In Focus Consumer Credit
He is adamant that he is able to afford
the repayments. However, we are not able to oblige; we must conduct a forensic analysis of his I&E that is intrusive and, in many cases, inaccurate. It then transpires that his expenditure is
in a negative position. Our agent offers him breathing space and gives 30 days to consult independent free debt advice and gather their input on his financial affairs. He just wanted to set up an arrangement
that he was comfortable he could afford. We needed the customer to declare a number of warranties before we could do this.
Common sense Common sense suggests that we should listen to our customers while convention or process – and, perhaps, a tendency to be over cautious and not fall foul of our clients, the regulator, or public opinion – is telling us not to. Our single mother faces a sleepless night
as she dreads running through her finances for the umpteenth time. Our full-balance payer is angry as he feels humiliated by the hoops he has had to jump through to clear his small debt. Our lunch-hour caller sits at
April 2017
www.CCRMagazine.co.uk
It does somewhat feel that businesses like ours have to take a huge amount of underwriting and customer assessment to ensure that our customers are making sound financial decisions
home that evening confused as to what he is meant to do. As these examples illustrate, in our zealous
pursuit of a ‘fair’ outcome, we seem to have waylaid a positive customer experience. Have we, as a business, or indeed an industry,
crossed a line here that demands such focus on process over experience? Have we mis-sold PPI? Have we lent
irresponsibly? Is the regulator asking us to apply a disproportionate amount of scrutiny to ascertain affordability? Are we lending new financial products? Are we providing financial advice? It does somewhat feel that businesses like
ours have to take a huge amount of underwriting and customer assessment to ensure that our customers are making sound financial decisions. We are not providing customers with financial advice – we are helping them to take control of their finances and deal with their outstanding balances, mindful of their circumstances.
Conclusion As a business, we believe in providing customers with a positive experience. We will continue to work with our clients to make it so, and challenge the policies and procedures to support this. Our clients are listening, and customers
are coming away from us more and more satisfied with both the outcome and the experience. CCR
21
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52
