MANCHESTER, UK — Marking their 25th year of providing deceased account care services, Phillips & Cohen Associates Ltd. announces their first UK client launch of the online deceased notification platform, NotifyNOW. NotifyNOW makes it easier for bereaved individuals to notify multiple companies of their loved ones passing by offering a fully digital deceased notification service. 

NotifyNOW, named one of the top two new tech solutions at the 2021 insideARM Strategy and Tech Conference, offers a free, secure, online solution that allows bereaved individuals and Executors to have one place to digitally enter all the decedent’s account information and upload a death certificate, avoiding a distressingly repetitive process. 

NotifyNOW’s launch coincides with the long-awaited report by the UK Commission on Bereavement, which highlights the need for better solutions to support individuals through bereavement. The report found that 61% of adult respondents had difficulties with at least one practical or administrative task following bereavement. The report sets out a vision for change through principles which include, the need for processes after a death to be made simple and straightforward. As a leading deceased account care provider, Phillips & Cohen proudly leads the way in introducing services to address the very challenges outlined in the report. 

PCA’s partnering client is known for its technological innovation in the UK. Introducing NotifyNOW to customers furthers their goal of making the bereavement journey as easy as possible.

Phillips & Cohen’s new launch supports its global expansion strategy, with The Estate Registry, realising its vision of being a leading technology provider in the compassionate care industry. TER currently provides three innovative solutions, LegacyNOW, NotifyNOW and InheritNOW offering digital, deceased servicing solutions in areas of life planning, executor support and beneficiary support. 

Saima Hassan, Director of Operations, The Estate Registry UK, a Phillips & Cohen Associates Ltd. company commented, “We’re currently engaging with all our customers to make NotifyNOW the standard for the industry, as we have with PCA and compassionate estate care for the last 25 years. It’s clear that our clients aren’t willing to settle for a simple notification service when their customers deserve so much more. This approach is one of several ways we’re taking a positive lead on the recommendations highlighted in the Bereavement Commissions report, using our market experience to offer enhanced digital solutions to reduce stress in sensitive situations.”

Adam S. Cohen, Co-Chairman/CEO added, “We’re excited to build upon our successful client relationships in a way that significantly improves the deceased notification process for bereaved family members and Executors.  Integral to our forward-thinking strategy, clients recognise that well-built, secure, digital technology can simplify difficult processes and is every family’s prerogative”

About Phillips & Cohen Associates Ltd. 

Phillips & Cohen Associates Ltd. is a specialty receivable management company, providing customized services to creditors in a variety of unique markets, including deceased account management.

Phillips & Cohen Associates Ltd has domestic headquarters in Wilmington, DE, with additional offices located in Colorado and Florida. They also have international offices in the UK, Canada, Spain, Germany, and Australia. 

For more information about Phillips & Cohen Associates visit www.phillips-cohen.com. 

SACRAMENTO, CA — With the passage of AB 156, starting January 1, 2023, the DFPI will be able to approve applications under the Debt Collection Licensing Act (DCLA), with the condition that background checks will be performed at a later date.  Any debt collector that submits an application before January 1, 2023, will be able to operate pending the approval or denial of the application. 

The new law also extends the period from 60 to 90 days for individuals to provide fingerprints once the DFPI requests them.  The DFPI will make further announcements in coming weeks regarding conditional approvals and at least 30 days prior to any changes to existing processes. 

The DFPI will provide to DCLA applicants written notification through the Nationwide Multi-state Licensing System (NMLS) 90 days prior to fingerprinting being due.  Unfortunately, with the delay in the application process there is still a backlog of application so there may still be delays in final approvals

For more information email us at dcla.inquiries@dfpi.ca.gov, or leave a message on the new Debt Collection Licensee Voicemail; (916) 576-8623. 

