The Ethics of Debt Recovery. A Moral Approach.

As the effects of the pandemic and the current cost of living crisis are felt more than ever, more businesses and individuals are struggling financially. The morality and approach regarding debt recovery is again a hot yet uncomfortable topic and will remain so for the foreseeable future.

Our clients, both in the public and private sectors, utilise our debt recovery solutions for this reason. Both effective and simple to apply in the face of this growing issue, our technology has been developed to be both ethical and moral in what is always a difficult situation.

Saascoms offers solutions developed with the ethics and moral dilemmas around debt recovery and has again come out as one of the most innovational and powerful companies in the credit and collections technology sector, recently winning two awards. One in the best Contact Centre Solution category and the other in the use of Artificial intelligence in credit and collection solutions. The judge’s comments can be read at the end of this article.

According to The Money Charity, the average total debt per UK household in March this year increased to £64,107. This amounts to households owing more than £1,781.7 billion, a rise of £63.4 billion from the same period last year.

Our technology includes several features to help with this unfortunate growth in debt, ensuring our clients can comply with the standards set out by the Financial Conduct Authority – putting people at the centre of moral debt prevention & recovery.

Since 69% of people who struggle with debt don’t want to talk to anyone about their situation, Saascoms supports a frictionless self-serve and ethically sound customer experience by allowing customers to avoid unwanted phone calls while controlling their debt and repayment plan. Research has shown that the digital approach far outweighs outdated and unreliable mail appearing on the doorstep.

Customers now expect to engage at their convenience, using multiple technologies. It is predicted that by 2025 85% of all customer service interactions will exist without person-to-person involvement great offering.

Saascoms award-winning customer contact strategy solutions cover all these aspects while also allowing debtors some degree of control and choice over their finances, assisting them in getting back on track with a regular payment schedule.

The Saascoms team works with businesses to create bespoke solutions specific to their requirements, challenges, and objectives.

Saascoms ‘collections’ AI engine has monitored and analysed over 100 million conversations and agent responses in the Collections & Arrears environment over the last four years, giving our processing engine a 93.7% intent and sentiment match success rate. Our AI can detect a vulnerability and match the category of vulnerability, i.e., suicide, self-harm, emotional, terminal illness, substance addiction, bereaved customers, or financial distress (can’t pay you vs cannot pay rent/mortgage).
The same approach is also used when identifying other vulnerabilities, i.e., mental or physical health. The bot immediately triggers an API to cease contact strategy and links to external organisations, i.e., The Samaritans. The conversation is then flagged in a high-priority escalation queue.

The Saascoms solution allows clients to tailor their approach to their customers, offering a number of functions allowing for self-serve within their account without needing a mobile app. On receipt of the message, using Saascoms Secure Portal, the recipient is offered a unique one-time use URL which takes them to a custom landing page where they are asked to validate their ID. Once security is passed, they are presented with a screen resembling an app allowing them to click buttons to activate the options offered.

From a business standpoint, the self-serve model has produced apparent advantages: freeing-up support workers to spend more time dealing with complicated issues and helping some of the most vulnerable customers who require further assistance.

Working towards better outcomes is of paramount importance within debt recovery – both from a debtor’s point of view and because it makes solid business and financial sense. This is especially true for individuals who are vulnerable and require much more support.

Saascoms has supported debt recovery companies for almost 20 years in an effort to de-stigmatise debt and extend further support to some of the most vulnerable members of our communities. Through a more understanding approach, conversational communications develop relationships and have tangible benefits. Our digital communication techniques help organisations shift away from one-way communication.

Get in touch to learn how Saascoms can assist with the implementation of a new customer communication strategy to help your business.

Saascoms technology puts people first at the heart of ethical debt prevention & recovery.

The Judges’ comments were as follows:

• The Judges said Saascoms stood out with its focus on customer experience.
• Saascoms solution demonstrated a smart use of technology to maximise resolution.
• Saascoms demonstrated a good use of analytics-driven technology to define the recovery strategy and customer journey, with a single point of resolution via self-service.
• The solution showed an important focus on better consumer experience.
• The focus on enhancing the customer experience with intuitive tech journeys gives this entry the winning edge.
• Saascoms demonstrated a sophisticated collections platform.
• Saascoms produced great metrics with enhanced interaction.
• Saascoms solution is a proven platform.
• This is a great solution with excellent scope. This is a clear opportunity to deliver business benefits through automation and speech analytics.
• Saascoms platform showcases an impressive AI NLP offering for any high-volume call centre.
• This solution meets the customer’s needs. Customers now expect to engage at their convenience, using multiple technologies. It is predicted that by 2025 85% of all customer service interactions will exist without person-to-person involvement great offering.