Soft Recovery Agents - A Matter of Ethics?

We all know that banks hire recovery agents to, well, recover outstanding dues from customers. However, the term 'recovery agents' did not take much time to become synonymous with 'goons'. The people hired by these banks and credit companies often threaten the customer into paying up money. They do not seem to be trained to work as per their hiring company's image. It is not hard to guess that these are third-party contractors and banks wouldn't care to spend on training, as long as the system gives results.

Sure, banks have given loans to people, and they do have the right to recover them. But it does not mean they can threaten and abuse their clients.

The Reserve Bank of India had to step in to control these unethical practices. Following a consideration of a ban on recovery agents (if found using abusive language) by the RBI, banks are taking other routes (read: other routes to hire recovery agents, not other routes for recovery). State Bank of India, for starts, is looking for 'soft' recovery agents, whose job profiles wouldn't include threats and abusive language. They claim to they would train them to also handle other paper-work required at the customer end.

So following their prior abuses, will the customers now co-operate? Will the recovery be effective? Or is it just another marketing gimmick?
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