How InDebted’s intelligent collections outperformed a traditional agency by 40%

How Cash Converters increased their liquidation rates by 40% using intelligent debt collection

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Location: Global
Industry: Personal Finance
Business size: 610k AU customers
Referred debt: $35M

Company profile

Cash Converters is an ASX-listed personal finance and second-hand retail company which has come a long way since its humble beginnings as a burgeoning family-owned pawnbroking business in 1984.

Client goal

Cash Converters appointed InDebted as a challenger agency, with a goal to generate higher liquidation rates through trailing more digital, self-serve channels. At the time, they worked with a traditional third-party collections agency who used standard channels such as calling and sending letters to contact customers, with little self-serve offering. To determine whether InDebted was the right partner for them, they decided to test our product and compare results with their incumbent.

Proof of concept

We predicted that our intelligent collections product would yield better results than the traditional debt collection agency they had been working with. By contacting customers through more modern channels such as email and SMS, and offering them an easier way to pay their debt through our online portal, we believed we could generate higher liquidation rates and happier customers.

Impact

In just 90 days of live production, our digital collection product showed 40% higher recoveries when benchmarked against the results being delivered by their traditional collections agency. Accounts placed with InDebted were 90 days past due. The long-term impact on their liquidation rates were:

6 months: 30% increase
12 months: 50% increase
18 months: 40% increase

During the first 18 months, there was also a 50% increase in the number of new payment plans created - giving customers who are unable to pay in full a more flexible pathway to becoming debt free. Other flow on benefits included significantly lower disputes and complaints made to Cash Converters by their customers. With increased recoveries, a secure compliance engine, and a more positive customer experience, InDebted became Cash Converters’ primary third party collections partner.

Client perspective

Taking the time to understand the individual needs of each client is at the heart of InDebted’s client experience, and has been essential for Cash Converters:

Excellent client services and client engagement. Their team is always ready to help. Their monthly reports offer advanced insights into the current market trends in debt collection, which helps us in our decision-making process. The new Client Portal has been great for our team as it gives us access to our accounts performance data whenever we need it.

Moreover, everyone I have had the pleasure to work with from the team at InDebted are committed to helping their clients attain the best results possible.

So far, InDebted has recovered over $6 million AUD in overdue accounts on behalf of Cash Converters.