Collections & Credit Risk articles from June 2008

Collections & Credit Risk archives from June 2008

Ho-Hum, Economic Doldrums.(collection agencies)
June 1, 2008... With more people in debt, collection activity - or the amount of debt being assigned to collectors - is up dramatically, reports ACA International, the Minneapolis-based association of collection agencies. Still, with the economy plodding...

Late with Their Mortgage Payments, Consumers Lose Faith in the Economy.
June 1, 2008... The doom and gloom data arrive in higgledy-piggledy fashion on a daily basis, and it can be difficult for lenders - particularly in the housing market - and their credit risk managers to wrap their heads around all of it. The thrust is...

Talk of the Town: Want a happy client? Collect for a city or township with unpaid fees dating back 20 years. Using experienced staff, and technological and reporting capabilities often far superior to a municipality's in-house system, they will see your recoveries as a windfall.
June 1, 2008... If an agency or law firm can wade through the technical, sometimes Byzantine, processes to qualify, opportunities to collect municipal government debt are growing - and at a good clip. Competition for municipal contracts is increasing as well,...

Ethics 101: No Goodies For Government Officials.
June 1, 2008... In February, the city of Chicago said it would soon end its relationship with collection law firm Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson for allegedly bankrolling a 2003 personal trip for a city official who later resigned. Linebarger claimed the...

An Industry Flight to Action: Leaders in collections and debt buying take a long-term look at the merits of self-regulation.
June 1, 2008... Collection Industry insiders understand that their business supports the economy, helps lenders and retailers recoup costs and tames prices on goods for all of us, but John Q. Public only remembers that his third cousin's fishing buddy once...

Europe Becoming Ripe For Consolidation: M&A activity in the region historically has been incremental, but agencies and buyers expect an increase in the pace of industry consolidation. (Part one of a two-part series.).(Company overview)
June 1, 2008... The Old World - Europe - remains a polyglot. The collection industry is highly fragmented: Germany alone is home to some 700 agencies, and that country is considered a mature market. Uniformity is hard to find. In spite of the creation of...

Card Issuers Study Alternative Scores: More card issuers are relying less on the FICO credit score and are using alternative scoring methods as well.
June 1, 2008... More credit card issuers are relying less on FICO scores to gauge creditworthiness of mainstream borrowers and augmenting the tools they use to score prospects. Minneapolis-based Fair Isaac Corp. developed the three-digit FICO score in the...

Resources Rise For Scoring Unbanked Consumers.
June 1, 2008... Credit-scoring models for consumers who do not have bank accounts and those with little or no traditional credit histories continue to proliferate. The FICO Expansion Score, which Fair Isaac Corp. introduced in 2006, was one of the first...

Reaching Out to Small Businesses.(Company overview)
June 1, 2008... America's small businesses - some 26 million strong - form the heart of our nation's economy, creating two out of every three new jobs and making up more than 99.7% of businesses in the United States, according to the Small Business...

A Case Study.(blended score in credit card industry)(Brief article)
June 1, 2008... Another strong argument can be made for a blended approach by diving deeper into one company - a large small-business card issuer. The company analyzed its portfolios of more than 100,000 credit records and found that the blended score was able...

Advertising and Service Contacts for Collections & Credit Risk and Credit & Collections World.(Directory)(Brief article)
June 1, 2008... Advertising Associate Publisher Brenda Schultheis 550 West Van Buren, Suite 1100 Chicago, Illinois 60607 Brenda.Schultheissourcemedia.com (847) 251-1588/Fax: (847) 251-0887 Advertising Sales Manager Hope...