Collections & Credit Risk articles from April 2005

Collections & Credit Risk archives from April 2005

In the News: Hot Topics: Stolen Data and Bankruptcy Reform.
April 1, 2005... The past few weeks, consumer data and legislative issues affecting the credit and collections industry have been front-page news. The recent rash of security breaches affecting firms that gather and, in some cases, disseminate sensitive...

Letters To The Editor.
April 1, 2005... Over Extended To the Editor: Most people are relying on credit cards for the common everyday purchase because they truly are over extended. Most people are not proactive with their finances. The average household has periodic expenses...

Survey Results.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... Here's how visitors to Credit & Collections World, Collections & Credit Risk's website, voted on this month's Instant Survey: Cashless transactions exceeded cash for the first time in retail purchases last year. Is this a worrisome trend,...

ChoicePoint Saga Could Rewrite Rules.
April 1, 2005... Data broker ChoicePoint's high-profile security breach revealed in February, which allowed crooks to gain access to personal information on more than 145,000 consumers, could lead to regulations aimed at holding consumer data-gathering firms...

What's New.
April 1, 2005... MicroBilt to Resell FICO Expansion Score Fair Isaac Corp., the company behind the FICO credit score that lenders use to judge consumer credit risk, announces MicroBilt Corp. is the first reseller of its FICO Expansion score to the financial...

Capital One Buys Hibernia.
April 1, 2005... Capital One Financial Corp., McLean, Va., acquired Hibernia Corp., a retail bank with operations in Louisiana and Texas, in an early March transaction valued at $5.3 billion. * Asta Funding Inc., Englewood Cliffs, N.J., a consumer...

New Image for Check Fraud Prevention: Check 21's intent may have been to streamline the way banks process checks, but it's paving the way for banks to make new uses of imaging technology to help combat check fraud.
April 1, 2005... Bankers long have theorized that if the float on a paper check could be dropped, they could detect check fraud faster and stop crooks from hanging more bad paper on banks and merchants. For collections agencies, that could mean fewer bounced...

Collections Takes on a Starring Role: At Bank of America, collections has moved out of the shadows and into the spotlight. Innovations and best practices developed there are now spreading elsewhere in the bank.
April 1, 2005... Long the Rodney Dangerfield of credit issuers, the collections department traditionally gets tons more debt to collect than it does respect. As the second largest item on the expense side of many P&L statements, it often earns the reputation of...

NARCA Spring 2005 Collection Conference.(National Association of Retail Collection Attorneys)(Calendar)
April 1, 2005... Wednesday, April 13, 2005 7:00 pm - 9:30 pm NARCA Board of Directors Meeting (Open to all NARCA members) 9:00 pm - 11:00 pm Hospitality Suite Sponsored by Capital One Corp. Thursday, April 14, 2005 8:00 am -...

Sham Arbitration: Bogus arbitration award firms are peddling so-called debt elimination programs that may scam debtors and tie up the courts. But some courts are striking back.
April 1, 2005... Fven the courts are fed up. In denying a petition to confirm a so-called arbitration award, Judge Quentin L. Kopp of the San Mateo County Superior Court in California recently wrote: "The petition and facts presented in the matter constitute...

Comercial Debt Sales Heating Up: Where there's smoke, there's fire, or so the saying goes. But are sales of commercial debt just smoldering or on fire?
April 1, 2005... When Keith A. Wilton joined Palo Alto, Calif.-based Greater Bay Bank two and a half years ago as president of the Specialty Finance Group, he discovered that one subsidiary had a significant portfolio of charged-off business loans - some up to...

Bad Debt's Mind Games: Many debt-buying industry insiders fear problems are ahead. What strategies can help businesses survive in a high-price age?
April 1, 2005... Louise Epstein's debt-buying strategy is riddled with cliches. She subscribes to the turtle's strategy, not the hare's. Slow and steady, more often than not, wins the race, she says. Patience is generally a virtue. As president of debt...

High Points for Credit Scoring: With generic scores becoming antiquated, credit-scoring providers are focusing on new offerings. How are these models helping creditors make better decisions?
April 1, 2005... Scoring models are evolving from generic scores based strictly on data culled from the big three credit bureaus to models drawing information from varied sources, and with more sophisticated analytic capabilities. The goal is to help...

Credit Scoring Vendors.(Directory)
April 1, 2005... Company Austin Logistics Creative Business Decisions Inc. Credit & Management Systems Inc. CreditXpert Inc. D&B Corp. Equifax Experian-Scorex Fair Isaac Corp. Intelligent Results LexisNexis ...

Commercial Indices Mixed at Year End.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... For commercial credit grantors responding to the Credit Research Foundation's latest National Summary of Domestic Trade Receivables, key indicators in the fourth quarter of 2004 were mixed compared to the third quarter, but they were equal to...