customer service representative

call center representative

collection agent

collection manager

compliance officer

Most people know who's writing this. If not, they'll know by the end of this review... I worked in a few positions in a few departments... hope I don't lose ya!

First, I took the job as a Collector back in 2017. The training was almost non-existent. Which has since been changed. (Note, I didn't say improved.) Everything I learned, was thanks to other Collectors on the floor. It was almost impossible to get a Supervisor to help you since they spent their entire shifts talking to each other in groups, or off the floor talking. And lord forbid if you interrupted them. 

Within my first few months, two Supervisors stepped down, and one quit.
The first client I was on was good. They lost the client a few months later due to a buyout (shockingly not their fault). I was then move to another client, which wasn't placing the number of new accounts they were supposed to, so everyone on the team was unhappy with not making or barely making bonus checks. To try and keep everyone happy, they lowered our multiplier in the formula to bonus, which we were thankful for.

After about a year, the new client they were talking about for months finally became a reality and they needed a Supervisor. At the time I'd been working two jobs for almost five years. So they pay increase would allow me to make a little bit more, but only work one job. So, I applied and was offered the position. 

Not long after I became a Supervisor, UCB brought in a new Senior Vice President to take over the building for Collection Ops. It didn't take long for the new SVP to start flipping stuff upside down and changing rules. Just as quickly, we began losing staff. I guess it wasn't bad for everyone involved. Those who were good at blowing smoke, were given promotions, in my opinion. 

Long story short, I couldn't keep my staff happy because the rules I was supposed to enforce would constantly change. Collector goals would change; rates of pay would change; everything would change. Sometimes, I wouldn't even be told of the change. Not only did they mess with goals and pay for the Collectors, they did the same with the Supervisors. Specifically, myself and the two others on our client. 

I was a Supervisor for just over a year before I lost it and stepped down. Then barely a month and a half later, since I was told I couldn't have time off I previously had approved (which was an out-of-town trip for my high school reunion), and told if I didn't work it, I was going to lose my seat on the team I was on. So, I quit.

A few months later, I applied to work at the Southwyck office in Client Services since the location and hours were perfect for my other job. They let me come back and everything was fine, for a little while. 

The Client Services Manager was not what I expected; I knew of them from being a Supervisor. They would have random moments of attitude and would talk to reps in a condescending tone frequently. On top of that, they couldn't answer all of your questions or would make you do something for them with little instruction - and give you more attitude when you do it incorrectly. They spent more time on personal calls or scrolling on Facebook, or on their two hour lunch; coming in late; leaving early, than they did working. The Client Services Supervisor not only needs a massive raise, but they need to be the Manager. They know what they're doing, they help you with minimal attitude, and just make the environment welcoming. One thing about Client Services, your workload can be enormous and never-ending. Which can quickly make you realize you're not paid nearly enough to deal with your workload.

After a few months, I applied to be the Collection Trainer. Someone else was chosen, but the new VP/Director offered for me to come back to Collections in the Government Services Department. I turned it down, but not long after, I reconsidered on the condition that I would be in the Medical Department and wouldn't have to work passed 6PM so I could make it to my other job. To which they agreed.

Everything was fine my first two months back. I hit bonus and was doing well. Then, (what many believe) in an attempt to lower the bonus they were paying out, they created a new team and called it "Diamond". This team was told to be the best of the best Collectors. It was supposed to be the best of the best accounts, the best inbound calls, etc. But, our multiplier to hit bonus jumped significantly. Several of us asked to be taken off the team to which we were told "No".

I was persistent and kept pleading my case. Finally I was moved off Diamond but instead of moving to another medical client, I was moved to Government Services. It didn't take me long to see why I was there. I was there to work the accounts for a Public Defender's Office. It would have been a lot easier to work the accounts, if there was a priority on them before I took them over. These accounts placed almost 6 months before I got there. There were hardly any letters being sent out, accounts weren't credit reporting, and almost all of the contact info on the files was wrong/outdated. They sold it with the 40% commission you get on the accounts. I always saw through their lies and nonsense and would always question them. I always tried giving my findings on what I worked the whole day, was told I was wasting time. But, wouldn't you know? I myself found websites and databases to use for checking if the consumers were incarcerated, or to locate case information on those demanding it. Nobody else took the time to get this information, not even the Supervisor or Upper-Management. No bonus at all before the COVID-19 Pandemic started. 

