Consumer Finances, Student Loans and Debt Repayment in 2023

By on March 21st, 2023 in Data Report, Industry Insights

The economy took a wild ride in 2022, and with interest rates continuing to rise, inflation expected to remain relatively high and household savings dwindling, 2023 could be just as challenging. As consumers battle high inflation and interest rates to afford necessities, budgets will be stretched and many will have to prioritize when and where they spend. Unsurprisingly, paying off debt will likely take a back seat to food, housing and transportation needs. But what will that mean for lenders and creditors?

In order to construct a comprehensive picture of the financial landscape for consumers with debt in delinquency, we analyzed data of thousands of consumers in debt collection to explore how they are positioned to handle financial stressors as well as how different financial burdens impact the repayment ability of consumers in debt collection, especially for those with student loans in this tumultuous economy. 

Key Takeaways from the Report:

  • Economic indicators show a rough road ahead for consumers
  • Resumed student loan payments will impact ability to pay debts – consumers with student loans have an average of $11,373 in non-student loan debt, or 92% more than consumers without student loans ($5,917)
  • Student loan holders increased their average number of open trade lines by 10.3% since 2020, while open trade lines decreased by 7.7% for non-student loan holders
  • Consumers with student loans have an average of $811 more in auto loan debt than those without student loans as of 2022
  • Engaging consumers with multiple debts requires understanding, personalization and patience in 2023

Download and read the full report for more insights.

TrueAccord Joins the Visa Fintech Partner Connect Program

By on November 8th, 2022 in Company News

LENEXA, Kan., Nov. 8, 2022 — TrueAccord Corp, a debt collection company using machine learning-powered digital recovery solutions to improve consumer experience, today announced it joined the Visa Fintech Partner Connect program. 

Through Visa Fintech Partner Connect, TrueAccord is Visa Ready certified. This certification helps technology companies build and launch payment solutions that meet Visa’s global standards around security and functionality. This distinction signals that TrueAccord’s debt collection solutions meet Visa standards and broader payments regulations.

“Joining the Visa Fintech Partner Connect program allows TrueAccord to build on its value with existing and potential clients and partners,” said Mark Ravanesi, CEO of TrueAccord. “With Visa Ready certification, businesses working with TrueAccord benefit from the reliability and credibility that come with Visa Ready’s seal of approval.”

Visa Fintech Partner Connect provides companies like TrueAccord the ability to connect with digital-first, next-generation payments and banking platforms and solutions and open up new possibilities. In a rapidly and constantly evolving landscape of new and compelling financial services providers, connecting with Visa’s curated fintech partners can facilitate collaboration between emerging technologies to enhance digital innovation efforts.

“TrueAccord focuses on delivering better, digital-first experiences for consumers facing financial challenges, which is an important consideration for companies providing financial services, and especially for fintechs,” added Ravanesi. “When a company has invested so much in customer acquisition, retaining those customers when they encounter a more difficult time and maintaining positive customer relationships is key to success. Our solutions enable companies to do that at scale with machine learning.”

Powered by TrueAccord’s tech stack, the product suite includes Retain, a client-branded early-stage consumer engagement platform for managing pre-charge off debt, and Recover, a full-service debt collection solution. Key benefits of both products include a simple, intuitive and effortless-to-use digital platform leading to great user experience, constant A/B testing and optimization to reduce friction and boost conversion rate, infinite scalability, and second-to-none channel deliverability. 

To learn more about TrueAccord and its digital-first collection solutions, visit www.TrueAccord.com and follow on Twitter and LinkedIn.

About TrueAccord

TrueAccord is the intelligent, digital-first collection and recovery company that leaders across industries trust to drive breakthrough results while delivering a superior consumer experience. TrueAccord pioneered the industry’s only adaptive intelligence: a patented machine learning engine, powered by engagement data from over 20 million consumer journeys, that dynamically personalizes every facet of the consumer experience – from channel to message to plan type and more – in real-time. Combined with code-based compliance and a self-serve digital experience, TrueAccord delivers liquidation and recovery rates 50-80% higher than industry benchmarks. 

