Category Archives: Experian

Wescot and Experian strike a deal

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One of the largest debt recovery agencies in the United Kingdom and one of the largest global information services organisations in operation have struck a deal that will see wescotboth of them benefit extensively from over the coming years. UK-based debt recovery agency Wescot have struck a multi-million pound deal with Experian to provide them with data services for the next two years,

Wescot is one of the biggest and most respected debt recovery agencies in the United Kingdom and currently employs the services of over 650 staff across three different locations. Wescot possess major centres at Hull, Glasgow and Saltcoats respectively, and the staff within these three centres contact over 5 million account holders each year. Wescot have a burgeoning reputation for the successful management and recovery of debt and last year returned over £240 million to the accounts of their clients.

The deal with Experian will give staff at Wescot even greater levels of detail and accuracy in relation to data services and hopes are high at the company that the resulting improvements will be of great benefit to their clients. Wescot will take advantage of the new platform that has recently been introduced by Experian called ExPin. ExPin is a dynamic data platform that gives each individual on the database a unique PIN number. The platform uses this PIN number to identify individuals and detect any duplications or copies. This substantially improves the accuracy and detail of the data provided to customers of Experian and Wescot are delighted to be a part of such a platform.

Paul Jenkins, Chief Executive Officer at Wescot commented that the ExPin platform had improved their collections operating model and that continued use of the platform would only serve to strengthen their position at the forefront of the debt recovery sector in the United Kingdom.

Wescot currently manage over £4.5 billion of performing assets for their clients with the board at Wescot hoping that the deal struck with Experian will increase that figure even further.

Paul Jenkins added that the most important aspect of the multi million pound deal was with regards to being able to achieve excellent levels of compliance and protect the image and reputations of both their clients and the Wescot brand itself.

Wescot Credit Services: Dedicated sponsors

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Treating customers fairly is something that Wescot Credit Services Ltd take very seriously and their relationship with the global information services company Experian ensures that they apply this philosophy rigorously. The deal signed between the two companies two years ago means that Wescot benefit from the full range of accurate and complete data provisions that Experian possess. This enables Wescot to provide a more comprehensive service and improve their collections performance.

One such service that Wescot Credit Services Ltd provide is the facility to trace individuals. An exercise they recently undertook for Swift Advances was deemed a great success and more than surpassed the client’s expectations. Swift needed to trace over 2,000 previous customers to issue them with small refunds. Wescot were able to successfully locate nearly 80% of the individuals in question and Swift Advances were truly impressed with the service they received.

It is inevitable that the excellent service provided by Wescot is due mainly to the individuals they employ. Great care is taken to ensure that all employees are given a clear career development plan and concise objectives. This allows the firm’s staff to enhance their knowledge and learn new skills, which undoubtedly reflects on the service their clients receive. It is no wonder therefore that Wescot Credit Services Ltd are leading the receivables management services industry in the UK.

Wescot were initially founded in the early 1970s and were originally formed as a partnership. Just over a decade later, they became the private limited company Wescot Credit Services Ltd. Today, they have a broad range of clients across various sectors, which include well-known businesses like RBS, HSBC, British Gas and SKY. At any one time, they find themselves managing performing assets on behalf of their clients worth over £4.5 billion.

wescotBeing debt free means that Wescot have sufficient capital to best provide services to their clients and more than often exceed their expectations. Their turnover in the year ending February 2012 was an impressive £32 million and shows their strong trading position. This is just one reason why they are often the first choice for clients wanting an exceptional service.

This year’s CCR-Interactive and Credit Excellence Awards will have a new main sponsor. Wescot Credit Services Ltd are proud to be associating their brand with the prestigious event, which will inevitably raise awareness of the services and products they provide. They also sponsor the annual conference of Money Advice Scotland, this goes to show the dedication that they have in relation to their chosen sector.

Wescot took a leading role in 2013 conferences

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Industry conferences perform a very useful role. For one thing, they enable industry insiders to get together on an informal basis and exchange ideas and news. Conferences also provide a very important educational role. They allow ideas of best practice to be widely disseminated across the industry in question. Where they include an awards ceremony element, they also provide what is often a very welcome boost to morale. All of this is true of the consumer credit industry. Wescot Credit Services is a highly regarded player within this industry. It is entirely fitting therefore that Wescot took a leading role in two of this year’s major events.

Wescot Credit Services was founded in Scotland over 30 years ago. Over the decades, Wescot has flourished. The company now employs over 650 staff across three offices in Saltcoats, Glasgow and Hull. The company provides something of a ‘beacon’ to other companies in the same niche. For one thing, Wescot is constantly evolving. This can be seen in the way the company has embraced the very latest in technology. Wescot Credit Services has recently invested heavily in inbound telephony and outbound dialer technology. The three Wescot sites have been transformed into a virtual call centre. This state of the art connectivity has benefitted both clients and individual customers alike. It proves to be of particular benefit to customers as it enables them to swiftly and efficiently make contact with a Wescot representative. For Wescot this is all part of treating customers fairly.

Wescot Credit Services was the main sponsor at this year’s CCR Interactive Event. This conference incorporates the Credit Excellence Awards. It is regarded as the flagship event in the consumer credit industry. At this year’s CCR Interactive event, there was considerable emphasis on the challenges and changes the consumer credit industry is likely to face in the near future. Wescot Credit Services is already well aware of these issues and how they might affect its clients. The company has put considerable reswescotources into making sure its business model will meet the needs of clients. The Wescot business model is designed to be fully compliant with the latest industry regulations and guidelines. In fact, in a lot of respects, the way in which Wescot operates exceeds those standards. Wescot was also a sponsor of the 2013 Money Advice Scotland conference. This demonstrates the company’s commitment to supporting fair and impartial advice for its customers.

