Wescot | New Developments for Debt Recovery Firm

With an evolving future for debt recovery, it is important that companies who operate in this industry do everything they can to adapt to the new changes and remain at the head of their game. One of the major factors that is affecting the industry at the minute is the change in regulations, as debt recovery now falls under the jurisdiction of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The FCA have implemented a number of stricter rules to regulate the way companies operate when recovering debts for their clients. Furthwescoter to this is the decrease in average disposable income, which will increase the amount of time it takes for companies to recover debts and thus increase running costs. To overcome these obstacles, Wescot has changed the way they work in a variety of ways.

In businesses such as debt recovery, there is a need for a high volume of correspondence using traditional mail. A hard copy that informs customer that they need to repay their debt is far harder to ignore than an email that might never be read. The disadvantage to using letters is the cost of sending out large volumes, as well as the time it takes to create the mail. Adare is a company that has developed new software called ‘SmartEdit’ which dramatically reduces the time it takes to change small details on letters and therefore speed up the delivery. The debt recovery company is making full use of the SmartEdit technology to alter documents quickly and use preapproved templates to rapidly produce the volume of letters they require.

One of the greatest changes that the FCA have made to the debt recovery is a demand for a more efficient complaints management process. Equinti, a software and IT company from the UK that provides automated procedures that will speed up their background processes has been contracted by Wescot to automate their complaints system. Equinti’s Perito software revolutionises complaint management as it can prioritise important complaints as well as provide user definable fields to further increase efficiency.

The final change for Wescot is the employment of Claire Larson as Operational Risk Manager. It is hoped by the debt recovery company that Larson will be able to shake up the risk management systems at the company to deliver far greater results in the future.

Wescot | Learning Objectives that Focus on Customer Service

There is a changing environment within the debt recovery industry, there is the obvious pressure that given the current economic climate, people have less and less money to spend. For debt recovery companies such as Wescot, this means that it takes relatively more time to recover debt for a client as customers are slower to repay. Factor in to this the fact that the industry has been placed under new guidelines from the Financial Conduct Authority who are demanding stricter rules for complaints management amongst other things, then Wescot and other debt recovery agencies have had to redevelop their operating procedures. This ultimately will result in retraining current staff and altering the training that new staff receive when they join Wescot.

Wescot are one of the largest debt recovery companies in the UK, with 650 employees who work in one of three locations, either Glasgow, Hull or Saltcoats in Western Scotland. Together the company processes 5 million individual debts and in order to change the running of a business as large as Wescot, their learning and development department has had to work hard in order to fall in line with the new regulations. One of the most important things that Wescot’s learning and development team has had to do is notify current and future clients of what the debt recovery company can actually achieve under the new laws. This has required the retraining of staff at Wescot, to uphold the company policy of focussing on the customers and clients of the company.

wescotThe learning and development team at Wescot have many combined years of experience in training employees. Mike Rustill alone has had twenty years in the business, including leading the training department at mobile phone giants, O2 and he brings his expertise and high skill level within learning and development. He has a proven track record at previous roles, not just at Wescot, at being able to perform at a senior operating level. In addition to Mike Rustill, the learning and development team of Wescot also contains Elaine MacDonald, a woman who has seven years in the financial industry, and after joining Wescot in 2003 as a collections agent, Elaine has been promoting to a senior role in the department. These are just a couple of examples of the highly skilled people that operate the learning and development team at Wescot, proving to customers that the training will in fact be effective in updating Wescot’s workforce.

Wescot | Debt Recovery Agency Implements Successful Learning and Development

Training and continued development of employees is one of the key aspects to running a successful business, training encourages two things, first of which is that it makes employees feel more valued by their employer. Secondly, because employees feel more engaged, they are then more likely to commit greater effort to the business buoyed by the recent development. Wescot is a debt wescotrecovery agency from the UK, that have recognised the need for continued development of their staff, not least because of the extraneous pressures placed on the company to update its processes.

While Wescot have already employed a successful team within the learning and development department, to further train their employees in responsible debt recovery and customer relations, they have had to recently update their operating procedures. This has involved changing the training that Wescot staff receive to fall in line with the new laws set out by the Financial Conduct Authority.

Wescot is one of the largest debt recovery companies in the UK, 5 million individual debts are processed through the company’s 650 employees. Because of the high level of operation that Wescot currently performs at, it is important that the company not only retains a high level of training, but they ensure that the training they give to employees will allow them to work with the FCA’s permission. In a large company such as Wescot, it would be easy for employees to slip under the radar and not receive further training. Such is the high quality of the learning and development department at Wescot that this is not the case, it is important for the continued success of the company that their employees feel motivated and engaged enough to do their jobs to the required standard.