Then, the pandemic started. I was out sick a lot in March, then came in one day and when they took my temp, I was sent home with a fever, and then ordered to self-quarantine by the Health Department. When my 14 days was almost up, I was told by HR that I would require a doctor's note to come back to work. I went back and forth with a few people in HR including the Director of HR about how they were violating the Dept of Health's State Order stating they could not require one. Didn't matter though. Since UCB found whatever loophole they could to declare themselves "Essential", they figured out how to have us work from home. What a JOKE! Systems at home were just as unreliable as at the office. Then, they made everyone log into a Zoom meeting where they had to be visible on camera their entire shift. Client requirement or not, if they don't trust us that much, don't let us work from home.

In one final attempt to try and keep myself from losing too much money, I asked the Senior VP and Director for guidance and advice. I let them know I was getting screamed at by every single person I got on the phone because I was calling during the pandemic. I was met with a typical response of someone who deflects (because it's never her or her Director's fault - they are NEVER wrong), and was told it wasn't the client or the pandemic that was the problem. It was my time missed for my self-quarantine. I pushed back explaining that I didn't ask to be on this client, and that they weren't even doing what the client expected as part of the contract; sending letters and credit reporting. The Director didn't care too much for that and told me that my problem was I thought I was in control of something there, when I wasn't, and that he didn't want me wasting any more time emailing them unless it was on my own time off the clock. So, I sent my final less-professional email to them letting them know that the company is an absolute joke, they care more about profits than they do the people on the phones making their profits for them.

Lastly, think about this before you apply:
Overall, 9 or 10; maybe more Supervisors and 1 Manager have either quit or stepped down in three years on just the Collections side at Ford Street. Many, MANY more collectors have come and gone. Most don't even make it out of their first few days of training.

Working at UCB was honestly one of the worst jobs I ever could have entered. There's no compassion and no exceptions, which is difficult to deal with if you have any sort of empathy or are in general not a numb, malicious person. 

A lot of times, people cannot pay their medical bills, which is a comment on how horrid our medical system more than anything else, but often you'd be asking Mcdonalds workers to pay their 7000$ medical bills because they had an accident of some sort that desperately needed a hospital visit. This is usually after insurance covered "what it could" and the remainder was a copay or just not covered at all. Not UCB's fault, but they would pull you aside and threaten action if you ever were anything but cutthroat when trying to get them to pay up. It's always "Why didn't you ask for more? Why didn't you ask them this thing that's very personal while they were actually literally crying on the phone with you? Why did you accept a bi-weekly payment instead of asking for a weekly payment?" I could not take it.

Very rarely do you get accounts you can manage to pay out, and it's hardly ever enough to help you make your monthly goal, let alone get a bonus. The bonus is one of their selling points in the interview, but I promise you it's just a lie. When you're new, you won't get moved to a team where they have "good accounts" with people who will willingly pay or set up a payment plan. Most people will pay their bills before they get to collections, and if they don't, they probably won't be able to pay you the amount the company is expecting them to. 

There's blatant favoritism and specific teams that are built to maximize the amount of goal to hit, and those are usually the ones who do well within the company. Bless you if you ever manage to make it to these teams. There's around 6-8 different teams, and only 2, MAYBE 3 teams actually do well on the whole. Everyone else is stuck consistently missing their monthly mark. If I'm honest, if you're on one of the unfortunate teams and make goal or bonus, you are either very lucky or pulled a fast one on several team members.

Consumers yell at you and get angry or sometimes they straight up burst into tears. People will refuse to talk to you, or they'll make promises and then ignore your calls you still have to make. Some will run you around and make you look silly, some will tell you this bill is your responsibility to get taken of with insurance or some other thing you've already checked for them, even though it's THEIR bill. Most of the time, I just felt sorry for calling these poor people who were already on medicaid/medicare and were either disabled or just didn't make enough to make ends meet as it was. It was incredibly rare to talk to someone who had the means to pay the bill.

It's very cutthroat and the people there are only focused on making their monthly goal and getting a bonus, which includes throwing you under the bus if that's what it takes. You have to be VERY careful with everyone you interact with there, including the managers.