TrueAccord Digitally Serves 20 Million Consumers on Path to Financial Health

By on July 12th, 2022 in Company News, Customer Experience, Machine Learning, Product and Technology

With more than 20 million consumer accounts serviced through intelligent, digital-first collections products, results show better repayment and happier customers than “call to collect” agencies

LENEXA, Kan., July 12, 2022 — TrueAccord Corp, a debt collection company using machine learning-powered digital recovery solutions, today announced that it has served more than 20 million customers in debt with a digital-first experience. TrueAccord’s customer-centric approach and commitment to creating a positive consumer experience is reflected in its 4.7 Google customer satisfaction rating, customer feedback, and an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau.

TrueAccord’s collection solutions harness machine learning and digital-first communications to deliver a personalized, consumer-friendly experience for those in debt. As is the nature of machine learning, the system dynamically analyzes and refines the approach used for each customer based on their interactions combined with years of previous engagement data in order to deliver the most effective communication treatment. The patented system, HeartBeat, which is now 20 million customer engagement interactions strong since its 2013 inception, continues to optimize with each new customer interaction.

“Machine learning is only as good as its data sources, and with more than 20 million accounts’ worth of engagement data that informs the HeartBeat system, we’re confident that the experiences being delivered are as streamlined and as aligned to consumer preferences as possible,” said Mark Ravanesi, CEO of TrueAccord Corp. “As a mission-driven company, we prioritize creating better experiences for consumers in debt, and based on our high customer satisfaction and repayment rates, it looks like we’re making significant progress.”

Powered by TrueAccord’s industry-leading tech stack, the product suite includes Retain, a client-branded early-stage consumer engagement platform for managing pre-charge off debt, and Recover, a full-service debt collection solution. Key benefits of both products include a simple, intuitive and effortless-to-use digital platform leading to great user experience, constant A/B testing and optimization to reduce friction and boost conversion rate, infinite scalability, and second-to-none channel deliverability. 

While holding customer experience as a priority, TrueAccord products continue to prove more effective than competitors, as evidenced by client case studies showing 25-35% better performance on accounts using Recover when compared to those placed with traditional agencies, and recovering $17 million in delinquent bills with a 44% paid in full rate using Retain.

To learn more about TrueAccord and its digital-first recovery solutions, visit www.TrueAccord.com and follow on Twitter and LinkedIn.

About TrueAccord

TrueAccord is the intelligent, digital-first collection and recovery company that leaders across industries trust to drive breakthrough results while delivering a superior consumer experience. TrueAccord pioneered the industry’s only adaptive intelligence: a patented machine learning engine, powered by engagement data from over 20 million consumer journeys, that dynamically personalizes every facet of the consumer experience – from channel to message to plan type and more – in real-time. Combined with code-based compliance and a self-serve digital experience, TrueAccord delivers liquidation and recovery rates 50-80% higher than industry benchmarks. The TrueAccord product suite includes Retain, an early-stage recovery solution, and Recover, a full-service debt collection platform.

Flipping the Script: Collecting with Kindness

By on April 21st, 2022 in Customer Experience, Industry Insights

Historically, debt collectors have been depicted as hostile, intimidating or downright rude – and over the years they’ve confirmed those stereotypes through aggressive phone calling and deceptive tactics. But to what success and at what cost? We know there’s a better way. The idea of compassionate, considerate consumer communication is behind TrueAccord’s approach to debt recovery and drives our innovation, and based on what we’ve seen, we believe there’s a lesson to be learned for others in the debt collection space. 

In collaboration with OnePoll, TrueAccord recently surveyed consumers about their financial regrets and found that 63% of respondents had some amount of money in collections. While 88% of respondents didn’t have any past experience with accounts in debt collection to report, the 12% that did weren’t so lucky, and their experiences were pretty awful. We don’t like to hear about consumers being treated badly and reading these consumer comments brings to light the problem we’re trying to solve. 

So what are consumers’ complaints about their experiences with debt collectors? Here are just a few:

  • “A million phone calls a day.”
  • “I was disgraced in a public place.”
  • “Relentless and rude, judgemental and uncaring.”
  • “Terrible experience, they were perfectly nasty.”
  • “They are mean and evil and clever and make you feel terrible about yourself.”
  • “They get angry when I don’t have the money to pay back in time.”