In order to cover all the bases, Wescot continually review their agents and their performances are assessed. The learning and development department will then look at the areas that the employees need to work on and develop the training programmes to suit. In addition to helping engage their employees, Wescot are transparent when it comes to what the management team expect of their colleagues when they turn up to work. The management team also take an active role in developing those who are underperforming, being an integral part in Wescot’s learning and development systems

Wescot | New User of Experian’s ExPin System

Experian is one of the world’s largest credit information databases and forms the basis of many credit checks whenever a member of the public comes to secure credit of any variety. Based in Dublin, Experian has operational headquarters in Nottingham, in California and in Sao Paulo in Brazil. From there they employ 17000 peoplwescote who compile thousands of lists of data with regards to how much money individuals owe, to whom and how much more they can afford to borrow. Experian has recently developed a new system, entitled ExPin, with the objective of assisting third part companies in making the decision as to whether to lend more money or not.

ExPin works by compiling data from Experian’s already considerable database, but with a focus on only the customers of the client. The ExPin service will name all the products and services that the customer is already paying for and pass this information on to the Experian client. This information will then prove invaluable for the client, as they can learn all they need to know about a customer to form the basis of a credit decision. ExPin is constantly updated; ensuring that it stays as relevant as possible and each client can quickly access the correct information at the time of access. Clients of Experian will then benefit from greater confidence that the information they receive is as accurate as possible. ExPin will take a lot of hassle out of credit decisions by providing quantitative data for the client.

Experian are also then able to offer further services to their clients who use ExPin, as their needs will be processed by ExPin and returned to the business services team at Experian. All the while, clients will be able to remain ahead of their competitors by using the most relevant information possible.

In a recent move, Wescot Credit Services, a debt recovery agency based in Glasgow and across the UK has signed up to Experian’s ExPin service. This multi million pound decision has proved invaluable to the debt collection company, as they have been able to access information on customers quickly and assess how much they are actually able to pay back. ExPin has already improved Wescot’s debt recovery speed and this translates to stronger relations to their client base as their costs are reduced.

Wescot Credit Services | New Complaints Management for Debt Recovery

WescotThe Equinti group is an IT services company that employs over 3500 people, in 22 office locations across the world. They specialise in the transformation of clients’ systems, not just in IT hardware itself but also in providing HR solutions, finances and improving the sales of many of their clients. By cooperating closely with IT industry leaders, Microsoft and HP, Equinti are able to develop new software systems that will demonstrably change the way their clients run their business, using IT to run more efficient programs while the client focuses on their primary objectives. While Equinti offer a number of systems that cover a broad range of business needs, their Perito system has been implemented a number of times in being able to assist clients in their complaint management projects.

Wescot Credit Services is one such client of Equinti, purchasing their Perito system in an effort to manage their complaints system more efficiently. The company specialises in debt recovery and the industry in the UK has recently undergone a regulation change, with debt collection currently being regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The FCA has implemented more stringent regulations on debt recovery and as such, companies have had to evolve their complaint management to meet the new regulations. Perito, by Equinti, has proven itself more than adequate for the needs of Wescot Credit Services, who can use the system to not only, adhere to the guidelines set down by the FCA, but they can actually improve the efficiency of the whole process. At any department of a customer focused company such as this, it is important to improve the efficiency of their processes; ultimately it ends with a reduced cost to the client and better customer relations. Wescot have been impressed by the Perito system and has said that the automatic process has ‘reduced the risk associated with manual processes’. Every mistake negated by Perito directly translates to a faster and more efficient recovery campaign by the debt management company.

Equinti are committed to delivering the highest quality services to their clients, ensuring that their processes are as hassle free as possible and they can operate more efficiently. Perito goes a long way to achieving that goal from Equinti.

Wescot Credit Services | New Letters Management for Debt Collection Efficiency

Adare Limited is a company who provide expert data management and communications solutions to benefit any kind of business. Using the systems devised by Adare can actively contribute to reducing the costs of using traditional mail, in particular for those companies that regularly handle large volumes of post. Adhering to the Data Protection Act (1998) with the utmost diligence, Adare specialise in transactional mail, security print and direct mail solutions. The company owns an in-house production unit, cutting out any middle men in the process and thus reducing costs to their clients, as well as speeding up any mail processes.

WescotIn addition to their mail systems, Adare also offer a letters management program, called SmartEdit. SmartEdit works by allowing customers to review and edit existing documents quickly, a vital development as this again speeds up the process of getting the mail out to the recipient. SmartEdit is particularly useful to companies that regularly send out large volumes of letters that contain the same basic information, but require subtle changes to the address, recipient’s name etc. to make the mail seem more personal. By allowing the customer’s employees to quickly change stock letter formats, SmartEdit can dramatically improve the efficiency of a mail campaign.

One of the more recent customers of Adare Limited is Wescot Credit Services, one of the UK’s largest debt recovery agencies who annually process around 5 million clients. With an operation so large, it is important for the debt recovery company to process each client as quickly as possible and so they have taken to using Adare’s Letters Management System, because of how easy it is to change the specific details on a stock letter. Wescot can use the SmartEdit program to change details such as names, amount owed and due date quickly, increasing the efficiency of each debt recovery campaign and this translates to a lower cost and better customer service satisfaction for their clients.

Adare Limited are committed to reducing the costs to each of their clients when they embark upon a large mailing campaign and through useful systems such as SmartEdit, they are able to do this, giving them an edge on the competition. SmartEdit has helped not just Wescot Credit Services, but many other clients speed up the time it takes to send out their correspondence.