Collections & Credit Risk articles from December 2005

Collections & Credit Risk archives from December 2005

Au Revoir: New Faces in Familiar Places.
December 1, 2005... What do you plan to do? That's a common reaction from those who learn about my plans to retire from the helm of Collections & Credit Risk and the heady but hectic world of publishing. My response: rest, relax and enjoy. By the time you read...

Bankruptcy Rush Beats Expectations.
December 1, 2005... In the week before a new, stricter bankruptcy law went into effect, a half million people filed for bankruptcy protection compared to an average of 30,000 per week in the four previous years, according to Lundquist Consulting, a Burlingame,...

What's New.
December 1, 2005... Accurint SurePlacement for Collections Agencies LexisNexis U.S., a risk-management services provider, releases Accurint SurePlacement to help collections agencies identify, segment and rank accounts for processing. Accurint SurePlacement...

Events Calendar.(conferences)(Calendar)
December 1, 2005... Dec. 4-6, 2005 Student Lending Conference Consumer Bankers Association ARLINGTON, VA. www.cbanet.org/conferences/conference.html Jan. 15-18, 2006 Annual Convention Expo National Retail Federation NEW YORK...

ARC Adds Servicing Unit.(acquisitions)
December 1, 2005... Absolute Resolutions Corp., a debt buyer and reseller in San Diego, added a division to handle servicing debt portfolios. ARC named Nancy J. Hughes executive vice president to direct the unit. She will be responsible for identifying new...

When Disaster Strikes Twice: The destruction left by hurricanes in the Gulf region awakened collections agencies, lenders and creditors to a need for better disaster recovery plans. How aggressively they act remains to be seen.
December 1, 2005... These days, with business a data-rich, 24/7 kind-of-world, it's just good sense to have a disaster recovery plan - one with a backup operating system at a second site at its heart. Hurricane Katrina boldly reinforced that notion in late...

Tips for Effective Disaster Recovery Planning.
December 1, 2005... * Plan for local disasters, i.e. power outages, burst water pipes, cut telecom cables and even unscheduled maintenance. * Plan for geographical disasters, such as earthquakes, hurricanes and tornados. * Determine the resources...

Credit for the Underserved: Demand is building - from credit grantors, credit bureaus and some consumer advocates - for alternative data and scores that will allow consumers with little or no access to credit to qualify for credit or better credit terms. What progress is being made?
December 1, 2005... Thin-file and no-file Americans, traditionally marginalized or shut out of the credit system due to lack of information about their credit histories, are now in an unusual role. They are suddenly sought after. It's a reversal that has the...

A Learning Curve For Debt Buyers: Charged-off student loans account for a mere sliver of the bad-debt sales market, but some collections executives sense a growing profit opportunity on campus.
December 1, 2005... The self-contained world of student loans is a jumble of agencies, programs, acronyms and regulations. Hence, unless your 18-year-old is talking with college recruiters, you might not know that FFEL stands for Federal Family Education Loan...

QA's: Debt Sales: Leading industry product and services providers discuss debt sales strategies and best practices.(Alfred J. Brothers, Jr.)(Calvary Investments)(Stephen B. Kass)(CreditMax LLC)(Interview)
December 1, 2005... Q: What are the major changes and challenges facing the debt buying industry? Alfred J. Brothers, Jr., Calvary Investments: An influx of new capital, creditor consolidation and reduced supply of charge offs have created greater competition...

Calvary Investments.(Brief Article)(Company Profile)
December 1, 2005... Corporate Profile Cavalry ranks among the largest buyers of distressed debt in the U.S. Founded in 1991, Cavalry has purchased over 7 million accounts with aggregate balances in excess of $13 billion. Cavalry's clients include some of the...

CreditMax LLC.(Brief Article)(Company Profile)
December 1, 2005... Corporate Profile CreditMax LLC is a technology based company specializing in the Purchase, Management and Sale of charged-off debt. CreditMax financially guarantees that CreditMax technology will increase Client's Liquidation Rates....

Familiar Faces in New Places: Former collections agency owners and executives are returning to the industry they know best. What are they up to these days?(Company Profile)
December 1, 2005... During the late 1990s, the collections industry experienced rapid consolidation as private equity groups, investors and even agencies themselves bought up companies and rolled them into big collections operations. The executives who owned those...

No Place To Hide: The questionable practices of some so-called debt-relief firms are coming under fire. Hear from an experienced creditor's attorney what steps have been taken to clamp down on such behavior, and what remains to be done.
December 1, 2005... Abusive and unscrupulous practices of some companies in the debt-relief, negotiation and settlement industry have come to the attention of the courts, Congress and the FTC, promising positive results for consumers and creditors. The 1st...

Commercial Billing and Payment Goes Electronic: For creditors in the B2B arena, electronic presentment of invoices and e-payments appear poised for explosive growth. What are the benefits, as well as the barriers, to widespread adoption?
December 1, 2005... Electronic invoice presentment and payment, a system for conducting paperless business-to-business transactions, is not as well-known or as widely used as its business-to-consumer counterpart, electronic bill presentment and payment. But EIPP...

NCO Group's Stock Dives as Firm Revamps for Future Growth.
December 1, 2005... Third-quarter earnings for 2005 proved a big disappointment to NCO Group stock watchers. The stock of the largest collections firm in the country, and arguably the world, hit a 52-week low of $14.44 on Nov. 8, the first day of trading after the...