Collections & Credit Risk articles from October 2006

Collections & Credit Risk archives from October 2006

Let's Be Real: Disclosure is a Good Thing.
October 1, 2006... We've had an interesting few weeks hearing from people who don't want to tell us some very basic information about themselves. This issue, for example, features an examination of productivity software tools. I was amazed at the number who...

IRS Contractors Blaze Trail for Privatized Tax Collections, Know the World is Watching.
October 1, 2006... The three collection agencies that were scheduled to start working for the Internal Revenue Service on Sept. 7 know the eyes of the country, and a somewhat dubious Congress, are squarely on them and say they've prepared extensively to meet the...

Recent Deals.(Pennsylvania Association of Community Bankers, BSG Financial LLC )(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... West Asset Management, the accounts receivables management and portfolio purchasing division of West Corp., streamlined its operations into two divisions: Receivables Services and Purchase Receivables. As part of this process, Jeff Shiovitz was...

An Uncertain Economy Isn't Affecting Bank Credit Card Standards, Terms.
October 1, 2006... Banks are not changing their credit card application standards nor are they adjusting card terms and conditions - even though concerns about consumers' ability to handle higher energy prices and rising mortgage rates proliferated this summer,...

Iowa Warns Against Carrying Multiple Credit Cards.(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... The Iowa attorney general's office worries that consumers could fall heavily into debt if they accept offers for too many credit cards, so it's issued an advisory telling Iowans to limit how many cards they carry. Debra Moore, executive...

Mortgage Rate Shock Aims South, Midwest.
October 1, 2006... Regions in the South and the Midwest are more likely to suffer from so-called rate shock later this year as interest rates on adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs) rise dramatically. Those resets could in turn trigger higher delinquency and default...

The National Mortgage Landscape.(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... Metropolitan Areas with the Most High-Cost Home Lending Area All Purchase High-Cost Percent High Cost Detroit 9,678 5,246 54.2% Memphis 8,078 3,839 47.5%...

Collection Software Market Will Reach $700 Million by 2010 as Vendors Grow.
October 1, 2006... Software spending for consumer collections will grow to $700 million by 2010 compared with $500 million this year, according to a new report from PayStream Advisors, a Charlotte, N.C., research and consulting firm. Many collection agencies...

Hospitals Write Off 6.4% of Revenue.(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... Hospitals generate $129 billion in bad debt a year, industry consultant Kaulkin Ginsberg says, adding that it's "a big and costly headache to healthcare companies." The average amount a hospital writes off a year is $15 million, or 6.4% of...

15th Annual Card Collections Conference.(Calendar)
October 1, 2006... Today's New Credit & Collections Realities Require A New Playbook October 11-13, 2006 Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino Las Vegas, NV Hear it Straight from the Top Industry Players Gordon Cameron Senior Vice President ...

A Debt Rx for Healthcare: Hospitals are dealing with more and more bad debt, trying to figure out whether and when they should sell and what role collection should play.
October 1, 2006... In late August, a large public hospital system put its delinquent accounts up for sale, a portfolio with a face value of more than $200 million, according to a debt buyer who was at the bidding conference and asked to remain anonymous. The...

The Healthcare Market.(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... Number of U.S. Hospitals 6,000 Healthcare Revenues $2.02 trillion Average amount of bad debt written-off by hospitals $15M Percent written off 6.4% Amount of bad debt in healthcare industry $129 billion ...

How to Dodge Commercial Credit Fraud: Most fraud can be avoided by establishing and sticking to solid credit policies and responding quickly to warning signs and risky conditions.
October 1, 2006... Technology is a double-edged sword when it comes to commercial credit fraud. It is helping to stop some of the worst examples of commercial fraud but at the same time technology continues to spawn new types of fraud. Veteran commercial...

You've Been Had: Warning Signs of Commercial Fraud.
October 1, 2006... A payment is missed. Vague promises and excuses are made. A customer orders products until it hits the credit limit, or continues ordering after missing payment deadlines. Orders suddenly increase in size and frequency. Abrupt...

Beware These Risky Situations.(consumer credit)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... 1. When a creditor's primary credit manager is on vacation or unavailable, beware of fraudsters getting credit commitments from temporary, new or inexperienced employees. 2. Customers who order small-value items in high volume (no single...

