Collections & Credit Risk articles from February 2004

Collections & Credit Risk archives from February 2004

Debt Sales Boom: Mushrooming Debt: Good and Bad News.
February 1, 2004... Debt Sales is a hot topic in the credit and collections industry these days, as our cover story indicates. (See "Investors Tune in to Debt Sales," beginning on page 20.) With the mountain of consumer debt continuing to grow, it seems clear...

Letters to the Editor.
February 1, 2004... Enough Is Enough To the Editor: Enough government - and enough "activists." Where are they when customers are defaulting, filing bankruptcy, etc.? The lenders need some protection. They are lenders and only offer [loans]. If a...

Debit, Credit Cards Trump Checks, Cash.(Financial service's Forecasts and trends)
February 1, 2004... Debit and credit card payments exceeded checks and cash for in-store purchases for the first time in 2003, says the American Bankers' Association 2003-2004 Study of Consumer Payment Preferences. Cash and check usage dropped steadily in...

What's New?
February 1, 2004... Rainmaker Releases New Application RainMaker Software Inc., a Blue Bell, Pa.-based provider of financial management and business intelligence software, releases RainMaker Platinum enterprise application modules powered by Microsoft .NET...

EMCC Buys Finova Arm.
February 1, 2004... EMCC Inc., a receivables management firm based in Pembroke, Mass., closed an agreement with FINOVA Capital Corp., Scottsdale, Ariz., to purchase the outstanding capital stock of FINOVA Portfolio Services Inc. FPSI, newly named Equiant Financial...

NACHA Joins Fraud Fight: Hoping to stop Automated Clearing House fraud, NACHA has implemented new rules to halt fraudsters. But some wonder if explosive growth will still make it an inviting target.(The Electronic Payments Association)
February 1, 2004... Mention the Automated Clearing House to risk managers and the image of a secure network used to move funds to and from checking accounts usually comes to mind. In other words, fraud has not been a major concern - until now. Until a decade...

Investors Tune in to Debt Sales: With the industry again a hot play, debt buyers no longer have to fiddle a lively tune to attract investors. Still, to keep the money flowing, they had better perform well.
February 1, 2004... For bad-debt buyers, memories of staging elaborate song-and-dance numbers just to attract a few dollars from timid moneymen are fading fast. Investors are now swarming into the industry, eager to drop money into buyers' hands - a trend that is...

Trouble on the Home Front: Subprime mortgage servicers are on the hot seat. In the aftermath of Fairbanks Capital's settlement with federal regulators, many seem to be burying their heads in the sand, hoping the issue will disappear. That's not likely.
February 1, 2004... James H. Ozanne, chief executive officer for recently humbled Fairbanks Capital Corp., has a word of advice for other companies involved in the subprime mortgage market: Watch your backs. "The regulators and class action lawyers and...

Medical Banking: The Great Privacy Debate: When, if ever, do banks have to worry about compliance with medical privacy regulations? That touchy issue has yet to be decided.
February 1, 2004... The world of medical banking grows larger and more complex as more players scramble to touch the $1.77 trillion that a National Healthcare Expenditures report predicts will be paid out for healthcare in 2004. By 2011, its projection for U.S....

The Supply Chain's Missing Link: Getting paid in a timely manner should be as important as getting supplies or products to customers as efficiently as possible. Yet it's often an overlooked aspect of supply chain management.(Business logistics)
February 1, 2004... As e-procurement manager for Dallas-based semiconductor giant Texas Instruments, Alan Daniel helped the company become involved in an electronic procurement initiative that generated savings of more than $12 million a year in transaction costs....

International Implications.
February 1, 2004... For decades, the prevailing practice for international trade was the letter of credit, whereby a buyer's bank would guarantee payment for the seller and the seller's bank. "These have traditionally been in paper form, with lots of other paper...

Sleuths Incorporated: Lower costs, richer resources, and smoother connections to collections software systems are making it possible to skip trace even smaller accounts. Still, there are new challenges.
February 1, 2004... The increase in Internet crimes, new privacy regulations, and the growth in the use of cell phones rather than land line telephones has made finding delinquent debtors and their assets a more challenging prospect for even the most experienced...

Asset Location and Skip Tracing.(Directory)
February 1, 2004... (Partial List of Vendors) Company Accurint American Research Bureau Inc. Aries Data Corp. Asset Locators Inc. Chesapeake Credit Solutions Inc. ChoicePoint Inc. DataServe Datalure DebtWatcher Inc....

It's a Wonderful Company: Despite the slings and arrows thrown at it lately, Wal-Mart remains an important part of the U.S. - and indeed the world - economy. Where would we be without it?
February 1, 2004... Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is not just the world's largest corporation, based on sales. It is also one of the great social enigmas of our time. Journalists and analysts everywhere seem to be busy trying to figure out the meaning of Wal-Mart. Some are...

Smart Strategies for Utilities: Companies that understand their cost to collect and develop an agile, prioritized collections process can gain a competitive edge.
February 1, 2004... Utilities with multimillion-dollar billings take an average of 45 to 50 days to collect and, in some cases, the cost to collect is higher than the cash received. Moreover, some debt can take much longer to collect, and some is ultimately...