Collections & Credit Risk articles from April 2003

Collections & Credit Risk archives from April 2003

Et Cetera: Of Economic Outlooks, License Plates, Things.
April 1, 2003... For an outstanding analysis of the U.S conomy, I recommend the Credit Research Foundation's latest report, The Outlook for 2003: A Positive Forecast Fraught with Risks, written for the CRF by Daniel C orth, chief economist at EULER American...

Letters to the Editor.(Letter to the Editor)
April 1, 2003... Free Reports Costly To the Editor: As a former owner of a Trans Union affiliate, it never ceases to amaze me the number of people that advocate sending free credit reports to consumers on an annual basis. This notion is ludicrous as...

Survey Results.(some 56% of survey respondents predict shakeout in collections industry)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Here's how visitors to Credit & Collections World, Collections & Credit Risk's website, voted on this month's Instant Survey: With tightened liquidity, continuing pricing pressure, and impatient investors, some observers are predicting a...

Deal-Making Picks Up.(some 57 acquisitions in the collections-related industry closed in 2002)
April 1, 2003... Appearances can be deceiving. Although to some 2002 looked like a relatively modest year for financial deals in the collections-related industry, it turns out to have been quite active. Kaulkin Ginsberg, the mergers and acquisitions advisory...

WHAT'S NEW?(Fair Isaac introduces new version of Fair Isaac Blaze Decision System software; Vysym adds Action Slips to TALIS Voice Gateway and TALIS Voice Banking products)
April 1, 2003... Fair, Isaac Updates Blaze Fair, Isaac and Company Inc. releases 5.0 of Fair, Isaac Blaze Decision System software. The new version adds power to the software's ability to build, automate, and improve business decision processes across an...

Experian Buys Two Affiliate Credit Bureaus.(Experian bought consumer credit assets of Credit Bureau of Southern Utah and Centroplex Credit Reporting and Collections)
April 1, 2003... Experian Inc. bought the consumer credit assets of Credit Bureau of Southern Utah, St. George, Utah, and Centroplex Credit Reporting and Collections, Killeen, Taxas. As a result of the deal, clients in the regions of the two bureaus will gain...

Inside the Firewalls: A recent breach of credit card processor DPI's database is making security a hot topic with network managers. While there are many solutions, there is no anacea.
April 1, 2003... As news spread in February that a hacker breached the security of a database containing millions of American Express, Discover, MasterCard, and Visa account numbers, credit grantors across the country scrambled to make sure their databases were...

Up Close and Personal: As agencies expand into full-scale accounts receivable management, they and their clients are much more involved in one another's business. How's that changing the way they work?
April 1, 2003... To her surprise, Nancy Borgen is not just in the collections business any more. Borgen, president of Credit Bureau Data Inc., of La Crosse, Wis., has been training her business clients' accounts receivables staffs in the nuances of credit...

Under the Microscope.(financial privacy advocates urge tougher restrictions)
April 1, 2003... Convinced that consumer financial and personal data is too readily available for prying eyes to examine, privacy advocates are pushing for tougher restrictions. Can legislators focus on the real issues without over-magnifying trivial matters?...

U. S. Bank's Wagon Hitched to Five Stars: U.S. Bank uses technology and commitment to its 'five star service guarantee' to capitalize on its 24-state footprint.(U.S. Bancorp)
April 1, 2003... As U.S. Bancorp continually expands its imaging, Internet, and e-offerings to treasury management customers, it maintains a commitment to its "five star service guarantee" and a strategy dedicated to ensuring that customer preferences drive its...

Wells' 'CEO' Gateway for Treasury Services: Its online facility harnesses the Web to meet customer needs, providing access to a variety of services, workflow solutions, and multimedia training.(Wells Fargo & Co.'s Commercial Electronic Office (CEO) treasury management service)
April 1, 2003... At Wells Fargo & Co., treasury management is a technology-driven business, and a business portal called Commercial Electronic Office, or CEO, is the gateway to its treasury management services. Since 2000, CEO has fundamentally changed the...

Commercial Scoring Makes the Grade: Commercial risk scoring models, once thought inferior, are quickly gaining traction as lenders find themselves processing an influx of new credit applications via the Internet.
April 1, 2003... Commercial lenders historically considered risk assessment an inexact science - with not much financial data available on privately held, first-time borrowers even as recently as the late 1990s. That lack of information on non-public firms...

Commercial Score Vendors (Partial List).(Brief Article)(Directory)
April 1, 2003... Company Location Website Credit Management Systems Lake Bluff, Ill. www.ccmcms.com Dun & Bradstreet Short Hills, N.J. www.dnb.com Experian Orange, Calif. ...

Wild Card to House of Cards: Despite efforts to mitigate and control systemic credit risk, they are running wild in the U.S conomy. What are they, and how do they stack up today?
April 1, 2003... There are three major classes of risk: specific risk, systematic risk, and systemic risk. Specific risk is easily measured and often has to do with individual outstanding debts or individual debtors. Systematic risk - a term often misused...

The June 2002 Wild Cards Revisited.(short- and long-term risks)(Brief Article)(Illustration)
April 1, 2003... Risk Short-term Long-term All-out war in the Middle East. 4 5 Accounting crises. 4 2 Another Enron. 2 ...

2002 Better Than 2001.(key economic indices)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... The Credit Research Foundation's National Summary of Domestic Trade Receivables indicates a decline in a number of key indices in the final quarter of 2002, compared to the previous quarter. Still, overall performance for participating...