In addition to behavioral models, collectionsmanagement and account management groups need the ability to implement strategies in order to effectively handle and process accounts, particularly when the optimization of resources is a priority. While the behavioral models will effectively evaluate and measure the likelihood that an account will become delinquent or result in a loss, strategies are the specific actions taken, based on the score prediction, as well as other key information that is available when those actions are appropriate.
Identifying high-risk accounts, for example, may result in collections strategies designed to accelerate collections activity and execute more aggressive actions and increase collections efficiency. On the other hand, identifying low-risk accounts can help determine when to take advantage of cost-saving actions and focus on customer retention programs. Effective strategies also address how to handle accounts that fall between the high- and low-risk extremes, as well as accounts that fall into special categories such as first-payment defaults, recently delinquent accounts and unique customer or product segments.
To accommodate lenders with systems that cannot support either behavioral scorecards or automated strategy assignments a hosted collections softwaredecisioning system can close the gap. To use these services master file data needs to be transmitted (securely) on a regular basis. The remote decision engine then calculates behavioral scores, identifies special handling accounts and electronically delivers the recommended strategy code or string of actions to drive treatments.