In Focus Consumer Credit A focus on the customer
No-one expects to have to deal with the financial affairs of a deceased relative, but can the industry do more to help?
Tim Webb SVP, Market Development, Europe & Asia, Phillips & Cohen Associates twebb@
phillips-cohen.com
The psychological shock of the Covid pandemic has clearly been extremely significant in many senses, but possibly no more so than in an increased sense of all our own mortality, and what that might mean for our financial affairs. Almost everyone knows someone who
has suffered from Covid, many of whom have, sadly, died. The pandemic has forced so many of us into the position of dealing with grieving relatives and coping with personal affairs. In the credit and collections industry, this
has only brought into sharper focus the need to focus on how we deal with handling the final affairs of a loved one.
A mirror This is, clearly, an area where we have significant experience. From day one, as a business, it has been our ambition to turn a mirror on how the industry deals with its deceased customers, and it is often concerning how little creditors do with these customers. Throughout Europe, we have found that
local rules are somewhat different, but the fundamental challenges remain the same: in reality, are you going to keep sending a bill to a customer who died of Covid 30 days ago? How we, as an industry, answer that
question is not only a moral insight, but it is also a hugely significant business imperative, because when complaints about dealing with deceased cases arise, they will tend to be the type of complaints that end up in the press and on the desks of both the regulators and the Chief Executive.
January 2021
advocates of the brand, as apposed to CEO- level complaints. This means that – unlike some others in
the sector – if we identify family members handling final affairs, experiencing issues, our model is to signpost for help and support. These issues undeniably deserve to
be treated with the utmost respect and seriousness. We consistently need to show that we
care less about the money collected and more about the person.
From day one, as a business, it has been our ambition to turn a mirror on how the industry deals with its deceased customers, and it is often concerning how little creditors do with these customers
Pioneers We like to consider ourselves to be pioneers of how to handle outstanding balances where the customer has sadly died. Whilst the drivers differ country to
country, there is one common theme: a desire to improve the experience for grieving relatives and bring closure, creating
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Expertise Our expertise in this area has allowed us to build up something of a knowledge-bank to help grieving relatives, and I believe that it is this focus on the needs of our customers that has encouraged our international expansion. Whilst others have contracted and made
redundancies, we are actually hiring, not only in the UK – where we have operated since 2006, recently starting a new class of associates – but also in Spain, Germany and across our American businesses. We have actually bought a portfolio in
Germany just a couple of weeks ago. As a group, we now operate in the
following a wide range of markets, including the UK and Eire, Spain and Portugal, Germany, USA, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.. As always, it is essential for the industry
to have a proper strategy for how you will deal with these important cases, and seek out expertise where you cannot realistically provide it in-house. CCR
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