Collections & Credit Risk articles from July 2007

Collections & Credit Risk archives from July 2007

More, More, More...
July 1, 2007... Business prospects for the collection and debt buying businesses remain upbeat at mid-year, as you'll read in our special report this issue reviewing where the industry stands with 2007 half over (or is that half begun for the optimists out...

Collection Staffing Increases at Lenders, Delinquencies Rise, CBA Survey Finds.
July 1, 2007... Lenders belonging to the Consumer Bankers Association saw their delinquencies on all types of loans rise more than 10% last year, and they increased their collection staffs by 8.2%, according to the 2007 Consumer Credit Collections & Recovery...

Correction.(Correction notice)
July 1, 2007... The "Getting Connected" article in the May CCR contained two errors. First, LiveVox Inc. is based in San Francisco, not Atlanta. Second, the name of Adrian Levinson, telecom manager for Credigy Solutions Inc., was spelled incorrectly once in...

Consumers Complaining About Wide Range of Issues, Exclusive Analysis Finds.
July 1, 2007... If Hollywood were to remake the 1948 classic Sorry, Wrong Number, it could be set in a collection agency call center. A sampling of one month's consumer complaints to the Federal Trade Commission reveals the highest number of complaints -...

A Sample of Top Complaints.(Brief article)
July 1, 2007... On wrong person being called: "The debt collectors, who's (sic) job it is to find people, care nothing of the fact that my name nor my SSN match that of the person they were hired to find." On being called at work: "Tonya has called me...

A Snapshot of Consumer Complaints.
July 1, 2007... Times Complaint Mentioned* Wrong person being called 69 Wrong amount owed or think debt is paid off 64 Service never received or already...

Getting the Goods: Technology and consolidation are changing the game of commercial asset recovery.
July 1, 2007... Like playing chess, recovering assets at the commercial level is an art that requires plenty of strategic planning and patience. But emerging trends in the commercial asset recovery field are making the game more challenging and exciting - even...

The Commercial Asset Recovery Landscape.(Brief article)
July 1, 2007... I. Why Business is Good * The monies lost in commercial defaults continues to rise. * Looser underwriting standards mean more defaults, which means commercial asset recovery services are in demand. * New technology makes it easier...

National Register Helps Cut Asset Losses in Heavy Equipment.
July 1, 2007... In a glittering office building in Manhattan, millions of pieces of farm equipment and construction bulldozers are being watched over by a 24-hour service aimed at minimizing the loss of these lumbering machines. The purpose? To help law...

Agency Finds Niche in Healthcare: Account Control Bureau aims to be Shreveport's top medical collection agency yet faces challenges common among small operators.
July 1, 2007... Challenges don't discourage Account Control Bureau President Richard R. Dancy. "My goal is to be the largest medical collector in town," he says. And it looks like Dancy just might do that. Account Control Bureau, or ACB as Dancy prefers to...

Cash Dash: In spite of subprime mortgage woes, high gas prices and more stringent demands from customers, the collection industry appears to be in strong growth mode this year.
July 1, 2007... The first half of 2007 proceeded better than many collection agencies might have expected, what with turmoil in the housing market and politicians scrutinizing the industry from sea to shining sea. Despite such external distractions,...

Growth Intensifies Staffing Needs.
July 1, 2007... Expanding collection agencies are vying for job candidates with perks like new bonus structures and even company shares. Such ideas reflect the need to offer more perks in a business known for high turnover. Vengroff, Williams & Associates...

A Collection Midyear Snapshot.
July 1, 2007... I. Primary concerns a. Competition - clients jump from agency to agency b. Margin squeeze - fees continue to trend downward II. Primary opportunities a. Diversifying into new asset classes and/or services b. Increasing volume with existing...

So Sue 'em: Debt buyers are increasingly going to court to increase recoveries and justify prices being paid for debt portfolios in a demand-driven market.
July 1, 2007... If you have a phone, the adage goes, you have a lawyer. Collection law firm Wolpoff & Abramson has its own adage: If you have a job and a home, you have a lawsuit. More debt buyers are starting to figure that out, say industry veterans....

One Big Sale Raised Eyebrows.
July 1, 2007... When Maryland-based debt buyer Great Seneca Financial Corp. in February sold a debt portfolio with a face value of $6.9 billion to Asta Funding, the debt markets took notice - and rumors began to swirl. One of the most persistent - that...

Collections Tech at Midyear: Here's a sampling of new products and new alliances in the collection technology world.
July 1, 2007... Editor's Note: Technology is a mainstay of collections today, allowing agencies and collection departments to squeeze greater operating efficiencies, and higher returns, from portfolios of delinquent and charged-off accounts. But the...

Bringing in the Cash: Handling collections for community banks can be tricky but Bankers Bank seems to have found a winning approach.
July 1, 2007... Credit cards can be a loss leader for small banks. A lean portfolio of low-margin cards rarely generates enough volume to produce big profits and collections can be tedious and time-consuming for a small staff. The same equation holds true...

Bankers Bank: By the Numbers.
July 1, 2007... Of the nation's 21 wholesale or bankers' banks chartered to provide services to community financial institutions, the Bankers Bank is among the largest with assets of more than $2 billion. Opened in 1986 by a group of community bankers in...

Bankers Bank - The Competitive Landscape.
July 1, 2007... Changes underway at Bankers Bank come at a pivotal time in the community banking business. As big bank mergers continue to grab the headlines, community banks, with their emphasis on local service, have quietly been growing in numbers....

Home Again: An industry veteran talks about how the collection business has changed, and in some cases stayed the same as it was in the late 1990s.
July 1, 2007... Every few years it seems there is a cycle of mergers and acquisitions in the collection industry. The last few years of the 1990s were one of these periods. It seemed that every week another acquisition or roll-up merger was being announced....

Finding the Right Crystal Ball: Here are four rules that will help you forecast portfolio performance with greater accuracy.
July 1, 2007... Rising interest rates. An impending housing bubble. Record debt levels. Regulatory uncertainty. In times like these, it is more important than ever to hone your ability to predict future portfolio performance. A good forecast provides...