Firstsource Collections Research - Credit crunch making inroads in the business, says UK consumer debt industry…
Research sponsored by Firstsource, a global business process outsourcing company, indicates that the credit crunch has started to affect the UK consumer debt management industry with debt collection outsourcing set to increase in anticipation of the impact of the downturn.

The poll covered nearly 1,000 consumer debt managers of companies in the financial services, telecommunications, retail, and utility industries

Research findings:

• More than a 73% of respondents said they had been affected by the declining economic environment in some manner, and over 20% reported that they had monitored a lot of impact on their business
• There are signs that consumers are starting to take longer to pay their bills, and that write-offs of consumer debt are increasing. 27% said that some consumers are delaying payment of bills by up to three months, and 22% reported that they had increased their write offs of customer debt in the last 12 months
• In response to the uncertain economic outlook, debt managers (68% of the respondents) expect to outsource more work to specialist collections and recovery agencies to increase their collections levels, reduce defaults, and lower their costs
• Debt managers said that the main benefits of an offshore strategy are further cost reduction, the ability to recover more debt, and increased access to talent...

Firstsource Collection Advantage
Collections business in today’s environment is not just about cost saving but improving overall performance and service levels. While selecting a collections outsourcing partner, companies look for specialists with deep domain knowledge and proven capability to maximize cash flows by minimizing debts. Firstsource Solutions leverages its blended on-shore and off-shore delivery model, best in class training and technology, understanding of industry compliance and regulatory requirements to deliver end to end collections solutions...

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