In Focus Collections
believe in giving people more time and, by doing so, business owners have the room they need to get back on their feet and eventually repay more than if the debt were just written off early. This is a better outcome for all involved.
SE: I think that the transparency of performance is quite an interesting element for us. I went to a very different round-table debate recently, which was about how you could get people more active, and one of the biggest questions there was how do you measure whether people are active? Could a standardised measure be found for a DCA? If it is eating fruit, then everyone knows that you have to eat five pieces of fruit in a day. So, with a DCA, the question is: what is the measurement? What is a successful measurement of the performance of a DCA?
NT: It is not just about cash collections being a success metric, it is more about driving the right customer outcome, and defining that is really important; both internally and externally to your corporate partners.
AV: If you have a group of customers who are being difficult, then it takes up your time. So, if you give that work to a DCA, then it frees up your time to concentrate on your other customers. So the benefit is not just in the work passed over, it is also in the time saving that can be spent on the other customers. So how do you measure it? I think that it depends on what is accepted in terms of cashflow and bad debt, in processing and time. But I would always come back to the mantra with DCAs: do you want me to show you what to do, or do you want me to do it? Once you have told
As a regulated business, we have to treat all our clients the same, regardless of what industry sector they are in, regulated or non-regulated. The strategy might be different, but in terms of what our agents are doing, it is the same standards
them what you want them to do, then you need to let them get on with doing it, and we will concentrate on the cases that we have control over. I think that is the value.
SE: Another metric that we would use, other that simple levels of cash collected, would be the number of people who we retain in the business as happy customers. That is very important to us: so we will have about 25% of the people who we refer over to our DCA who will continue to use our service. So, for example, we do not offer payment plans in-house. If a customer wants to do a payment plan, then they can do so, but they will do it with our DCA and then they can continue to use our service.
MB:We have a relationship with that customer, so there is the debt, but you have to look after them and move forward together. You need to pay for your current consumption and there is a payment plan in place, but you still have to decide how you can support them to help them with whatever their problems might be. In terms of ‘can’t pay or won’t pay’, sadly a lot of the ‘won’t pays’ take up a lot of the effort that you would like to put into a ‘can’t pay’.
For energy, of course, it is slightly different because you need energy – you cannot live in a cold house. So it is just important for us to speak to customers and then to understand what their problems are. And then it is a question of the relationship that you have with them, so that they can budget and pay for their current consumption.
What are the similarities and differences of managing regulated accounts and non-regulated, and are there complimentary benefits in working both? SE: Certainly you can learn things from both sides. Our membership agreement is not a regulated consumer credit, but we work very hard on making our processes as seamless as possible and our policies are based on those of the regulated sector. If someone says that they are having a problem, then we give them the help they need; we do not have to, but we choose to. The confidence that I get is that I know our DCAs are regulated to the hilt, so I know that my brand will not be compromised.
DF: As a regulated business, we have to treat all our clients the same, regardless of what industry sector they are in, regulated or non-regulated. The strategy might be different, but in terms of what our agents are doing, it is the same standards.
SW: This all runs alongside the debate over compliance and whether you build up a capability in-house, or if you outsource it. Added to this, we see a lot of questions of whether you sell the debt on. Working with DCAs is clearly an important thing to do, with the need to align your culture and do all the quality assurance, but sometimes people will just want to sell it on. CCR
Left-right: Maura Adams; Neal Turner; Steve Empson; Nick Watson; Sarah Watts November 2017
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