The Recovery Report

Benefits of a Good Old-Fashioned Phone Call

2012-02-28T09:44:00.001-08:00

Business owners and credit professionals are bombarded everyday with emails, advertisements, meetings, and text messages all wanting you to spend money on the latest greatest service or gadget. What about the money you’ve already spent? Wouldn’t it be great to get some of it back?

When hiring a third party collection agent or lawyer to collect your past due accounts, sometimes it can be tough to simply find the time to gather the information together to forward to your vendor. Up to 80% of the time you have information in your head that doesn’t appear in your customers file such as: your customer’s names, assets, email addresses, and cell numbers. This information can mean the difference between getting your money or not.

At Priority Credit Recovery, we recognize our clients are busy. We also know that you probably didn’t need another email. Therefore our commercial collection staff will call you personally within 2-3 business days of receipt of your account. We will give you a fast status update and let you know the good/bad or ugly news.

This is also the time to give us more information about your customer. We will make a note of our conversation with you and use the information to prompt payment from your customer.

Two things happen here:

1) You are completely informed as to what we are doing for you, and;

2) We are able to fully exploit every detail in our attempt to recover your funds.

While a simple phone call almost sounds quaint in this age of light-speed electrons, we find its helping to increase our recovery rates and our clients tell us they really appreciate being kept in the loop. Information from your collection provider helps you to set or adjust provisions for loss, review sales commissions claw backs, and initiate risk management strategies based on what may have been learned during our conversation.

News Update From TransUnion

2011-12-19T12:19:00.000-08:00

Here's a timely article from one of our suppliers that we thought you may find interesting. Click Here

Globe and Mail Article

2011-11-16T11:42:00.000-08:00

Our firm was recently interviewed by the Globe and Mail. Click Here

PROFESSIONAL SERVICE FEES

2011-10-24T12:00:00.000-07:00

How much is too much?

We spend a lot of time on the phone with prospective clients and the usual first question is “What are your fees?” As consumers we all want to feel like we are getting a fair deal. This is a normal question under normal circumstances.

When looking for a collection service provider it is tough to set the commission/fee question aside while evaluating the more important question: “Will this agency do everything they can to collect my money and provide me with timely feedback so I know what is happening?”

The fact is you may have already lost 100% of your money to your non-paying customer.

Be prepared to pay commission fees as high as 50% on accounts that are older than one year past due. 50% on something is far better than 100% of nothing.

CASH FLOW CHECKLIST

2011-10-24T11:57:00.000-07:00

On a scale from 1-10 with 10 being “really excited” and 1 being “not so much”, where does the job of calling your customers for money fall…honestly?

During our conversations with dozens of accounts receivable clerks and credit professionals, almost 89% would rather avoid it if they can. Many tell us that they are busy with current customers and just don’t have enough hours in the day to follow up on the slow payers.

As a business owner, I understand the need to service your current customers. What many owners fail to consider is the actual cost of allowing customers to use you as their banker. Let me explain. If you have $500,000.00 in receivables and your Line of Credit cost 4.00%, you must pay $1,666.67 per month in interest costs. There are many other costs such as missed opportunities to put your money back to work etc.

To counter this drain on your profitability, we recommend developing a set of daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly key performance indicators that your credit and accounts receivable staff can follow. If this checklist system is developed and followed consistently, the return on your investment will be immediate. If you would like to investigate this further, please visit our consulting division at www.creditprocessadvisors.com for a confidential consultation.

Top 12 Credit Portfolio Danger Signals of All Time

2011-06-13T10:41:00.000-07:00

1. “I’m just in the middle of changing banks (or getting new financing).

2. Loss of an important customer

3. Loss of an important employee or manager

4. Slow receivables or a large bad debt – Domino effect!

5. Broken promises

6. Messages not returned

7. Writ or Statement of Claim from another supplier for goods sold or delivered

8. Change of ownership, management, death – do something NOW!

9. “I have no money”

10. Mail return

11. Trade rumours

12. Bank financing that includes extraordinary security such as assignment of life insurance etc.

* Remember: When there is evidence that things are going downhill, it is probably a lot worse than one might think.