CHAMPLIN, Minn. — Summit A*R was once again able to spread some cheer this holiday season. As part of their annual community outreach the staff of Summit A*R and their families chose residents of a local veterans’ home to be the recipients of some well-deserved gifts and Christmas joy. Much like last year, a group of the homes’ veterans received “Santa bags” filled with specific gift requests. Donations were also collected to contribute to various ongoing needs and wishes within the home, such as puzzles, games, toiletries, snacks, etc. Toni Olson, Client Care and Community Outreach Director, headed the project, and had this to say, “in all my years with Summit A*R, our veterans’ Christmas project has the most special feeling of the holiday season. As one resident said, ‘There really is a Santa Claus,’ with a wide and brimming smile on his face.”

Summit A*R’s Mission Statement includes the words “We are blessed and we give back to our community.”  “This is another example of our team living by these words. We can’t think of a more worthy cause than giving something back to our brave veterans during this holiday season,” said Tim Turner, President/CEO of Summit A*R. 

About Summit A*R

Founded in 1996, Summit A•R  (Summit Account Resolution) is a national revenue cycle management company serving health care, commercial, consumer and many other industry segments in various stages of the revenue cycle. Their focus is to “Preserve Human Dignity” with their P.H.D. collection philosophy. They are members of the ACA, IACC and BBB among other local and national organizations.  888.222.0793 or www.SummitCollects.com

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. — Absolute Resolutions Corp. (“ARC”), headquartered in Bloomington, MN, announced today that for their annual social service initiative ARC employees supported a well-known local animal rescue, Secondhand Hounds.  

Secondhand Hounds is a nonprofit animal rescue in Minnesota that focuses on rescuing dogs and cats from at risk shelters and from owners who can no longer provide care for their animals. They provide safe shelter, proper veterinary care, and daily necessities for animals at risk, while working hard to find each one a permanent, loving home. 

“We believe strongly in giving back to the community at ARC and we have been privileged to support many extraordinary local charities over the years. I was inspired this year when our team chose to support Secondhand Hounds.” stated Robert Johnson, CEO. “The team at ARC is full of animal lovers, myself included, and I was tremendously proud of the generosity from our employees during this donation drive.” 

ARC employees contributed requested shelter supplies and cash donations in support of the organization. Additionally, ARC purchased a Puppy Party where employees were able to play and cuddle with puppies at their Bloomington office. The financial contributions will directly assist in funding the organization’s many veterinary care programs.  

About Absolute Resolutions Corp.

Absolute Resolutions Corp. is a certified professional receivables company headquartered in Bloomington, MN with offices in San Diego, CA and Scottsdale, AZ. 

www.absoluteresolutions.com

About Secondhand Hounds

Secondhand Hounds is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit animal rescue in Minnesota. Founded in July of 2009, their many volunteers have made a positive impact on the lives of many dogs and cats in our community.

https://www.secondhandhounds.org/

Two groups of state attorneys general have filed amicus briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court urging the Court to grant the CFPB’s certiorari petition seeking review of the Fifth Circuit panel decision in Community Financial Services Association of America Ltd. v. CFPB.  In that decision, the panel held the CFPB’s funding mechanism violates the Appropriations Clause of the U.S. Constitution and, as the remedy for the violation, vacated the CFPB’s challenged payday lending rule. 

One amicus brief was filed by a group of 22 Democratic state AGs.  While the AGs argue that the Fifth Circuit erred in holding that the CFPB’s funding violates the Appropriations Clause for the reasons stated by the CFPB in its petition, they urge the court to grant the petition even if it disagrees that the merits of the Appropriations Clause issue are worthy of certiorari.  According to the AGs, the Court should grant the petition “at least to review the question of whether the court of appeals erred in vacating a regulation promulgated during a time when the CFPB received allegedly unconstitutional funding.”  They assert that the Fifth Circuit’s “sweeping remedy…threatens substantial harm to the States” because “[t]he States and their residents could stand to lose the benefits of the CFPB’s critical enforcement, regulatory, and informational functions if the decision below stands and is interpreted to impair the CFPB’s ongoing operations.”  They contend that “the court of appeals’ reasoning could jeopardize many of the CFPB’s actions from across its decade-long existence, to the detriment of both consumers protected by those actions and financial-services providers that rely on them to guide their conduct.”

