The Analysis News & Opinions


Progress on mental- health support work


Creditors and collectors are benefiting from positive attitudes and practices among staff towards customers with mental-health problems, but more needs to be done on addiction, according to a major new report. The Finance & Leasing Association (FLA)


and The UK Cards Association launched the publication, Vulnerability; a guide for debt collection, last month, which found, of the 27 surveyed organisations, six participated in 2016 and 2010 surveys, all of which showed marked improvements


specialist staff reported that they had not received sufficient training in this area. A need existed to both ensure staff are able to support customers in such a situation, and that staff are also supported by their organisation if emotionally affected by a conversation with a terminally-ill customer. Identifying customers in vulnerable


in disclosure


management, attitudes, and practices. However, organisations needed to ensure


that indebted customers with mental-health problems also reported positive changes – data from wider sources suggested this may not always be consistently happening. More frontline and specialist staff reported


difficulties in talking about addiction – be it to gambling, alcohol, or drugs – than any other type of vulnerable situation. This required action, with organisations needing to review how addiction was currently considered (in their policies, protocols, and training), and staff should be able to spot the signs and raise the issue with customers. When encountered, terminal illness was


an issue that staff could find difficult – between 24% and 33% of frontline and


situations was one of the most difficult challenges staff reported. Again, between 24% and 33% of frontline and specialist staff reported that it was not possible to identify someone with either a mental health or physical-health problem respectively, with the consequence that this has to be disclosed by the customer. The report found that this indicated a need to give staff more support to help identify customers in vulnerable situations, otherwise opportunities for help and support would be lost. Meanwhile, supporting customers in


vulnerable situations required more than ‘breathing space’ – instead, staff needed a framework for organising all the key information about a customer’s situation to identify the support needed. Stephen Sklaroff, director general of


the FLA, said: “The project has found and described best practice across the credit markets.”


Collections debate due


The role that collections agencies can play in facilitating best customer practice and allowing creditors to focus on their core competencies will be up for discussion in the latest of CCRMagazine’s informative collections round-table debates, run in association with ARC (Europe). Stephen Kiely, editor of CCRMagazine,


said: “Clearly, DCAs can appreciate the importance of client management and positive engagement, so today they form a key part of the collections cycle for pretty much every major creditor. But it is no secret that this is a sector that has been put


April 2017


under regulatory scrutiny in recent times, so it will be very interesting to continue to get a feel for how the sector is developing. “Anecdotal evidence suggests that the


industry is now being allowed a little more freedom to innovate for the benefit of its customers and clients, I hope to discuss whether this trend is continuing.”


www.CCRMagazine.co.uk Opinion


Identity fraud reaches record levels


Our latest figures, released last month, show identity fraud has hit the highest levels ever recorded. A record 172,919 frauds were recorded in 2016, more than in any other previous year. Identity fraud now represents over half of all fraud recorded, of which 88% was perpetrated online. The vast majority of this fraud happens


when a fraudster pretends to be an innocent individual to buy a product or take out a loan in their name. Often victims do not even realise that they have been targeted until a bill arrives for something they did not buy or they experience problems with their credit rating. To carry out this kind of fraud, fraudsters


need access to their victim’s personal data such as name, date of birth, address, their bank and who they hold accounts with. Fraudsters get hold of this in a variety of ways, from stealing mail through to hacking; obtaining data on the ‘dark web’; exploiting personal information on social media, or though ‘social engineering’ where innocent parties are persuaded to give up personal data to someone pretending to be from their bank, the police, or a trusted retailer. We have seen growing numbers of young


people falling victim in recent years and this upward trend continued in 2016 with almost 25,000 victims under 30. In particular, we saw a 34% increase in under-21s, and. therefore, we are again calling for better education around fraud and financial crime and urging young people to be vigilant about protecting their personal data; 2016 also saw increases in victims aged over 40, with 1,869 more victims recorded. These new figures show that identity


fraud continues to be the number one fraud threat. With nine out of 10 identity frauds committed online and with all age groups at risk, we are urging everyone to make it more difficult.


Mike Haley Deputy chief executive, Cifas


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