If you fail to prepare then be prepared to fail! You could also argue that unless you try you cannot learn from your mistakes and subsequently come back stronger next time.
However, in these times of restrictions on say actioning repossessions or issuing court documents to progress a debt to the next stage, where you have a file to look at, even more so in these current circumstances, full consideration needs to be given to all options open to you. So, some things in our working lives remain the same
From our viewpoint here at SIRS, this means making sure our clients – from solicitors or councils through to finance companies and insolvency practitioners, continue to have the potential to know what a customer’s assets are, where a customer lives, whether they are working or not, and can they afford to repay the debt. Knowledge will bring better, more informed decisions.
Ultimately, this is no different to any other year. The key though is in the timing. Some of our client’s customers may be struggling financially so communication is vital with them. Other clients may not have the resources to cope with all customers different circumstances so may be the main focus of theirs is to simply park a debt and review in a specific time frame.
As was commented by Robert Thompson in the recent issue of CCR “Perhaps it is fair to say that, in some respects, the collections industry has yet to significantly respond to the events of 2020. It reacted extremely swiftly and effectively to introduce measures to protect the interests of its customers, and deserves to be highly commended for that. However, so far these have generally been reactive measures. “
“Many creditors will have a great number of customers in different types of forbearance programmes. The sheer numbers involved may be problematic for some. For others, it may be that new skills are required to work with customers and return them to the pool of active, live accounts as their circumstances improve. Some customers may become unwilling to engage, for a variety of reasons. Emerging from such very traumatic circumstances, even tragic circumstances for some customers, is obviously going to be difficult. An ongoing vigilance for signs of potential vulnerability is going to be essential. This will be no time to rush. Having the correct levels of resourcing and the right communication and understanding is going to be vital.”
Understandably there is a lot of comment around the economy currently from a people viewpoint, none more so as illustrated in a recent Credit Connect. Some of the headlines seem positive – “£600m of debt repaid in October”, some concerning – ”127000 mortgage holidays still in place” and most seriously “Pandemic drives almost 700000 into poverty”. Only time will tell how these and many other factors affect people – most importantly, as well as lending, the housing market and government policy to name just a few.
Regardless, no one could have predicted 2020 and what has happened around the world. 2021 will be no different. Be prepared!