Collections & Credit Risk articles from January 2008

Collections & Credit Risk archives from January 2008

Issue Data Issue.
January 1, 2008... January 2008

Looking Forward.(United States. Federal Reserve Board)
January 1, 2008... Welcome to Collections & Credit Risk's annual economic outlook issue. We traditionally start each year by talking with economists and industry insiders to learn what they expect in the year ahead and to understand how the collection and...

Secondary Market Looking a Bit Wan.(Kaulkin Ginsberg)(Mark Russell)
January 1, 2008... The enthusiasm of the resale market for debt portfolios has ebbed quite a bit over the past several months and the lethargy may linger well into this year, industry participants tell CCR. "There is less buyer interest in the secondary...

Health Care Debt Market Quietly Growing, Still Risky.
January 1, 2008... Prospective medical debt buyers see new opportunities in the niche thanks to the fast-changing state of the health care industry. "Hospitals have an insatiable appetite for capital... an increasing desire for new state-of-the-art buildings...

A Movement to Make College Affordable.
January 1, 2008... College - at least for some students - may be more affordable in 2008, thanks to initiatives announced by several universities. Williams College, a Williamstown, Mass.-based liberal arts school, announced plans to eliminate all student...

Skip Tracing Moves Into the Tech Age: Automating a portion of skip tracing can increase productivity and stretch scarce resources, but collection managers need to first do their homework. By Peter Lucas.
January 1, 2008... With collection managers putting a greater emphasis on automation to bring efficiencies and definable metrics to collections, it was only a matter of time before they turned their attention to automating skip tracing. As a result, skip...

Charge-offs Expected to March Upward: Home pricing, mortgage interest rate resets and bankruptcy filings will be the key influences this year on credit card delinquencies and charge-offs.
January 1, 2008... After financially troubled Americans, their lawyers and the courts worked through limitations of the revised U.S. bankruptcy code, which became effective in October 2005, consumer bankruptcy filings rebounded - but not to previous levels. Not...

An Imperfect Storm: Collection agencies and debt buyers this year may find it tough to navigate choppy economic waters.
January 1, 2008... Compliance concerns - or how to best keep lawmakers at bay - top a list of challenges certain to test collection agencies and debt buyers in 2008. But the list is long. More competition, added business pressures and a touchy economy all...

Transfer Debt, Increase Recoveries: While using credit card balance transfers to allow consumers to settle debt is not rare, automating the process and demonstrating higher recovery rates is.(Card Acquisition LLC partnerd with Apollo Enterprise Solutions LLC.)
January 1, 2008... While many collection agencies and debt buyers tend to stick to traditional techniques to recover debt, some are embracing new technology and trying to move their collection strategies forward. Case in point: Card Acquisition LLC's...

A Legal Puzzle: With state laws often overlapping the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, collectors are finding it more difficult to follow the rules.
January 1, 2008... If a collector calls John Q. Public in Iowa and reaches his spouse, the collector can only talk with her with Johns consent. In Arizona or South Carolina, the collector can try to contact Johns spouse but only if Mrs. Public also owes a...

A Case Study.(Case study)
January 1, 2008... The collection industry continues to absorb a 2006 federal court ruling and its progeny, a case many believe conflicts with the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act's prohibition of third-party disclosures. In Foti v. NCO Financial Systems, a...

Mortgage Charge-offs, Recoveries & Delinquencies: Banks' Loss Provisions and Net Charge-offs.
January 1, 2008... Loan loss provisions at all institutions insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation totaled $16.6 billion during the third quarter, more than double the $7.5 billion that banks set aside for credit losses in the third quarter of 2006...