Collections & Credit Risk articles from September 2007

Collections & Credit Risk archives from September 2007

Summer Ends and We Are Students Again.
September 1, 2007... September conjures the kids returning to school, with stories and fond memories of beaches and summer camp. The children are going to renew their studies (we parents hope) and learn something of value (ditto) in the new school year. We at...

ACA Program Would Launch National Consumer Complaint Resolution Process.
September 1, 2007... When the collection industry's chief trade group ACA International announced a new code of ethics in late July, it set the stage for a bigger role in the industry's battle with consumer complaints. As a first step, the 5,500-member...

Code of Conduct for ACA Members.(Association of Credit and Collection Professionals)(Brief article)
September 1, 2007... The collection trade group ACA International in July adopted a code of ethics to promote consumer interests. Some of the provisions are: * Designate a contact person having sufficient responsibility within the organization to deal with...

Sallie Mae: Merger Should Close in October.
September 1, 2007... Student loan provider and servicer SLM Corp., or Sallie Mae, announced recently that its pending merger with an affiliate of J.C. Flowers & Co., Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase should close next month. Sallie Mae, which owns a handful...

Cash Collections Growth Slowed Last Quarter, but Buyers Tout Investments.
September 1, 2007... Profits from receivables management activity increased for two of three publicly traded debt buyers during the second quarter. Rises in revenue and income at West Corp.'s West Asset Management division, for example, was aided by the May 4...

Correction.(Correction notice)
September 1, 2007... NCO Group Inc. has participated in the customer relationship management business for three years, not merely one, as reported in the August issue profile of the company, on page 21. CCR regrets the error. (c) 2007 Collections & Credit Risk...

Industry Briefs.
September 1, 2007... Oxford Management Services (OMS), an accounts receivable management firm based in Melville, N.Y., has opened a call center in Scranton, Pa., to serve creditors in telecommunications, utility, healthcare, auto, credit cards and installment...

It All Starts With Workflow: Today's workflow applications must not only walk agents through the processes for handling an account, but also automate tasks such as scheduling and internal data flow.
September 1, 2007... Part 1 of a 4-part series: Building the Collection Agency of the 21st Century. Ask any collection manager who is building an agency or in-house department from scratch where they would start from a technology standpoint and their answer...

What to Know Before Buying A Workflow Application.
September 1, 2007... Given the array of workflow applications available, selecting the appropriate one to meet your business needs requires asking the right questions of the vendor. Two of the most important questions to get answered are how readily the...

Taking the Pulse on Healthcare Collections: How will health-care collections change as reform plans sweep the country?
September 1, 2007... Last February, as the 2008 presidential election campaign was beginning to heat up, Republican presidential candidate John McCain declared that next to the Iraq war, healthcare would be the election's biggest issue. All Democratic...

Shifting the Burden.
September 1, 2007... Hospital groups in at least two states, Rhode Island and Massachusetts, have tried to push legislation that would shift the burden of collections from providers to insurers. Convinced that Massachusetts hospitals will not be able to collect...

Legal Strategy: Which Lane Makes Sense?: The extra punch that a legal strategy can bring to bear carries a certain amount of risk, but also a strong chance for greater recovery. Creditors, agencies and law firms talk about the decision process and its risks vs. rewards.
September 1, 2007... When a creditor needs help collecting on delinquent receivables, it has a few choices. Some creditors have their own collection and/or legal collection staffs. Others turn accounts over to an outside collection agency or to a collection law...

Debt Buyers Are Liking Litigation.(Brief article)
September 1, 2007... Members of the American Alliance of Creditor Attorneys are seeing "lots more work and debt buyers are a major source of the new revenue," says President Richard A. Curtin. "Probably 80% of the new business is coming from debt buyers. They...

DCI's Family Tree: Diversified Consultants Inc. works hard at making employees feel like part of the family.
September 1, 2007... Gordon Beck, vice president of operations, personally speaks to every collector training class that enters the doors of Diversified Consultants Inc. What he likes to stress in those talks is that when collectors are employed by DCI, they...

What Is a Fair Retail Contingent Fee?: Determining that is a balancing act between achieving good results for the client and making a profit.
September 1, 2007... Several times a month, new collection attorneys call me asking what they should charge to handle retail collection items. Many have been commercial collection attorneys who now smell money in the retail (consumer) world. They were brought...