Debt collection services for the banking industry: Trust is the key to success

There aren’t many areas of business in which the trust between advisor and customer is as important as it is in the financial sector.

For instance, if I, as a bank customer, decide to take out a loan for a high six-figure sum to buy a house, then this isn’t just a major investment, but it is also at the same time a decision which will tie me to a bank, and sometimes also to a particular advisor, for many years. Therefore, as a bank customer, I am putting not only my financial future, but also my security, in the hands of a partner.

Competition through neobanks

Our clients face a daily challenge: gaining the trust of their end customers and, much more importantly, retaining it. And this is against the backdrop of an increasing willingness to switch amongst consumers – a development which is being fuelled, for example, by the growing number of digital comparison possibilities, competition between banks and alternative providers such as neobanks, as well as the increasing price pressure as a result of the low interest phase in the sector.

It is all the more important, in my opinion, to retain the trust of end customers even during difficult phases of the relationship with the customer – for instance, when it comes to defaults on loans.

In our experience, debts owed to banks are quite high up on consumers’ list of priorities – because the consequences of non-payment are very serious in most cases. If these loans are no longer being serviced, this can often mean that the level of personal indebtedness is already very advanced.

I believe it is all the more important that we not only offer an effective debt collection service which utilises the possibilities offered by digital customer communication, but that we also demonstrate sensitivity when dealing with end customers.

This is also important insofar as, for us, the ideal outcome is not only the successful recovery of debts, but likewise also retaining and winning back customers beyond the debt collection process. That’s because the budget which is available to banks for the acquisition of new customers is often inadequate. Therefore, placing a particular focus on customer retention is entirely worthwhile.

This diplomacy employed by our debt collection experts is supported by the use of smart AI-based solutions (agent augmentation).

For instance, Artificial Intelligence determines the optimal instalment and negotiating strategy in milliseconds. Smaller debts such as, for example, those resulting from overdrafts, can also be recovered more successfully and in a more customer-friendly way through the use of the customer’s preferred communication channels and via payment pages, which allow the consumer to pay quickly and conveniently. Our results speak for themselves: in the processing cycle of a bank receivable, we generate above-average and faster loan recovery than when traditional debt collection processes are used.

Read in our Business Insight about how your customers’ trust can be retained even in cases of defaults on loans. Click here to download the Business Insight.