Collections & Credit Risk articles from July 2008

Collections & Credit Risk archives from July 2008

Standing Out in a Crowd.(Column)
July 1, 2008... Our cover story this month looks at the financial health of collection agencies and debt buyers. The economy is ailing - arguably we're in a recession - and that pain is reflected in the collection industry. There's a common misnomer about...

College Students Support Credit Card Marketing Regulation.
July 1, 2008... Four out of five college students believe credit card marketing should be regulated on college campuses, according to a recent report from the U.S. Public Interest Research Group. The Washington, D.C.-based organization surveyed more than...

Cities Battle Foreclosures.
July 1, 2008... Waist-high weeds and heaps of trash are regularly seen in neighborhoods across the United States, thanks to the credit crunch and foreclosure rates that are soaring nationwide. But many cities are fighting back, demanding that property owners -...

Investigated Companies, January - May 2008.
July 1, 2008... Company / State/County/City / Enforcement Action/Penalties Midwest Credit and Collection / Illinois / Consumer lawsuit, pending Mercantile Adjustment Bureau / [Texas] / Consumer lawsuit, pending Rawlins & Rivera Inc. of Florida,...

What Do European Firms Collect and Buy?
July 1, 2008... CCR recently asked European executives what types of receivables their companies purchase or work. Juan Jose Garcia, CEO for Adarve Corporacion Juridica, in Madrid, Spain, says, "The main asset is the personal loan used by consumers to...

Industry News.
July 1, 2008... London Scottish Bank's debt collection subsidiary, Robinson, Way & Co. Ltd., signed an agreement for a new medium-term revolving credit facility for up to [pounds sterling]85 million (U.S. $168.2 million) and will use the funds principally to...

Best Practices To Manage Risk and Enhance Returns.
July 1, 2008... In the last few years, financial institutions and lenders began to experience turbulent times as the U.S. housing market downturn rippled into a much larger economic wave affecting not only household debt but also consumer confidence. This...

'Old World' New Ideas: From "in-sourcing" clients' accounting departments to cornering the market on securitized loans in Poland, Europe's burgeoning receivables management market is trying out many ideas and capitalizing on myriad opportunities. (Last of a two-part series.).(Company overview)
July 1, 2008... One might assume that only start-ups are innovators. In Europe, mature collection agencies and buyers of distressed receivables can be every bit as innovative and opportunistic - even flexible - as the newcomers. Some of these mature companies...

Numbers Crunchers: As Fair Isaac updates its recently maligned FICO score, the credit bureaus are enhancing their scorecards too. Will the changes be enough to restore faith in credit scoring?
July 1, 2008... Just 18 months ago, the credit score was the gold standard for measuring a consumer's creditworthiness. Financial institutions counted on it for all types of credit-granting decisions and to calculate the interest rate for loans and credit...

Special Models For Special Situations.
July 1, 2008... Recognizing that base scoring models cannot accurately cover all the bases in predicting a consumer's creditworthiness, Fair Isaac and Experian have launched specialized scoring models. Fair Isaac is supplementing FICO 08 with a suite of...

Mid-Year Outlook: New Strategies in the Search for Cash: With debt placements rising and recovery rates falling, agency executives see challenging months ahead.
July 1, 2008... As the year hits its midpoint, collection agency executives are warily looking ahead. They see a growing number of bad debt placements, but with a corresponding fall in liquidation rates. The failing economy and a housing mess, along with high...

A Medical Venture: A pioneer in the health care debt-buying business starts his own company.
July 1, 2008... With medical debt buyers facing uncertain times given the rising number of uninsured and underinsured patients treated at U.S. hospitals, imagine the risks of purchasing health care debt just a few years ago - when sales were in their infancy....

Banking on Mexico's Unbanked: Financial institutions search for ways to tap new business in Mexico.(Company overview)
July 1, 2008... With retailers Leading the way, a new crop of financial service providers are offering credit cards to the estimated 70% of Mexico's 109 million people operating in an informal, cash-based economy. Many are lower-income consumers who lack...

Economy Presents Many Challenges for Small Businesses.(Company overview)
July 1, 2008... Small businesses and their lenders are encountering many challenges in the difficult economy. We outlined many last month in an article that discussed how some lenders are not using the best tools currently available to take advantage of the...