This is Why We Require Accurate Data From Creditors

2011-05-17T07:47:00.000-07:00

A Letter From TransUnion to Priority Credit Recovery:

TransUnion is committed to providing complete, accurate, and up-to-date credit information to our customers.

In keeping with our policy to maintain the highest standards of collection data, we would like to bring to your attention that TransUnion has made a slight change to its policy pertaining to Collections on Rent Arrears.

Currently, our Data Reporting Requirements document states that a judgment is always required when reporting rental arrears.

Effective immediately, TransUnion will accept rental arrears as a collection without a judgment as long as there is a lease and the amount owed can be calculated from the lease. Please be advised that non-liquated debts such as damage carpets cannot be reported without a judgment.

TransUnion is highly dependent on data suppliers to provide quality information to allow it to maintain a database of the highest quality in the industry, with accurate and reliable information. Therefore, whenever possible, you must provide full identifying information when reporting your data to TransUnion. By providing this information to us, you enhance the integrity of our database. By “full identifying information”, we mean the following:

• Complete first and last name
• Complete middle name, where available
• Any generational designators (such as Jr., Sr., or III)
• Complete date of birth
• Complete address (including unit numbers and postal code)
• Complete phone number, including area code
• Social insurance numbers are also acceptable however must be optional for the consumer to supply

TransUnion needs to ensure that customers adopt appropriate practices to comply with provincial credit reporting and privacy legislation. In consideration of these requirements, you must:

• Ensure there is a document in place that validates the existence of the debt with the consumer; for example, an agreement, a promissory note or a judgment.
• Report an accurate Date of First Delinquency. You must provide the date when the account went delinquent for the first time without going back to a current/good status. When reporting collection information, this date must reflect the date when the account first went delinquent with the original creditor and not the date the account was transferred or assigned for collections.

These collection items will NOT be uploaded to the TransUnion database:

Collections
• Collections under $50.00
• Parking Fines
• Road Tolls
• Rental arrears without a judgment for unliquidated debts. (Rental arrears that relate to a lease/rental agreement will be accepted provided that the amount owed can be calculated from the lease/rental agreement.
• Non-liquidated debts
• Collections that do not have the original Date of First Delinquency supplied by Creditor
• Debts that cannot be validated by a document evidencing the debt with the consumer (for example, an agreement, a promissory note or a judgment)

Note: Collection items will only be accepted from a licensed collection agency.

May Newsletter

2011-05-10T08:21:00.000-07:00

After much trial and tribulation we realized that in the case of our Blog everyone is better off if we rebuilt rather than remodel. After reviewing the archive and considering the cost effectiveness of converting to the new format and the obsolescence of some articles we will no longer be displaying article prior to April 2011. Should anyone like a copy of a previous post we can see what we can do.

Efficiency Changes

Priority Credit Recovery is starting to move into the second phase of our innovation project. You will notice our Recovery Report has changed. For the Month of May we will be offering 3 incentives for subscribers as described below. We will conduct a random draw in the three categories below on May 31 and will announce the winners on June 1st.

1) More advanced Blog and email system delivery

In order to provide our subscribers with a more updated Blog-Newsletter system we are asking subscribers to re-enter their email address in the “Enter your Email Address to Receive Blog posts by Emails” box located on this blog.

We apologize for any inconvenience but this simple change allows us to notify you via Google whenever a new Blog-Newsletter is posted. We also realize this is an inconvenience so for the Month of May we will be doing a random draw on May 31st for any subscribers who have re-subscribed as above. The winner will receive:

$100.00 Best Buy certificate or $100.00 Gas card

2) Better Content - Input

We will be providing more informative credit and collection articles. If subscribers are interested in a particular topic let us know.