We’re here to flip the script. At TrueAccord, we don’t call consumers to collect past due debts, and we certainly don’t threaten or harass. By using a digital-first communication approach and friendly, humane messages, we actually connect with consumers and they feel empowered and motivated to pay. 

Don’t believe us? Here’s some real-life customer feedback from people TrueAccord has helped out of debt:

  • “Thank you for your patience and understanding!”
  • “Love the email communication and the ability to pay online.”
  • “I actually looked forward to making payments because I felt there was a sense of mutual respect between myself and TrueAccord. It felt good to take care of a lingering debt.”
  • “Thank you for your kindness, patience and professionalism in the wake of hardship.”
  • “It is amazing to be able to feel good about paying your bills. You helped me all the way. No pressure.”
  • “My experience with TrueAccord was seamless. Truth be told, it’s the first time I’ve ever enjoyed time spent with a debt collection company!”

So far the kindness approach has worked for TrueAccord – with more than 16 million customers served, we pride ourselves on our 4.7 on Google reviews, A+ rating with the BBB, and overwhelmingly positive customer feedback, not to mention our industry-leading recovery results. We’re proving that when you treat consumers with respect and kindness you can actually achieve better results for your business and customers.

Interested in finding out more about how outbound calling for debt collection is a thing of the past, our approach to digital-first debt collection and how it can work for your business? Check out “Outbound Calling Doesn’t Work, Here’s What Does” for more.

TrueAccord Rolls Out Web Chat in Time for Tax Season

By on March 23rd, 2022 in Company News, User Experience

TrueAccord is an intelligent, digital-first collection and recovery company that uses the industry’s only adaptive intelligence: a patented machine learning engine, powered by engagement data from over 16 million consumer journeys, that dynamically personalizes every facet of the consumer experience in real-time. Our team takes innovation seriously and works tirelessly to provide product and service features that deliver outstanding results for clients and customers. Here’s what’s new from TrueAccord.

Feature Update: Web Chat

Tax season is upon us and in the debt collection industry that means consumers have access to refunds. According to the National Retail Federation, of the 59% of consumers who are expecting a tax refund this year, 33% plan to spend their refund on paying down debt. For this reason, mid-February through May is considered the most productive time of the year for debt collection with many consumers receiving tax refund money and opting to use this extra cash to catch up on their finances. During tax season, it is important to manage the large volume of inbound requests while also maintaining the quality of customer interactions. 

As a digital-first company, TrueAccord invests heavily in strategic communication with consumers where and when they want it and doesn’t rely on a large call center operation. With an expected increase in inbound communications during tax season, the TrueAccord team determined that a digital-first live chat feature would align with customer contact preferences and enable better customer service during peak times.  

To solve for this, TrueAccord launched a custom web chat interface in advance of tax season, which is visible to customers as a chat “bubble” on the consumer-facing web pages. The solution offers myriad benefits to both customers and customer service agents including reducing call volume, improving agent capacity to handle multiple consumers, assisting in managing tax season volume and providing a consumer-friendly self-service option for most commonly asked questions.

The result?

We’ll monitor and analyze how the new web chat feature performs during this year’s tax season, but consumer surveys have shown that web chat is preferred by 41% of consumers over phone, email and social media support, so we anticipate high customer utilization. The expected outcomes of web chat implementation for tax season are:

  • Improved user experience by offering a preferred method of communication
  • Reduced in in-bound call volume 
  • Increased accounts closed rate
  • Managed tax season volume and 
  • Improved quality service levels across all operations communication channels with self service options for most commonly asked questions and inquiries now via web chat

Survey: Consumers Talk Financial Regrets, Credit Scores and Debt

By on February 23rd, 2022 in Industry Insights

Most Americans are in enough credit card debt, they would do anything to go back in time and change the outcome of their financial situation, according to new research.

A survey of 2,000 general population Americans examined how they tackle their financial hurdles and found the average person owes $3,083 to credit card debt. 

Many respondents shared their financial regrets over the years, from not setting up a retirement plan when they were younger (51%), to not paying close attention to their credit score (43%) and buying goods that were too cheap (41%).

Three-quarters (76%) have made an average of five financial decisions they regret in the past five years. And those who are eager to get out of debt (76%) have already planned their “debt free” celebrations once they finished paying all their dues. 