If you ever have to leave work or something happens and someone finds out, EVERYONE on the floor knows. You don't even have to be airing your business out for others to get a hold of your life details and spread them around like butter on bread. People have no problem smiling at you and having a nice conversation and then turning around as soon as you leave to tell other coworkers how much they hate you (I saw this literally every other day and was often the person being complained to about other people). This doesn't surprise me very much, since in training they teach you how to manipulate people and if you don't manage to get a hang of it the first time, they send you again and give you tips on how to get these people to break their back trying to pay their bill for visiting the hospital with a very real worry that something is wrong only to be prescribed ibuprofen and a nap.

Management was sometimes bigoted when they thought no one was looking. Sometimes they were just downright petty and it all felt like a middle school-soap opera hybrid. The managers almost never agree on what policy to follow and tend to pass judgment easily on their workers and end up sounding condescending as ever when trying to coach you. You'd think them being managers and supervisors would force them to be more professional than the workers, but it doesn't. (mind, there was a recent change up in management when I left, so it could be different now, but I actually Super Highly Doubt It.) There were one or two managers who were nice and had your best interest, but the ones in the higher positions could be downright unbearable.

Literally, I'm begging you to never work here. Unless you have massively thick skin or are one of those people who have no problem being gossipy and petty, you will absolutely hate it. It will do in a pinch, as their turnover is incredible (wow, I wonder why!) and they're always hiring. It's a desk job where you make phone calls and are independent for the most part and it pays better than retail or fast food, but really if I'd had the choice to work in a job that paid any less and I knew what this place was like, I would have worked it in a heartbeat. I could only stand this place for a few months before getting so sick of it that I HAD to leave or else I would have had a mental break.

Before any work a few weeks of training must be completed. In the training they treat you like royalty, trying to build an image that will make you stay as long as possible. Once you are out of training all that treatment will be gone, most trainees don’t even stay an entire week. Management here is a joke. They advertise the commission checks to the fullest extent possible, trying to make it sound like you’ll be rich if you stick with it. In the application it says the training will equip you with everything you need to make commission every month, but in reality only a few select people receive a commission check each month. The commission system used here is flawed in many ways. You must hit a goal before you can even begin to make any extra money. Each collection is under a different status correlating to a certain percentage and you will only have that certain percentage of what you collected go towards your goal. I would not have a problem with it if it stopped there, but it doesn’t. Accounts with large balances are only worked by specific agents, yes they actually made it a rule that only a few select people can collect on them. Not only is this a clear example of favoritism but it also makes it near impossible to make commission. Even once you’ve hit your goal, congratulations, you still haven’t made any extra money. You only make commission on everything you collect AFTER you hit your goal, and you will only get a percentage of that too. The commission here is literally a percentage of a percentage, I promise that you deserve better than anything this place has to offer.

What is the best part of working at the company?
The best part of working at UCB was Bernal. He was the only supportive higher up. All the other managers could care less about your success.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The unrealistic expectations of individual employees. They were behind their goal for a good amount of time and due to that the burden was placed upon all the new employees whom had only started about 3 months ago.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
The only culture that is really there is if you’ve already been there, and you are upon a few people that were there before the new hires I would say that the dynamic of the managers to the employees is absolutely uncalled for and disturbing. The environment is mediocre. It’s not the greatest. I can say that.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Typical day would probably look like waking up around 8:30 going to work at nine or you can either go in a little earlier or later depending they started getting a little bit weird upon the scheduling and the flexibility upon their schedule so I can’t really speak on that any longer, but first they seemed very lenient and progressively you can see the decline of the reality the reality

What is the best part of working at the company?
Nothing was good about working there. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The managers do not communicate with each other and they are the worst at training. I did nothing but read the employee manual over and over for the first 3 weeks. I was in person. They were only training the virtual people. Have not a care to actually train the living breathing person in the building. I had a full mental breakdown bc of management and i only worked there 2 months. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Toxic. Everyone is stressed out. The people bond over shared work trauma. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Spend the first 10-15 minutes trying to get your computers to come up. Then by 815am you were calling people about their debt and getting cursed out and screamed by 820am. That continued throughout the entire day. With a 30 minute lunch break. Oh and don't ever have a question for your supervisor bc she'll be down the opposite side of the building talking to people about her house. Then trying to convince your manager you actually do need the help and reminding them the person is on hold and to be swift would be ideal bc they could hang up at any moment.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Ucb by far is the worse company to work for. The job add is very misleading and deceptive. This is collections. You are calling and harassing customers about charged off, past due accounts. This is not customer service at all. 

