Small Business Software Reviews, Services Insight and Resources

Best Small Business Software Reviews, Services a steady flow of information, insight and inspiration for small business owners and operators: 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024.

The Methods Banks Use To Recover Lost Assets

When a recession occurs as has just happened recently, individuals from all economic levels are affected in various ways. Staff reductions and job losses become commonplace and many individuals and families as well as businesses of all sizes immediately start to curtail their expenditures.

Read More: Top 8 Banking Collection and Compliance Software

Bank Economic Impact: When an employee loses their job, or a business closes, it not only affects the individual and the general financial community, it can also negatively impact the banks and credit unions that have loaned the individual money for their home, car, home improvements or any other type of loan. Banks and credit unions that have made business loans for capital assets and working capital are also severely affected when a business becomes cash constrained or even closes.

Bank Losses: Typically, an unemployed person would most likely not be able to pay-off their debt if they are unemployed for any length of time. This usually means that the credit union, bank or other financial institution will probably not receive funds for loan repayments in the near term, or ever. Although the amount of money outstanding may seem low for one person, the overall amount of delinquent debt for all of the individuals and businesses affected by a recession can be quite large with millions of dollars outstanding. Hence, a lot of the banks assets are at risk which can ultimately impair the long term health of the bank.

Bank Collection Management: Although a bank or credit union can employ prudent lending practices when reviewing each loan application to minimize risk before a recession occurs, even the most conservative financial institutions will be exposed to losses during a severe recession. Therefore, bank debt managers must initiate a series of practices to protect their current assets as well as attempt to recover any assets that might potentially be lost. Collection managers may try and collect the assets themselves with traditional methods, utilize an automated asset recovery software package, or utilize a third party asset collection agencies. The goal being to recover their losses either in full or partial in an attempt to minimize charge-offs.

Debt Collection Agencies: Debt management and collection is a complex process as strict compliance to collection processes are imposed by various Federal and State regulation agencies. Non-compliance may result in the bank or credit union not being able to recover their assets and the consumers debt forgiven. Assuming compliance, the debt manager can utilize asset recovery companies in one of two ways. They collection company would purchase the credit union or banks delinquent accounts for a negotiated fraction of the price, and then initiate a recovery process. Their profit is made if they collect more from the borrowers than they paid for the debt. The second method is that the banks collection manager can hire an asset collection agency and pay them a commission on what they succeed in collecting. Because asset collection agencies are quite experienced in such matters, they are often able to collect the highest amount possible as well being able to work out a beneficial repayment plan from the borrower.

Asset Recovery Software: Because of regulatory reporting requirements, consumer advocate organizations and confidentiality, the debt collection process is complex. An asset recovery software application package is an effective management tool often used by banks and other financial institutions as well as collection agencies. An asset recovery software module can efficiently perform a variety of tasks that include identifying delinquent accounts, analyzing debt trends, capturing account data in a readable format, aiding with compliance reporting, and communicating with delinquent borrowers. A small investment in this type of software will provide a high ROI for a bank or credit union’s debt manager.