Conducted by OnePoll and commissioned by TrueAccord, a digital debt collection company, the study revealed 77% of respondents have lost an average of nine hours of sleep per week due to their financial woes.

When they’re in a financial crisis, 63% of people will turn to someone they trust — with half turning to their parents, 48% to their best friend and 46% to their primary bank. 

Overall, 87% of people credit their financial “wins” to the people who had given them advice, while seven in 10 (71%) said they’ve learned from others’ financial mistakes.

“There are close to 80 million Americans with past due debt and most want to pay it off and move on with their lives. But that is exceedingly difficult, especially in a debt collection system that treats consumers poorly and is more interested in process than simplifying debt repayment,” said Ohad Samet, founder of TrueAccord. “What we see more and more are consumers in debt who want to pay off their balances but are met with challenges of communicating with collectors, financial literacy and budget considerations that create roadblocks to being debt-free.”

For many Americans, recovering from financial regrets starts with their credit score. The average person doesn’t understand the importance of their credit score until they’re 28 years old, but believe it’s better to start building a credit at 25 years old.

Over four in five (84%) said maintaining a good credit score is important to them, with nearly as many (81%) saying it’s even more important than their social lives.

Respondents also recalled the feelings they have when they see their credit card statements and when they’re about to make a payment. When seeing their statements, 31% said they feel confident and 24% feel fear. 

On the other hand, people feel satisfaction (36%) and happiness (22%) when making a payment.

While 38% don’t plan on taking out any kind of loans in 2022, many are already making plans for loans in the year ahead — including credit card loans (34%), personal loans (33%) and mortgages (30%). 

“For those who are able to repay their balances, there may still be a longer-lasting impact to their credit score that can be difficult to remedy and further inhibit financial stability,” added Samet. “People will continue to borrow money when they need it, but what’s important is that they are informed on loan or credit terms and have a financial plan in place to ensure they’re making smart spending and repayment decisions. At the end of the day, though, getting into collections is often the result of trauma — loss of work, a healthcare crisis, and so on — many of them unexpected.”

TOP 10 FINANCIAL REGRETS AMERICANS HAVE

  1. Not starting a retirement plan while I’m young 51%
  2. Not paying attention to my credit score 43%
  3. Buying cheap goods 41%
  4. Defaulting on payments and ending up in debt collection 41%
  5. Overspending on credit cards that I can’t afford to repay 38%
  6. Buying a car without knowing what’s involved 37%
  7. Letting student debt accumulate 36%
  8. Getting locked into fixed interest rates 29%
  9. Not investing money while I’m young 26%
  10. Not buying a home/property while I’m young 25%

Sila Offers Customers Digital Debt Collection Services through New TrueAccord Partnership

By on February 7th, 2022 in Company News, Product and Technology
TrueAccord Blog

PORTLAND, Ore., (February 7, 2022) – Sila Inc., a fintech software platform that provides payment infrastructure as a service, today announced that it partnered with TrueAccord, the leading debt collection company offering intelligent, digital-first collection and recovery solutions, to make it easier for Sila’s customers to use TrueAccord’s products and services. How to deal with delinquent and defaulted accounts is a key element that fintechs need to have in place as part of their overall management of funds. Using a patented machine learning engine and engagement data from millions of customers, TrueAccord delivers a personalized, self-serve experience that drives consumer engagement and industry-leading results. Meeting consumer preference for digital-first services and to cut through the noise and empower customer self-service and inbound communication, TrueAccord uses a range of channels including email, SMS, voicemail drop, and more.

Since its inception, Sila has been laser-focused on providing industry-leading API solutions. As importantly, Sila has been steadily growing its partner network to augment its offering by anticipating additional functionality that Sila customers will need to successfully build their businesses. With the recent addition of TrueAccord, Sila is on path to have agreements with over 40 specialist service providers signed by the end of this quarter.

“Sila is proud to welcome TrueAccord as a partner. We know that our customers will benefit from this key addition to our partner network and from a closer relationship between our two organizations,” said Shamir Karkal, CEO and co-founder, Sila Inc. “Like many of our fintech customers, TrueAccord was founded by an individual who had a sub-optimal experience with a traditional financial institution and decided to do something about it. That’s a mindset that is very close to our own because we started Sila around the idea to provide payment services that allow entrepreneurs to build the new financial world they have in mind.”