Among the arguments made by the AGs for why the Fifth Circuit’s remedy is inappropriate is that there is no indication that if the CFPB’s funding had come from the Treasury rather than the Federal Reserve, the CFPB would have altered its behavior as to the payday lending rule.  They assert that former Director Kraninger’s ratification and reissuance of the rule “is strong evidence that the CFPB would have issued the same regulation once again, after any constitutional defect was corrected.”   

The other amicus brief was filed by a group of 16 Republican state AGs.  While they also urge the Supreme Court to grant the CFPB’s petition, they ask the Court to affirm the Fifth Circuit decision.  They assert that a prompt answer to the Appropriations Clause issue is needed because “as co-regulators, States are left to wrestle over how to engage with an agency whose constitutionality is a matter of open dispute.”  They also contend that if the Supreme Court does not provide an answer soon, “States will have to litigate the same issue in other districts and circuits over and over.”  The AGs claim that the appropriations process “makes the federal government more accountable to the states.”  They assert that the Fifth Circuit’s decision on the Appropriations Clause issue is correct and that the Fifth Circuit “was right to vacate a rule enacted without constitutional funding.”

Last month, the Supreme Court granted the unopposed request of the Community Financial Services Association for a 30-day extension until January 13, 2023 to file its brief in opposition to the CFPB’s certiorari petition.  In its extension request, CFSA indicated that it is also planning to file a cross-petition for certiorari to ask the Supreme Court to review the Fifth Circuit’s rejection of its other challenges to the CFPB’s payday loan rule.  It stated that it will file its cross-petition on January 13, the same day it files its opposition to the CFPB cert petition.  The CFPB has indicated that it will respond to CFSA’s cross-petition on January 25.  To facilitate the Court’s ability to consider both petitions at the February 17 conference, CFSA agreed to waive the 14-day waiting period under Rule 15.5 for distributing the cross-petition and the CFPB’s brief in opposition to the Court, which will allow distribution to the Justices on February 1.  The CFPB is seeking to have the Supreme Court hear and decide the case this term.

DALLAS, TX — Hampton Pryor Group International (HPGI) and Techno Brain Group BPO ITES Limited  (Techno Brain)  have entered into a strategic relationship to enhance offshore BPO and collections in the East Africa Community (Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda). This region has recently emerged as a “hot spot” for providing consumer contact and back office services, with  Techno Brain having long-established operations in East Africa. This strategic relationship will find HPGI working to further strengthen the Techno Brain 1st and 3rd party collections operations, through training and oversight, to better serve U.S. based clients. Additionally, HPGI will assist growing the BPO program. 

States Joe Adams, President and CEO of HPGI, “The countries that now perform nearshore or offshore services for U.S. clients are saturated with multiple operations which have cannibalized on each other for staff, thus driving the cost of services upward. I’ve watched this occur in India, Jamaica, the Philippines and Central America. Techno Brain is considered the premier call center operation in East Africa region, with virtually no competition and a waiting list of individuals in both countries that want to work for the company due to their reputation for training and treating employees as professionals. I have observed firsthand that the English and communication skills are on par with, or superior to, other offshore countries and the pricing is extremely competitive with other countries.”

Adds Vinay Subbaramaiah, Director, Techno Brain BPO ITES “East Africa in particular has strengthened its position to be a highly competitive destination with highly skilled and trainable youth, who constitute 60% of African population under 25 years of age.  Techno Brain Group’s expertise and experience of 25 years in Africa delivering world class services and solutions, by nurturing talented and marginalized youths  and building capabilities to deliver complex projects gives us confidence that, by joining hands with HPGI, we can offer a compelling argument for U.S. companies to consider East Africa for their call center and collections needs.”

Consider Techno Brain BPO ITES for that large segment of consumer debt and services that U.S. operations,  even with the most recent advances in technology, simply can’t afford to work.

