Collection dialer: what to check before every call

In phone collections, the key question is not “who should we call now”, but “who should we not call now”. Calling at the wrong time, contacting someone who opted out or calling too often on the same day creates complaints, damages relationships and often causes legal problems.

In a well-designed dialer, each attempt passes through a filter before dialing. Here is what that filter must cover.

This article is informational and does not replace legal advice. Time and frequency rules vary by Brazilian state and change over time: validate your operation's policy with your legal team.

1. Use the debtor's time zone, not your office's

Brazil has four time zones. At 8:30 pm in Brasília it is 6:30 pm in Acre. A “call until 8 pm” rule using the server clock can allow calls at 9:30 pm for someone in Rondônia.

Identify the state from the phone's area code, calculate the debtor's local time and only then check the allowed window.

2. Use the stricter of the campaign and state windows

Some Brazilian states have their own collection and telemarketing calling laws, and rules change over time. Each contact's effective calling window must be the intersection of:

• what the campaign allows (for example, weekdays from 9 am to 7 pm);
• what the state rule allows for the debtor.

A campaign can be stricter than the law, never more permissive.

3. Local holidays count

A state or municipal holiday closes the window there, even if it is a working day elsewhere. The calendar must match the debtor's location.

4. Opt-out applies to all campaigns

Anyone who requests no further contact must be removed from all company campaigns, not just the one where they asked. Separate campaign opt-out lists risk calling someone who already said no.

For marketing, the opposite applies: only contacts with recorded consent may enter a campaign. Collections rely on a different legal basis (the existing credit relationship), but opt-out requests still apply.

5. Limit attempts per person

In addition to campaign limits, count attempts per person over a period — someone in two campaigns must not receive twice as many calls. Failures unrelated to the debtor (trunk outage or network errors) should not consume an attempt.

6. Caller ID must belong to your trunk

Carriers often reject or flag calls whose caller ID does not belong to the trunk being used. Each company must use its own trunk and authorized caller IDs. A pool of numbers matching the debtor's area code (local presence) can also improve answer rates.

7. Record the reason

When a contact is blocked, record why — “outside the debtor's local calling window”, “opted out”, “attempt limit reached”. This helps address complaints and prove the rule was applied.

How Gerivia handles this

In Gerivia's dialer, this filter is the compliance gate: it runs for every attempt, checking the phone's time zone, holidays, unified opt-out, marketing consent and per-person limits. Each block reason is recorded per contact, and every company uses its own trunk.