“We have worked with more than 16 million consumers on their journey to pay off their debts, and we use that data and feedback to understand how and when to best engage consumers to facilitate repayment. By allowing consumers to create flexible payment plans and by offering modern, digital-first communication channels, we are changing the landscape of debt collection from hostile and harassing to empathetic and helpful,” said Mark Ravanesi, CEO of TrueAccord Corp. “We are looking forward to bringing to bear our significant expertise for the benefit of Sila’s customers and consumers.”

About Sila

Sila is a fintech software platform that provides payment infrastructure as a service, a business-critical element for all companies that need to integrate with the US banking system and blockchain quickly, securely, and in compliance with applicable US regulation. Sila offers Banking, Digital Wallet & ACH Payments APIs for Software Teams. The firm was recognized as a ‘2021 best place to work in financial technology’. Sila is headquartered in Portland, Oregon. For more information go to www.silamoney.com

About TrueAccord

TrueAccord is the intelligent, digital-first collection and recovery company that leaders across industries trust to drive breakthrough results while delivering a superior consumer experience. TrueAccord pioneered the industry’s only adaptive intelligence: a patented machine learning engine, powered by engagement data from over 16 million consumer journeys, that dynamically personalizes every facet of the consumer experience – from channel to message to plan type and more – in real-time. Combined with code-based compliance and a self-serve digital experience, TrueAccord delivers liquidation and recovery rates 50-80% higher than industry benchmarks. The TrueAccord product suite includes Retain, an early-stage recovery solution, and Recover, a full-service debt collection platform.To learn more, go to http://www.trueaccord.com.

Collections Economics 101 for Digital Lenders

By on February 3rd, 2022 in Industry Insights
TrueAccord Blog

With digital lending via neobanks and fintechs on the rise, consumers have more options than ever for obtaining loans. There are a lot of considerations for these digital financial providers when building their business models, but one important and often-overlooked strategy is recovery for delinquent accounts. We sat down with TrueAccord’s Chief Growth Officer, Sheila Monroe, who has held numerous executive-level positions at TrueAccord on top of a multi-decade career in collections, to learn more about the economics of collections and what new lending players should look for when considering a collections solution.

What are the economics of collections metrics for delinquent accounts?

There are a number of metrics to pay close attention to in the management of delinquent accounts. These can be separated into two main categories, portfolio metrics and operational metrics. 

Portfolio metrics address the health of the entire portfolio or a defined segment of a portfolio (a certain vintage or a certain risk group or even a particular product). For a U.S.-based lender following GAAP accounting, the lender’s net loss rate (or net charge off rate) is the ultimate metric. It tells investors and management what percent of the portfolio is lost as a result of non-payment, which is a key metric in the overall health of the business. Private equity and venture capital firms, along with companies who invest in a lender’s receivables, will be most interested in a predictable loss rate in line with investment objectives.

Operational metrics are also important in managing delinquency and losses. Operationally, lenders should understand how well consumers follow through on payment plans or promises by monitoring a promise kept rate as well as what percent of payments cover the total payment due to cure the account. For measuring efficiency, lenders look at the ratio of delinquent accounts per collection employee, often referred to as accounts per employee (APE) or accounts to collector ratio (ACR), as well metrics like promises and dollars collected per paid hour of operations. Many also look at the cost to collect a dollar or the cost per delinquent account. 

What are credit loss provisions and why are they important to financial providers?

Lending institutions will inevitably have loans that go into default, and this is planned for in their financial modeling. For lenders, even the largest international banks, loan losses are the largest expense line in the budget so it’s important to prepare for those losses. When money is loaned, whether in a 30-year mortgage, a 5-year car loan, or a revolving credit card, some of those accounts will go past due, and some will fail to pay long enough that they get charged off as bad debt (credit loss), and it can take years to see that happen. 

But when account balances do get charged off as bad debt, the lender must have enough money “reserved” to absorb those losses and still be able to operate. So any lending company with investors will need to have a reserve for losses that shows up in their balance sheet. Depending on market conditions and actual loss rates, these reserves can be adjusted upward or downward periodically to ensure what is commonly referred to in financial services as “safety and soundness”. This is even more important if a lender takes consumer deposits to fund any of their lending. 