About Techno Brain BPO ITES

Techno Brain BPO ITES, LTD., a Business Unit of Techno Brain Group (Est. in 1997) is an ISO 9001:2015, ISO 27001: 2013, FDCPA and HIPAA compliant service provider with U.S. offices located in Naples, Florida; and state-of-the-art, 1000 + seat, operational facilities, and delivery centers in several East Africa countries.

About Hampton Pryor Group International

Since its founding in 2003, the Hampton Pryor Group has been a leading provider of advisory and consultant services internationally  to banks, credit unions, SACCOs,  mortgage servicers, credit grantors, debt purchasers and collections agencies.  We have a proven track record of delivering on our commitments to our clients, both domestically and internationally.

In a pair of recent enforcement actions, the Federal Trade Commission cracked down on companies with allegedly lax data security measures that resulted in the theft of personal information of millions of consumers.

In the first enforcement action, the FTC alleged that an online marketplace company and its CEO “were alerted to security problems two years prior to the breach yet failed to take steps to protect consumers’ data from hackers.”

Specifically, in 2018 hackers infiltrated the company’s servers until the login information for its cloud computing account was changed. Unfortunately, according to the FTC, the company did not address that breach with adequate security measures yet continued to represent to the public it had appropriate security protections. Two years later, an employee’s account was breached, and customers’ information was stolen.

In the second enforcement action, the FTC alleged an education technology company suffered four security breaches since 2017 but failed to undertake adequate remediation, resulting in the exfiltration of millions of consumers’ personal information

A number of alleged violations were common to both companies, including:

• Failing to require multifactor authentication
• Limiting access to consumers’ personal information
• Neglecting to monitor for security threats
• Failing to develop adequate security policies
• Failing to properly train employees

Pursuant to the proposed consent orders, both companies are required to remediate these and other issues. Notably, the order concerning the online marketplace company extends to its CEO individually, who “will be required to implement an information security program at future companies if he moves to a business collecting consumer information from more than 25,000 individuals, and where he is a majority owner, CEO, or senior officer with information security responsibilities.”

The FTC has published a description of the first and second consent agreement packages in the Federal Register.  The agreements are subject to public comment for 30 days after publication, following which the Commission will decide whether to make the proposed consent orders final.

FAIRFIELD, N.J. — Stephen Greco, Vertican Technologies, Inc. Chief Information Officer, received recognition from the CIO Professional Network as one if its 2022 Distinguished Members. This organization is a members-only network set up to share best practices and insight on common issues and it recently asked its community to register their votes for the three members that they felt had contributed greatly to the membership in 2022.  

“Stephen is a thoughtful leader who has a longstanding history of leading strategic and IT projects that have successfully resulted in increased efficiency, enhanced integration and system improvements,” said Vertican CEO Isaac Goldman. “Having a solid IT infrastructure and security plan is a paramount goal for our operations infrastructure, and Stephen demonstrates his accountability on a daily basis. We are proud of what he and his team have accomplished and what they continue to advance across Vertican as a whole.”

Stephen, responsible for Vertican’s technology strategies, decisions, as well as information security strategy, including cyber security and risk management programs, joined Vertican in 2019 as a veteran IT executive who specializes in strategic planning and execution. He has held similar roles at Enstar Group, Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Group, and AIG. Vertican announced in February 2022 that Stephen would also assume the role of Chief Operating Officer. 

About Vertican Technologies

Vertican Technologies provides the collection industry with best-in-class technology, making operations more efficient, compliant, and profitable. Solutions include: vExchange®, Q-LawE, Collection-Master, vMedia, and legacy YGC Data Standard licensing. With more than 40 years of experience, Vertican’s knowledgeable staff and comprehensive software packages automate and streamline collections. Visit www.vertican.com to learn more.

Consumers may be financially healthy right now, but savings rates are dropping, household debt is soaring and, depending who you ask, a recession either looms or is already here. Getting your 2023 tax season collections strategy set now may give you the best opportunity to collect on past-due accounts in the next 12-24 months.