They will sell you on bonus but they are non existent and unobtainable. If you don’t reach quota they will deduct your pay by the dollar and you have to be commendable 3 months in a row to gain it back. 

The job is a circus and management is the ring leaders. The environment is hostile and unpleasant. The job is draining and stressful. 

And to make matters worse, the VP’s are so far removed from the phones and they badger you able what you are not doing right and what you need to do better. There is no support or growth. In the event you are promoted, you may be demoted bc they can’t retain ppl to get the management in their positions. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The management and environment

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Hostile and draining . No encouragement. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Being yelled at by costumers Saying they have no money.

This was one of the worst job experiences  i’ve ever had. Management is absolutely HORRIBLE!!! Training is only 2 weeks long and they immediately throw you out on the floor with little to no additional help or support. The Supervisors there are not helpful. They treat you like Children here. They are Very much underpaying for what is endured and required. There is absolutely no chance for growth within this company. The environment is childish, just a bunch of gossip and harassment. The food in the break room is over priced. Management is watching over your shoulder all day. They only pay you twice a month on two specific days which is the worst pay schedule ever. They try to sell you on getting a bonus check every month but it’s impossible if your just starting out, only people that will earn a bonus check are those who work with business accounts and not core accounts. They constantly threaten to fire people. They penalize you for everything. The only good thing about this job are the 1 hour lunch breaks. I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND ANYONE TO WASTE THEIR TIME WORKING HERE !!!!

After a drawn-out, 6 week training program, you're placed in a department that often tells you to forget everything you've just learned. There isn't any support from the supervisors besides, "Do whatever it takes to get the money." which may include screaming at, verbally badgering, and threatening the elderly that cannot afford to pay their perscriptions, much less, a debt that has grown upwards of 700% of the principle. Collector's accounts are regularly stolen from their ownership (even after months of building a raport with specific debtors and putting them on a payment plan) and given to people that the department heads prefer. There is a lot of dirty dealing at UCB Inc. such as even stealing debtors' credit card information and processing payments on employees accounts after they have left work for the day only to come back the next day and find out that they've been fired for credit card fraud. The average employee will only last 3 months before they are let go for some reason or another.

Professional expectations for ridiculous pay.
They gave training on programs you're not allowed to even access without a managers access for over a month to 2 months, so it's 2 weeks of "training" watching others work; with little to no context. 
There are no raises or quarterly reviews, so every group there makes $16/ hour. They say bonuses, but the rules to get them are nearly unattainable.  And reps there over a year report no raise in pay.
Oh and you are collecting hospital bills, and EXPECTED to collect $18k month from the START...and expectations increase from there...with NO INCREASE IN COMPENSATION. 
Attendance is 38 to 40 hrs / week. Any less is a write up regardless of excuse or reason. Pregnant staff are gone in a matter of months as any appointments or illness are write ups unless you make up the hours in the same week, not the same pay period.
If you're healthy, with no life or debts, THIS is the place for you!


If you have a positive mindset, you will have a positive experience and likewise if you have a negative mindset- this will not be your favorite place to be.  If you have an open mind and are willing to grow and adapt to change, this will be a great position for you- especially if you are money-motivated and a quick learner.  There are numerous opportunities and you will be able to make as much money as you set your mind to.  Management is very understanding of balancing work and home life and they’re willing to help as much as possible as long as you’re honest and communicate with them.  Each person will take away something different from this company and from first hand experience I will have to mention that I have met some of the greatest, kind-hearted people here from management to staff.  If you’re willing to learn, adapt, and get money this is the place to be!  

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Customer service representative 22 salaries reported	$16.18 per hour
Call center representative 13 salaries reported	$16.92 per hour
Collection agent 1 salary reported	$16.00 per hour
Collection manager 5 salaries reported	$18.90 per hour
Compliance officer 1 salary reported	$14.50 per hour

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