Debt Dealing Alchemy: Brokers make deals happen in the debt market. Here's how three of the biggest brokers operate.
October 1, 2006... When Congress created the Resolution Trust Corp. (RTC) in 1989, it's doubtful anyone in Washington foresaw that doing so would lead to the formation of a U.S. market for charged-off loans from credit card issuers, retailers, auto lenders and...

Credit Cards May Hit a Speed Bump: Card issuers are sitting pretty right now with charge-offs down year over year. Yet, delinquencies appear to be rising and consumers likely will come under greater financial pressure during the next year.
October 1, 2006... Credit card issuers large and small have seen charge-offs decline during the first half of 2006 compared with the same period of 2005, and 15 issuers studied by Collections & Credit Risk all rated their credit quality as high at the end of the...

Credit Card Market Dynamics.(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... Americans had $2.186 trillion of total credit outstanding at the end of June, up 2.7% from a year earlier, the Federal Reserve reports. Americans are on track to charge $1.7 trillion in purchases this year with Visa, MasterCard, American...

Credit Card Issuers' Charge-offs...(Statistical table)
October 1, 2006... (in 000s) 6 months ended 6 months ended % Issuer June 30, 2006 June 30, 2005 Change Advanta Corp. $69,332 $92,616 25.14% American Express ...

...Activity At Commercial Banks.(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... Charge-offs 2nd Qtr. 2006 3.48% 1st Qtr. 2006 2.93% 4th Qtr. 2005 5.66% 2nd Qtr. 2005 4.23% Delinquencies 2nd Qtr. 2006 4.13% 1st Qtr. 2006 3.92% 4th Qtr. 2005 3.50% 2nd Qtr. 2005 3.67% ...

Shiny Debt-buying Apples: Here's how Asta Funding and Portfolio Recovery are outpacing their debt-buying rivals to produce solid financial results.(Portfolio Recovery Associates Inc.)
October 1, 2006... The second quarter was a tough one for publicly traded debt collectors. Blame slowing collection rates and rising debt prices, along with operating costs, labor retention and productivity problems. Of the six companies reporting financials...

A tough time for Most Public Debt Buyers.(financial services)(Brief article)(Statistical data)
October 1, 2006... (in millions) 2nd Qtr. 2006 % % Company Earnings change Revenues change Asta Funding $11.78 38 $26.40...

Raising the Productivity Bar: A new breed of software is helping lenders, creditors and agencies boost productivity and cut operating costs.
October 1, 2006... The 21st century is more than half a decade old but collection work is still being done largely in a very 20th century way. Collection agents spend about 70% of their time manually working accounts - updating files, requesting information...

More Productivity Tools To Consider.(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... Editor's Note: The information below was received after the table on the following two pages was compiled. Atlanta-based DATAMATX Inc.'s (www.datamatx.com) Confirm tracking application enables billers and agencies to track whether a...

A Conversation with Dave Rudd, IAT.(Interview)
October 1, 2006... What product enhancements have been made to ensure that contact is made/can be made despite the wide spread use of caller ID, phone company privacy services and cell phones as a primary phone? CT Center answering machine detection has been...

A Conversation with Tiffany Kreinbrink, TouchStar.(TouchStar Technologies)(Interview)
October 1, 2006... What product enhancements have been made to ensure that contact is made/can be made despite the wide spread use of caller ID, phone company privacy services and cell phones as a primary phone? TouchStar provides the ability for collections...

$6 Billion and Growing: That's how much private equity firms have invested in accounts receivable management deals; expect more money and more deals ahead.
October 1, 2006... Private equity firms have invested approximately $3.3 billion in transactions in the Accounts Receivable Management (ARM) industry since May 2005, with more than $2.4 billion of that invested so far in 2006. Tracking deals back to the...

Advertising and Service Contacts for Collections & Credit Risk and Credit & Collections World.(Directory)
October 1, 2006... 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 ...

Credit Card Metrics June.(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... Current Outstanding to Cycle 1 7.22% Current Outstanding to Cycle 2 1.65% Cycle 1 to Cycle 2 21.87% 1 Charge-off 4.85% 2 Charge-off 20.72% Other Key...