Here are three ways collections & recovery executives can prepare for the 2023 tax season:

1. Follow the macro trends

You can’t ignore inflation. Consumers are feeling a massive pinch when it comes to necessities like food and energy, and using their tax refund to pay a delinquent or charged off account might not be a top priority. Settlements or flexible payment plans may be the only way for consumers to cure their accounts, so plan to integrate those options into your tax time strategy now, says Matt Baltzer, Senior Director of Product Management at Experian.

It’s not just inflation, either. Real wage gains are down from the last two years, and as Ryan Boyle, Macroeconomist from North Trust advises, “people are falling behind.” 

Consumers who are combating inflation and falling behind may not be willing to use their tax returns to pay past-due debt, especially as credit card spending is returning to its pre-pandemic levels, and defaults are ticking up.

2. Make it easy to pay

When consumers have less money to pay off their debt, and more debt to pay off, making it difficult for them to make payments is not an option. Collections strategy needs to reflect the way a consumer was acquired, and any online payment portal needs to be a one-stop-shop for the consumer to service their account, from making payments to requesting documents.

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Frictionless engagement also means something different for every consumer. While we often default to “self-serve” as the pinnacle of frictionless engagement, a truly frictionless approach tailors outreach and inbound service to each consumer. Give consumers flexibility and meet them where they are.

Convenient payment options are only good if the consumer trusts those payment options, too. This means changing how you look at identity, providing options when it comes to authentication, and being transparent about the reason you need the information you’re requesting.

Tailoring the consumer experience and providing frictionless, easy, trustworthy ways to pay will make it easier for consumers who might have a little bit of extra money to choose to pay that delinquent account as opposed to another they might have elsewhere.

3. Invest in outbound call precision

It’s getting harder and harder to reach consumers, especially by telephone, but outbound calling is still a critical piece of a good collections strategy.

Focusing on contact precision, or calling the consumer on the best number to reach them at the time they are most likely to answer the phone, reduces the number of calls you or your third party vendors need to make, which reduces the cost to collect. It also improves customer experience, according to Jason Klotch, VP of Diversified Markets at TransUnion, because it reduces the number of times the consumer’s phone rings. Investing in technology now to increase the efficiency of your outbound dialing campaigns will be critical to reaching consumers when they have a little extra money in their pockets during tax time.

Bonus read: How to Optimize Your Outbound Channel Strategy.

Tax time remains a critical time in collections & recovery, despite consumers getting smaller tax refunds. Taking advantage of consumers’ increase in liquid cash will take more work than it has in the past, but don’t miss out on it.

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PHOENIX, Ariz. — Superlative RM announced today that John Curry has joined the team as the Vice President of Business Development. Curry has over thirty-six years of experience in the ARM industry, having experience in sales and marketing and debt purchasing. This announcement comes as Superlative looks to expand and compete in new markets.

Curry said, “After co-owning a receivables management company for the past twelve years, I am excited to join the Superlative team which demonstrates a strong commitment to their clients both in performance and compliance. Superlative has an excellent reputation and is at the forefront of adopting new technology solutions. I look forward to expanding their brand and helping drive the company’s growth”.  

Prior to co-founding Alpha Recovery Corp. in 2010, he served as Senior Vice President for SquareTwo Financial/Collect America, ECC Management Services, and Accelerated Bureau of Collections. Helping each organization to achieve their growth expectations, expand their client base, debt buying, and pursuing new vertical market opportunities. 

Jerry Terrill, President/CEO of Superlative RM, said, “We are very happy to have Mr. Curry join our team. He brings many years of experience, knowledge, and a great reputation to our organization. We look forward to John expanding our client base and increasing our growth.”

Who is Superlative RM

Superlative RM is an accounts receivable management company that assists our clients by contacting consumers to resolve outstanding account balances. We are nationally licensed and work diligently to follow all current state and federal guidelines. We bridge the gap between creditors and consumers by innovating user-friendly, digital account resolution options.