Under the regulatory framework ushered in by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), never before has it been so important for organisations to ensure that they have an effective and fair tracing system in place. It is no longer the case that a ‘one size fits all’ approach is appropriate when it comes to tracing activity; businesses need to ensure that appropriate treatments are applied to individual cases and that adequate provisions are in place to ensure that third parties are not contacted in error. In particular, there are likely to be significant repercussions for those organisations who repeatedly contact the same third parties in error, both from a compliance point of view and, more widely, in terms of damage to that organisation’s reputation. As Wescot is well aware, it is important to treat actual customers fairly. It is equally as important to try and avoid distress for third parties who may be approached by mistake.
One problem faced by businesses is over how to identify a genuine ‘goneaway’ situation. The new regulatory regime reflects this. The issue is also relevant when it comes to determining whether reasonable attempts have been made to make contact with a customer before any formal action is taken to recover the debt. It is no longer acceptable for an organisation to plough on regardless with formal action and ignore the fact that a customer has failed to respond to letters sent to him and that he has failed to answer telephone calls.
Also of relevance is the fact that the way organisations interact with customers has changed dramatically over the last few years. In many b2c relationships, the vast majority of contact is online. If it is a longstanding relationship which suddenly turns into a non-contact scenario, the challenge faced by a business is to consider whether the last known physical address and telephone details for that customer are correct. In this climate, many businesses are likely to benefit from effective early arrears reconnection services. Not only can this approach maximise the chances of recovery, it can also increase the chances of rehabilitating the relationship between the customer and the organisation. Businesses are likely to benefit from approaching a company with a proven track record in customer tracing. Wescot for instance, employs a highly experienced locate team coupled with an effective validation process – both of which combine to help re-establish contact between customer and client.
By looking closely at the way this company operates, it is possible to see how it has managed to achieve considerable success against what may be regarded as a ‘difficult’ financial landscape. For one thing, the company aims to treat customers fairly and to engage with each customer in an effective manner. In this way, it is possible to open up a constructive dialogue and to come up with a realistic repayment plan. This is in marked contrast to the bad practices that previously earned the sector a bad name and which Wescot has always rejected. Such practices include poor tracing methods – including doing little or nothing to verify customer contact details to try and ensure they are as up to date as possible. Other examples of bad practice include aggressive letters, an excessive number of phone calls and uncontrolled doorstep visits.
A model debt collection agency is one that has compliance at the heart of everything it does. For anyone looking for a debt collection solution from a reliable company, it is worth paying particularly close attention to Wescot. This leading UK debt collection agency is not only a leading member of the Credit Services Association, it has also been active in helping to shape and improve practice standards for the consumer credit industry as a whole.
For the credit services industry (and particularly those parts of the industry whose activities include tracing customers with whom organisations have lost contact), changes to the housing market over recent years have had significant implications. The high loan-to-value mortgages and interest-only deals that were common prior to the 2008 downturn have now either disappeared completely or have become an extreme rarity. This means greater numbers of people are living in short term rental arrangements or else are living with parents or other family members under informal arrangements for longer periods of time. For the consumer credit industry, this means it is often harder to differentiate genuine ‘goneaway’ scenarios from those situations where an individual is intentionally ignoring all attempts to make contact.
Understanding what contributes to sustained economic growth is extremely important in relation to making the correct decisions to bring about such change. Immediately following the credit crunch, and with families throughout the country struggling financially, the Bank of England introduced extremely low interest ways in the hope of cushioning the blow of the tough financial times. The interest rates remained low for a substantial period of time which did indeed improve the financial situations of families throughout the United Kingdom. Following these cuts to interest rates in 2008 it was reported that families had more money to spend after they had paid household bills. Annual discretionary income trackers assess how much disposable income a family has after the deduction of the cost of living. These trackers had shown that following the drastic reduction in interest rates, a typical families disposable income increased from approximately £139 to £165. This increase lasted for roughly two years after the interest rates were lowered and brought a stability to the economy in the United Kingdom.
Constant training and learning is also important to motivating a workforce. The more time that Wescot dedicates to improving the skills of their employees then they will feel more engaged with the company. This translates to a better, more efficient workforce and will contribute to the 
Many of the leading industry experts were on hand at the conference to offer their expert opinion and discuss relevant aspects concerning the current financial sector. The event once more played host to exceptional keynote speakers such as Margaret Curran MP, who discussed the changes to the welfare system whilst Paul Lewis of the BBC chaired the opening day’s events.
eaches the staff that the customer is necessary. So for every person who works at Wescot, they will deliver the same high standard of service to every one of the debt recovery company’s clients.
gement companies then businesses are in a state of flux. Wescot, the country’s largest debt recovery company has however, adapted some of its processes in order to remain at the head of the game.