The U.S. crisis heard from India

Brent Stirton/Getty Images for the GBC

Along with many other aspects of customer service, U.S. debt collection has been outsourced to Indian call centers. As Emily Wax reports in a great piece for the Washington Post, the collection agents, who adopt fake American names and accents when talking to customers, have a unique perspective on the U.S. mortgage meltdown:

The subculture of call centers tends to foster a cult of America, an over-the-top fantasy where hopes and dreams are easily accomplished by people who live in a brand-name wonderland of high-paying jobs, big houses and luxury getaways.

But collection agents at this call center outside New Delhi are starting to see the flip side of that vision: a country hobbled by debt and filled with people scared of losing their jobs, their houses and their cars.

“Lately, 25-year-old Americans are telling me that they are declaring themselves bankrupt,” said Chaturvedi, raising her eyebrows in shock. “These days the situation is so emotional, so fragile. We have to have so much empathy and patience.”

“It’s like people are totally drowning,” said Omkar Gadgil, 24, who goes by the alias Richard Rudy and was a math major in college. He is brainy and considered the office expert on the intricacies of debt collection. “There has just been years of overspending and now: the crash.”

In the past, debt-saddled customers were often annoyed by Chaturvedi’s calls from the open-air office at Aegis BPO Services. But now they seem depressed, defeated. Even the men sob into the phone, several agents said.

Sadly, I have a feeling that these customers would be pretty enraged if they realized where the sympathetic voice on the phone was coming from. In moments of severe economic distress, people tend not to marvel at the wonders of globalization.