What is a roll rate in debt collections?

The roll rate is the sum of account balances that moves from being in one stage of delinquency to the next. For example, if 500 accounts with balances totalling $600,000 are one month past due (often called bucket 1 or one down), and the next month there are 150 accounts with balances totalling $125,000 that are 2 months past due, there was a 20.8% roll rate from buckets 1-2. Roll rates can also be calculated based on number of accounts, but that metric is rarely used in a performance analysis. 

How do lenders and debt collectors use roll rates?

Roll rates are primarily used to forecast future charge-off levels, to develop sophisticated risk scoring models to be used in underwriting or collection strategy, and to evaluate the effectiveness of a collection strategy or process. The collection process is designed to effectively intervene when consumers miss payments and to encourage and enable them to get back on track quickly. The longer loans and credit cards go unpaid, the more they accumulate late fees and finance charges and become much more difficult to get back to good standing. 

What are “good” roll rate ranges in debt collections?

This can be tricky to determine because portfolio objectives and type of debt come into play. For example, some products might be aimed at riskier customers, those with thin or no credit profiles, or those who have lower credit scores and it would be disadvantageous to compare those roll rates to those of a prime product. It’s important to understand the objectives of a lending product when evaluating performance. Depending on their objectives, some lenders target high-risk customers and have high credit losses, padded by high fees, while others target prime borrowers and enjoy low losses.  

If a lender has been in business long enough, they can benchmark roll rates against prior years, but need to account for any changes to underwriting and macro economic conditions. For example, banks can compare delinquency and charge off rates to other banks or look at performance by vintage, meaning how are all the accounts that were opened during a specific period of time performing. Peer benchmarking can be difficult for Fintech and other young lenders who often don’t have a base of publicly traded competitors who must report these key metrics in shareholder reports, but there are some consortium groups that can help (Auriemma Roundtable Group).

Roll rates are early indicators of collection effectiveness and often require more than a glance to understand if they are good. Often looking at connected roll rates or flow rates is more telling. For example, a high roll rate one month may be the product of a short billing month, while looking at a broader metric like debts that rolled from current to 3 months or those that went from 4 months to charge-off, might be a more telling indicator.  

What are “good” ranges of cost to collect?

Generally, collection costs include the cost of collection staff wages and fringe benefits, software licensing, management overhead (for quality monitoring, training, supervision, workforce management and others), communication costs (letter and postage, telephony, SMS and other costs), equipment, supplies, scrubs and skip tracing information, and premises (leases and maintenance). If the collection function is completely outsourced, a lot of these costs will be wrapped into the cost per hour or cost per FTE being charged. I’ve seen costs on a per account basis range anywhere from $4.50 to more than $16 for unsecured consumer debt, depending on the strategy, the type of portfolio, and the location of the operation.  

As a lender, it’s important to know what you are optimizing for. Spending more to keep losses low may seem like a no brainer, but there is a point of diminishing returns and, worse, a point in which more collection activity drives disproportionate costs in the forms of complaints, litigation, customer attrition and reputational damage. It may make sense for your business to manage delinquency and charge off levels near your industry’s benchmark or even higher, but put more thought into customer retention and how to get them using your product again once their finances have stabilized.  

Why should a company that’s new to lending have a collections partner?

New lenders go into business to lend money. They start with a target audience and product market fit, and tailor underwriting to their growth aspirations and customer value proposition. That is absolutely what any new lender should focus on. But often lenders are either naive about the impact of losses (maybe they think their underwriting will be so good they don’t need to think about collections), or they don’t have a full appreciation of how managing losses and taking advantage of recoveries will enable them to lend more money and retain more of those hard-earned customers. Having a trusted collection partner can allow the lender to focus on what they do best while reaping the benefits of sound practices to manage delinquency.  

How do you measure success?

Ultimately, it will be a combination of your lending strategy (did you lend to the right people) and your collection strategy (how well can you get customers back on track after missing a payment) that will influence portfolio metrics. But none of these metrics will drive outstanding performance in isolation. To be effective, it’s important to understand a lender’s reach into the delinquent customer base. What percent of customers are actually engaging with the collection effort? A calling strategy results in about 2% of phone calls reaching a “right party” (the person responsible for paying) and about 1.5% resulting in a payment. 