In that spirit we are looking for article submissions from credit and collection professionals that can be posted on our Blog. On articles published, FULL credit will be given to the author. Interested parties may send your articles to my email below. Please note that when an article is submitted you are authorizing us to publish the article.

At the end of May the best article will be published and announced on June 1st. The winning author will receive:

$100.00 Best Buy certificate or $100.00 Gas card

3) Referral Thank you

Many of our clients refer new clients to us. We also refer sales leads to client companies as the need arises. We think it is about time we provided more than a thank you.

Any PCR client who refers a new client to us during the month of May that lists business in May will automatically be sent a thank you note along with $25.00 so you can have lunch on us. However, there is more.

When referring someone over to us please be sure they mention your name OR let us know ahead of time OR we would be pleased to give them a call. Please let us know and we will take care of it.

It gets better

Any PCR client who has received $25.00 during May will be entered in a draw. The winner will be announced June 1 and will receive:

$100.00 Best Buy certificate or $100.00 Gas card

We appreciate your patronage over the years and will continue to work hard to be thought of as your source of Strategic Credit Management when it comes to your cash flow. Some the new service offerings are already posted on our web site at http://www.prioritycredit.ca/seminars/ and http://www.prioritycredit.ca/accountsreceivablemanagement/ which are provided through a member of the PCR Group of Companies.

We recommending that you bookmark our site as it and our blog will be updated often.

Thanks for your business and we look forward to continuing to build long and mutually profitable business relationships with each of you.

PCR Innovation Project

2011-04-17T13:57:00.000-07:00

More Than Just a Pretty Reface

Priority Credit Recovery (PCR) has implemented the first phase of our PCR Innovation Project in commercial debt collection. The reface of our web site: http://www.prioritycredit.ca is just the beginning.

The PCR Innovation Project combines technology with old fashioned customer service. Our philosophy on customer service is to treat our clients as we would want to be treated ourselves. Peruse our new site and you will begin to see our philosophy in action.

For example: You will find a new debtor concept with our Consumer Portal aka Debtor Portal. A new tool so debtors can communicate with collectors. This innovation is ground breaking in our industry so it will be interesting to see how this feature progresses.

Security and Innovation go hand in hand. We don’t like filling out unsecured web site forms where the entire Internet can see what we are doing. Neither should we expect our clients or your slow paying customers to have to put up with unsecured communications. Common courtesy and respect dictates that every form on our site is on a secure connection.

The PCR Innovation Project doesn’t just stop with new technology.

As part of our Innovation Project, we have implemented a dynamic change in client service starting in the trenches with our collectors. After all, who knows better what is happening with your accounts than the actual collector working it? Commercial clients now receive a verbal report or email from the collector within 7 days of listing on any commercial account with a balance over $1000.00.

You will also notice on larger balance accounts that our closeout letters and reports contain more details. Not only will you know why we are recommending an account should be written off; but we will also bring to your attention any credit application or agreement flaws we see that could impact future debt collection recoveries in a specific province. Sometimes just a few simple updates can increase a client’s recovery percentages dramatically. We will be working with you as a source of business intelligence.

2 Way Street

Our PCR Innovation Project is collaborative in nature. We are open to innovative strategic alliances and pursuing a "2 way street" strategy in client relations. Successful business partnerships are mutually beneficial and there are ways we can add value to our relationship without either of us incurring any out of pocket costs.

The rule of thumb is that the more traffic your web site pulls in, the more money you make. A simple thing like mutual backlinks helps both of us and can be as simple as a few lines of code.

PCR is very proud of our robust I.T. infrastructure, high caliber support staff AND a wide arsenal of technology to improve recoveries. Got a problem or need in mind? Let’s talk.

Our Vice President of Business Development has a unique combination of extensive I.T. and database experience combined with 20 years of commercial collection operations experience. When you need answers to receivable operations problems that may require technology or an innovative solution, give him a call or email.