Wescot Credit Services supports employee development

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Working full-time is a challenge, and whether you love or hate it, it is a fact of life. Wescot Credit Services fully understands the importance of job satisfaction, which is why they actively encourage a learning and development programme across their three offices in Glasgow, Hull and Saltcoats.

Wescot Credit ServicesAs Wescot Credit Services continues to lead the way in providing UK based high profile organisations with a debt collection service, they often go to great lengths to ensure employees are well equipped to reach the company’s end goal – to treat customers fairly.

With over four decades worth of experience, Wescot is on of the UK’s biggest collections agencies, and their success is in part due to their investment into motivational training.

By giving their 650 strong workforce the opportunity to get involved in their learning and development culture, Wescot are confident that employee performance levels will benefit. In house training is a continuous process, and Wescot believes it is vital to ensure each and every employee has the correct tools and capability levels to carry out their job effectively.

In addition to motivational training to enhance performance levels, Wescot also support employees who want to further their education in terms of allowing time off from work. Staff would have to fund this kind of activity themselves, but Wescot have a clear further education policy for employee’s to benefit from.

Wescot find it a mutually beneficial arrangement and are happy to assist staff in any types of study as long as they can reasonably demonstrate that it is likely to lead to effective improvements in their work competencies. Time off from work would be unpaid, but Wescot are flexible in their approach to work hours to accommodate their dedicated staff.

For Wescot Credit Services, training is a key element of their overall customer engagement strategy and with the new legislation coming into force in the near future; Wescot will continue to invest in enhancing employee learning and development. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is taking the reins over from the Office of Fair Trading in order to govern collection agencies like Wescot who work Consumer Credit Act regulated agreements with customers. This change in regulation means that all credit service providers need to have a strong strategy in-place, in order to meet the new guidelines, and staff will need to be fully up to speed with any changes to ensure they deal with customers in an effective manner.

CCR Interactive 2013 – Tackling Current Issues in the Credit Industry

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Credit Collections & Risk Interactive is developing into one of the most popular and significant one-day events in the credit industry calendar. Bringing together a wealth of speakers and delegates from around the world in all corners of the industry, CCR-interactive is a prime conference occasion for networking and the sharing of knowledge, and addressing the latest issues such as compliance, legal issues and fraud prevention. The event has sold out in previous years, and there were over 400 delegates present at the 2012 event.

Wescot Credit ServicesAdapting to the fast-paced industry of credit collections, CCR-interactive has updated delegate streams for the 2013 conference. One delegate stream deals with commercial credit, collections best practice and the importance of information in decision making. The collections stream is one of the most popular, and this year delegates will learn about the experiences of consumer creditors across many different industry sectors.

Similarly to previous years, this year’s event will allow delegates to understand how to improve the performance of their teams, learn about the latest issues in regulation and compliance and what they mean for their business, and understand what it takes to introduce TCF best practice. The conference is also the perfect opportunity to build existing and develop new relationships and partnerships and debate with eminent members in the field.

CCR-interactive has appointed Wescot Credit Services as its new main sponsor for the one-day conference, CCR Credit Excellence Awards and Awards Dinner.

Editor of CCR, Stephen Kiely, has stated that he is delighted to announce Wescot as their main sponsors. He added that it is extremely important to have the right headline sponsor for the event; a respected company that will add to the event’s status. With CCR-interactive now the premier one-day event for the credit collections industry, the number of high quality sponsors, speakers and delegates is increasing at a record pace.

Paul Jenkins, CEO of Wescot Credit Services, said the company was delighted to accept to role of sponsor. He added that CCR has delivered an enlightened approach to important topics, and that the event is helping the company’s clients raise the bar in terms of ethical practices and treating customers fairly. His team are looking forward to attending and listening to the views of other important members of the event, and he stated that the company will come away better equipped to face the challenges ahead.

Wescot: Understanding the Debt Collection Process

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Receiving a letter from a debt collection agency may be a source of worry, especially if you’re not entirely sure what it means. It’s important to understand what the debt collection process involves to you are able to make informed decisions about your financial future.

Wescot Credit ServicesThe main thing to remember is not to ignore the letter. If you’ve missed several payments on your loan and your creditor is struggling to recover the funds, they will often enlist the help of a debt collection agency such as Wescot.  The creditor may simply employ the agency to recover the debt or they may sell the debt to them. In this case you would owe the agency rather than your creditor.

In your initial notification from the debt collection agency, they will outline how much you owe and encourage you to make the payments. They may contact you via letter, telephone, or sometimes at your home (although this is rare).

At this stage you can still negotiate with the debt collection agency. The agency will be eager to recover the money so they should be willing to consider a repayment plan which is manageable for you.

It’s important to understand that a collection agency is not the same as a bailiff – a bailiff will only be involved following a court order or an unpaid council tax bill. However, this does not mean that the situation should be taken lightly.

Defaulted debts will be placed on your credit record which may make it more difficult for you to obtain credit in the future. If you co-operate swiftly with the collection agency you may be able to negotiate with them to remove the mark on your credit record. In any instance of debt, you should always take action as promptly as you can.

Dealing with a collection agency doesn’t have to be a stressful or unpleasant process. The worst thing you can do is to ignore your debt, so try and work with the collection agency and figure out a way of making the payments as efficiently and manageably as possible.