More lenders should look at engagement metrics – what percent of their delinquent customers actually engaged with some form of communication. In a purely digital strategy it is easy to measure email open and click rates, and SMS engagement rates as strong top of the funnel indicators. For Fintech we see a 46% email open rate and 2.5% click rate, with SMS delivering click rates between 25-32%. This is substantially higher engagement than what can be achieved in a calling environment and is better received by consumers. 

What should a digital lending company consider when choosing a collections partner?

Companies new to lending are originating loans, and therefore the entire customer relationship, online. Their customers had a digital experience to begin the relationship and they will expect a digital experience throughout their relationship with the lender. With that in mind, some things a digital lender should consider when choosing a collections partner include:

  • Does the collection company primarily communicate with my customers in their channel(s) of choice? Many collection companies will say they use email, but it is often not the primary mode of communication and can amount to less than 10% of an otherwise heavy, offensive phone calling strategy. 
  • Are customer communications personalized when it comes to the channel being used, the time of day the communication occurs, the content and tone of the message or do they segment broad groups of customers for a one size fits all treatment strategy? 
  • Does the collection company leverage any machine learning that could augment what I already know about my customers based on my internal data alone?
  • What process does the collection company have for continuous improvement enabled by a strong champion/challenger testing capability? 
  • How much execution risk does my collection partner expose me to? Operations that rely on more collection agents will carry more risk exposure. Poor agent attendance or high attrition will impact expected coverage. Poor quality or agent errors across a varied labor pool will impact collection results and pose compliance risks. Cultural bias or unneutralized accents of offshore agents have been shown to result in lower contacts and lower average commitments than more expensive on-shore agents.
  • If you are outsourcing to an agent-intensive provider, make sure you understand what drives the agent incentive plan. Agents interested in making incentives don’t always have your customers’ best interests in mind.

TrueAccord Announces Results Confirming Effectiveness of Digital-First Retain Product for Early-Stage Delinquencies

By on January 25th, 2022 in Company News, Machine Learning, Product and Technology

With more than 1 million consumer accounts now managed through the intelligent, client-branded product, results show 40% more effective than leading “call and collect” vendors

LENEXA, Kan., Jan. 25, 2022 — TrueAccord Corporation, a debt collection company offering machine learning-powered digital recovery solutions, today announced results following the September 2021 rollout of Retain, the client-branded product that addresses early-stage recovery challenges for organizations with customers with delinquent accounts. TrueAccord Retain is now being used by creditors to manage more than 1 million consumer accounts and has shown to be 40 percent more effective at repayment than traditional “call and collect” debt collection vendors. 

TrueAccord Retain, which harnesses digital technology and machine learning to deliver a personalized, effective early-stage recovery strategy, significantly outperformed three traditional “call and collect” agencies across several of an anonymous client’s portfolios. Relative to the best-performing “call and collect” vendor for each product portfolio, TrueAccord Retain drove a 24 percent improvement in roll rate, a 28 percent improvement in early-stage gross flow through rate and a 40 percent improvement in late-stage gross flow through rate*.  

“With more than 1 million consumer accounts now being managed through Retain, we’re able to see the robust results of the product on improving early-stage delinquencies for our clients,” said Mark Ravanesi, CEO of TrueAccord Corp. “The results of our client’s evaluation were unambiguous: Retain’s machine learning-powered, digital-first approach resonated with consumers and drove significant growth for the early-stage recovery business. With a lingering worker shortage, especially in the call center space, we expect these performance numbers to continue to grow as more consumers are brought into the Retain ecosystem in 2022.”

Powered by TrueAccord’s industry-leading tech stack, key benefits of Retain include a simple, intuitive and effortless-to-use digital platform leading to great user experience, constant A/B testing and optimization to reduce friction and boost conversion rate, infinite scalability, and second-to-none channel deliverability. Retain implements e-commerce-based innovations like the focus on digital experience and outreach, machine learning-based personalization, and deliverability at massive scale for early-stage use. 

To learn more about TrueAccord and its digital-first recovery solutions, visit www.TrueAccord.com and follow @TrueAccord on Twitter and LinkedIn.