We have gone back to the basics - stay tuned for more innovation.

Ross Hamilton
Vice President Business Development
Direct line 604-588-5686
Toll free 1-866-266-0117 ext 398
rhamilton@prioritycredit.ca
Priority Credit Recovery Inc.

Has Your Credit Dept. Gone South...Literally?

2011-04-17T12:46:00.000-07:00

In This Global Economy Anything Can Happen and We Should Expect It

With the weakening of the U.S. dollar compared to other world currencies, jobs that were once performed by the Canadian divisions of American firms are now being repatriated - including the credit underwriting and accounts receivable management functions.

More American owned companies than ever before are moving jobs back to the United States. Wage costs and raw materials are now less expensive in some U.S. states than compared to Canada or Europe. This natural flow of jobs and capital will create opportunities for nimble risk management firms.

Procedures for credit underwriting, performing credit checks, accounts receivable management, and cash posting will become challenging for firms as they attempt to bring these functions back in-house. An area of considerable risk for American creditors is the recovery of slow-paying Canadian accounts. American firms are hiring U.S. debt collection agencies to recover their Canadian accounts; however very few U.S. agencies are doing it legally. More information may be found at www.collectdebtincanada.com.

When doing business in a foreign jurisdiction, it may make sense to retain the services of an in-country specialist to leverage their knowledge and local expertise to maximize your chances of success. This is known as Knowledge Process Outsourcing, or KPO. If you are the Canadian manager of an American owned business or the CFO of a U.S. firm trying to better manage costs and risk; it may make sense to use a company like Credit Process Advisors Inc. to help achieve your cash flow and receivable goals.

Knowledge Process Outsourcing, or KPO, can provide cost savings and process efficiencies and allow companies to focus on increasing revenue growth. KPO can also provide challenging and progressive positions for employees that want to move into supervisory and monitoring roles. The probability of failure is high due to the risks involved so a structured approach and program management should be used to execute this type of strategy. Organizations will succeed if the KPO strategy is used augment their services and performance, and not just to cut costs.

With offices in Canada and the United States, Credit Process Advisors Inc. (CPA) outsources credit management resources to financial executives who want to focus on their core business. CPA's professional knowledge, business systems, qualified staff and external vendor management practices combine to provide our clients with risk mitigation and qualified credit management services.

CSIS, CIA, MI6, NSA

2011-04-17T11:50:00.000-07:00

Now There's an Intelligence Service for the Business World

During a recent layover on my way to Detroit, I had the pleasure of speaking with a local businessman. The conversation got around to our respective employment and when he learned about our firms services; the conversation became much more animated.

With the pain of the recent recession still fresh in his mind he said, "I wish I knew you 16 months ago! I would have paid you $10...NO $20,000! to have avoided some of the problems I had".

This entrepreneur partnered with another fellow in a joint venture to provide services to the oil and gas industry. During the initial stages of the relationship; things were moving quickly and the deal came together fast. Unfortunately this fellow didn't thoroughly perform his due diligence on his new business partner.

Turns out the new business partner had a somewhat shady past and his record for running profitable businesses was less than perfect. My new airport friend had committed over $250,000.00 to the joint venture which ultimately failed. "If I knew then what I know now, I never would have done the deal", he lamented.

Completion of a comprehensive background is no longer the exclusive domain of professional credit managers. Obtaining business intelligence on potential suppliers, customers, and business partners is central to the decision-making process.

Sometimes the Best Deal is No Deal

We recommend interviewing key suppliers, talking with their customers, and in some cases getting a physical inspection done, to validate the information your potential business partner has told you about himself. Spending time and resources before doing a deal may seem like another unnecessary expense; however when considering the size of your potential investment - it may be the cheapest insurance you ever purchased.

Priority Credit Recovery Inc. provides business intelligence services as part of our suite of services. Click here to learn more.