  Preliminary research indicated that an increasing number of young adults end
up in debt collection. Yet, debt collection agencies (DCAs) are still lacking
knowledge on how to approach these consumers. A large-scale mixed-methods
survey of consumers in Germany (N = 996) was conducted to investigate
preference shifts from traditional to digital payment, and communication
channels; and attitude shifts towards financial institutions. Our results show
that, indeed, younger consumers are more likely to prefer digital payment
methods (e.g., Paypal, Apple Pay), while older consumers are more likely to
prefer traditional payment methods such as manual transfer. In the case of
communication channels, we found that older consumers were more likely to
prefer letters than younger consumers. Additional factors that had an influence
on payment and communication preferences include gender, income and living in
an urban area. Finally, we observed attitude shifts of younger consumers by
exhibiting more openness when talking about their debt than older consumers. In
summary, our findings show that consumers' preferences are influenced by
individual differences, specifically age, and we discuss how DCAs can leverage
these insights to optimize their processes.