*This data comes from an anonymous client’s evaluation of performance of different delinquency  approaches  side-by-side. The client randomly assigned credit and retail card accounts to TrueAccord Retain and the other vendors. Key success metrics included roll rate, or the percentage of dollars that became progressively delinquent, and gross flow through rate, or the percentage of dollars that flowed from one delinquency category across multiple subsequent categories.

About TrueAccord

TrueAccord is the intelligent, digital-first collection and recovery company that leaders across industries trust to drive breakthrough results while delivering a superior consumer experience. TrueAccord pioneered the industry’s only adaptive intelligence: a patented machine learning engine, powered by engagement data from over 16 million consumer journeys, that dynamically personalizes every facet of the consumer experience – from channel to message to plan type and more – in real-time. Combined with code-based compliance and a self-serve digital experience, TrueAccord delivers liquidation and recovery rates 50-80% higher than industry benchmarks. The TrueAccord product suite includes Retain, an early-stage recovery solution, and Recover, a full-service debt collection platform.

TrueAccord Brings Collections to the Synapse Fintech Ecosystem

By on January 5th, 2022 in Company News
TrueAccord Blog

Collections-as-a-Service offering is seamlessly integrated to service customer debt accounts while delivering consumer-friendly, digital-first experiences

LENEXA, Kan., Jan. 5, 2022 — TrueAccord Corporation, a debt collection company offering ML-powered digital recovery solutions, today announced a partnership with Synapse as an expansion of its Collections-as-a-Service offering. The partnership will bring the best-in-class collection and recovery capabilities of TrueAccord to Synapse’s fintech partners and customer base, integrating collections into the customer-centric fintech ecosystem.

Given the rapid growth in fintech lending and banking-as-a-service (BaaS) and the steady rise in delinquencies, consumers are expected to fall behind on their payments and require assistance to repay their debts. Synapse, a BaaS platform that provides the infrastructure and leverages APIs to enable companies to quickly build and launch best-in-class financial services, selected TrueAccord to join their growing tech stack of fintech partners with similar approaches to financial services and customer experience to address the need for debt collection when it arises. 

“We chose to partner with TrueAccord to add debt repayment services to Synapse’s BaaS ecosystem, because it aligns with consumer preference for a frictionless, digital-first financial services experience, especially when they fall behind,” said Sankaet Pathak, Founder & CEO of Synapse. “We want to ensure our customers have a good experience across all aspects of their financial journey, and providing that in collections is just as important for customer retention as it is in origination and servicing.”

Through an API integration, TrueAccord’s Recover debt collection solution will service charged-off debt accrued through Synapse’s lending platform. This will expand the Synapse fintech suite to follow a customer from loan origination to application and all the way through to collections, if needed. Additionally, TrueAccord’s Retain solution for early-stage delinquencies will be available on a referral-basis to the fintech partners in the Synapse ecosystem as an option to help get customers back on track with payments before being sent to collections.

“As a fintech company itself, TrueAccord knows the fintech business and customer better than most, especially in debt collection,” said Mark Ravanesi, CEO of TrueAccord Corp. “We speak the fintech language of consumer communication preferences, data and machine learning-driven technology, and no credit bureau reporting, offering customers a streamlined and hassle-free way to settle their debts and get back on track with their finances.”

With open banking on the rise, more companies will look for ways to incorporate collections into their service offerings. TrueAccord’s industry-leading Collections-as-a-Service product will enable  fintech innovators to scale their businesses and offer best-in-class recovery with a customer-centric approach.

To learn more about TrueAccord, its API and built-in collections solutions, click here and follow @TrueAccord on Twitter and LinkedIn.

About TrueAccord

TrueAccord is the intelligent, digital-first collection and recovery company that leaders across industries trust to drive breakthrough results while delivering a superior consumer experience. TrueAccord pioneered the industry’s only adaptive intelligence: a patented machine learning engine, powered by engagement data from over 16 million consumer journeys, that dynamically personalizes every facet of the consumer experience – from channel to message to plan type and more – in real-time. Combined with code-based compliance and a self-serve digital experience, TrueAccord delivers liquidation and recovery rates 50-80% higher than industry benchmarks. The TrueAccord product suite includes Retain, an early-stage recovery solution, and Recover, a full-service debt collection platform.