perform outbound and inbound calls to members whose accounts are past due, working assigned queues with minimal supervision after training.
  • Negotiate suitable payment arrangements with members to cure default and bring accounts current in a timely manner.
  • Accept incoming calls regarding account condition and propose alternatives or payment plans within delegated authority.
  • Contact members by letter, email, or other approved channels when telephone contact is not possible, using CUTX-approved templates.
  • Review each account prior to contact for any transaction or activity since the previous contact and determine collection activity required based on member cooperation.
• Workout, Extensions & Account Maintenance
  • Evaluate and submit due date changes, payment waivers, extensions, and refinancing recommendations in accordance with policy, and document those changes accurately.
  • Receive and process requests from delinquent members for additional loans or workout loans, routing for Collection Management approval as required.
  • Initiate file maintenance changes at the request of the member or as information is gathered during account processing.
  • Make recommendations regarding economic futility, repossession, charge-off, or legal action when collateral is jeopardized or collection conditions warrant, in consultation with Collection Management.
• Skip Tracing & Investigation
  • Perform skip tracing using available CUTX-approved sources to locate members who cannot be reached through standard contact information.
  • Verify member contact and employment information and update the system of record.
• Documentation & Member Service
  • Maintain detailed, accurate written records of all member conversations, actions taken, and decisions in the collections system of record sufficient to support audit and examination review.
  • Deliver exceptional, respectful member service on every contact, treating members in financial difficulty with empathy and procedural fairness.
  • Exercise good judgment and discretion when discussing sensitive financial topics.
• Compliance & Escalation
  • Adhere to all departmental procedures and applicable collection regulations on every contact, including FDCPA standards, FCRA, UDAAP, and SCRA where applicable.
  • Consult with Collection Management as needed for technical advice or guidance on complex delinquent accounts.
  • Ensure every payment option is explored and documented before recommending repossession or charge-off.
  • Identify and immediately escalate potential compliance concerns, member-harm risks, or wrongful collection activity to Collection Management.
• Performance Outcomes & KPIs
  • Delinquency Cure Rate: Percent of assigned past-due accounts brought current within the reporting period (Monthly, target to be confirmed with VP, Collections).
  • Roll-Rate / Net Charge-Off Contribution: Reduction in dollars rolling to later delinquency buckets and to charge-off on assigned portfolio (Monthly).
  • Right-Party Contacts (RPC) per day and Promises-to-Pay (PTP) kept rate (Monthly).
  • Account Documentation Quality: Percent of sampled accounts passing internal QA / compliance review without material exception (Quarterly, ≥ 98%).
  • Call QA Score: Average score from internal call monitoring across communication, accuracy, and compliance dimensions (Monthly, ≥ 90%).
  • Human-in-the-Loop Review Rate on AI Outputs: Percent of AI-recommended actions reviewed and either accepted, adjusted, or escalated by the Collections Officer before action (Monthly, 100%).

Requirements

• Education
  • High school diploma or general education degree (GED) required.
  • Associate degree or additional collections / financial services coursework preferred.
• Experience
  • Minimum one to two (1–2) years of related experience in a call center, banking, credit union, or collections environment required; two (2) or more years preferred.
  • Demonstrated ability to negotiate payment arrangements with members or customers.
  • Demonstrated time management skills and ability to work a high-volume queue.
  • Prior credit union experience preferred.
  • Bilingual English / Spanish preferred.
  • Prior experience using AI- or analytics-driven prioritization or workflow tools preferred.
• Knowledge & Skills
  • Working knowledge of collection regulations, including FDCPA standards, FCRA, UDAAP, and SCRA.
  • Basic understanding of consumer loan policies and procedures.
  • Strong computer and technology skills, including proficiency with Microsoft Office (Outlook, Word, Excel, Teams) and ability to learn CUTX's loan servicing and collections systems.
  • Typing speed above 40 WPM and proficiency with standard office equipment (shared printer, scanner, fax).
  • Strong verbal communication and active listening; ability to convey detailed information accurately and respectfully.
  • Good judgment and discretion when dealing with sensitive financial topics.
  • Ability to interact with many people and manage multiple interruptions while staying on task.
  • Positive attitude, open-mindedness, and flexibility to adapt to any situation a member may present.
  • Ability to work both independently and as part of a team.
  • Willingness to work until 7:00 PM and two Saturdays per month.

Core Competencies

• AI Literacy (Intermediate): The role uses AI-augmented account prioritization, communication drafting, and workout recommendation tools and is responsible for human-in-the-loop review on every member-impacting output.
• Member Centricity (Intermediate): The role engages members during a stressful financial event; tone, empathy, and procedural fairness directly affect CUTX's reputation and member retention.
• Negotiation & Persuasion (Intermediate): Negotiating realistic, sustainable payment arrangements is the core value-creating activity of the role.
• Compliance Orientation (Advanced): FDCPA standards, FCRA, UDAAP, and SCRA are applied on every member contact; mistakes have direct member, legal, and examination impact.
• Operational Discipline (Advanced): Every contact must be documented accurately and contemporaneously; documentation gaps create legal and audit exposure.
• Resilience & Composure (Intermediate): The role manages emotionally charged conversations daily and must maintain a professional, respectful tone under pressure.
• Communication (Intermediate): The role communicates with members, internal partners, and management across phone, email, and written channels, often on sensitive topics.

AI & Technology Expectations

The following workflows are AI-augmented in this role. The Collections Officer is expected to work fluently within these workflows, exercise sound judgment over AI outputs, and follow all applicable controls.

• AI-assisted account prioritization and queue sequencing — AI synthesizes delinquency stage, member behavior, and contact history to recommend the order and timing of outreach.
• AI-assisted drafting of member communications — AI drafts compliant letters, emails, and call follow-ups from approved templates for Collections Officer review.
• AI-assisted workout and payment-plan recommendation — AI suggests payment-plan structures (extensions, due date changes, settlement ranges) based on account profile and policy guardrails.
• AI-assisted skip tracing support — AI surfaces and ranks potential contact information from approved data sources for Collections Officer verification.
• Document extraction and triage — AI extracts structured fields from member-submitted hardship documents, paystubs, and correspondence to populate the system of record.

This role operates in AI Tier 2 for its principal AI-augmented workflows. The Collections Officer retains accountability for any decision, communication, or member/employee-impacting action influenced by AI output. The Collections Officer is required to:

• Apply human-in-the-loop review on every AI-recommended workout, payment plan, communication, and prioritization output before action is taken or sent to a member.
• Stop reliance on AI output and escalate immediately if the output appears inaccurate, biased, non-compliant, or outside the role's documented scope.
• Refrain from entering member non-public personal information (NPI), confidential CUTX information, or material non-public information into any AI tool not explicitly approved for that data classification.
• Complete all required AI training within thirty (30) days of hire and maintain currency on annual refreshers.

Approved AI Tools: The role is approved to use the following AI tools in performing essential functions:

• CUTX-approved internal AI assistants (e.g., Sam) for general productivity and approved knowledge tasks.
• Microsoft Copilot for office productivity (drafting, summarization, spreadsheet support).
• CUTX-approved AI-augmented prioritization and workout recommendation tools deployed within the collections platform.
• CUTX-approved skip-tracing and identity verification tools.

Use of AI tools outside this list requires prior approval from the role's department leader and the AI Council.

Prohibited AI Use: In addition to the prohibited uses defined in the Generative AI Usage Policy, the following are specifically prohibited in this role:

• Using AI output as the sole basis for any adverse member action, including initiating repossession, charge-off, denying a workout request, or sending an adverse-action communication.
• Entering member NPI