Under the Consumer Credit Act where goods have been purchased under a Regulated Agreement if more than a third of the value of the asset has been paid for by the customer a Return of Goods Order must be issued through Court in order to regain possession of the asset by the Creditor.
The Court fee for a Return of Goods Order is £285 irrespective of value with a further cost exposure of up to £400 in order to gain a warrant for delivery of goods giving a total cost exposure of up to £700 per case.
A number of years ago our financial services clients approached us to find an alternative solution to this costly approach with a view to protecting our clients brand and working with more vulnerable customers.
In order to meet the objectives set Credit Style created a market-leading debt remediation solution.
The main emphasis of this service is to actually visit each of the customers who are in arrears to help them understand the agreement they have signed and what the possible solutions are in order to avoid most costly repossession actions.
This non-aggressive, “we are here to help” approach proved to be an instant success and resulted in a significant drop in Return of Goods Orders being issued which protected the customer and supported our client's objectives.
As a result of this considerate Treating Customers Fairly approach shortfall recovery levels are much higher post debt remediation activity when compared to traditional approaches and the goodwill between Credit Style and the customer in arrears remains extremely high.
Since introducing this solution into the consumer financial services sector we have also launched a field visit business debt solution which has also proved to be a major success by increasing the number of settlements we achieve prior to more expensive options being considered.