Is it just me, or does everyone love that feeling of a fresh, new planner to kick off a new year? Sitting down (preferably with a new pen with fresh ink) planning the coming days/weeks/months on paper makes me feel in control, organized and even reinvigorated! Pre-planned workouts, a new daily schedule for the kids, grocery delivery every Tuesday, birthdays and holidays. It’s all in there!

But what if there were something looming that felt uncontrollable, even overwhelming? Wouldn’t this be the time to face it and create a plan of action? 

A new year can be an opportunity for credit unions to help their members plan, especially if they’re behind on payments, facing hardship or anticipating falling into delinquency. Leveraging the right member data, both current and historical, during the collection process gives credit unions the unique ability to work with their members to devise a personalized repayment plan that addresses their specific situation. Creating a mutually agreeable plan in place – a light at the end of the tunnel – will allow your members to feel empowered, reinvigorate their loyalty and dissipate the dark cloud of delinquency that could ruin the new year before it even begins.

Be Proactive with Risk  

For a proactive approach, credit unions should leverage scores based on 1st and 3rd party data to identify or “name” risk across their memberships. Use these scores to queue or plan workloads by focusing on those identified as the riskiest members — those most likely to fall into delinquency. This allows collectors to work alongside your members, ensuring they have a plan in place if hardship happens to come their way. 

Ensure a Promise Is Really a Promise  

For members who have already fallen into delinquency, consider leveraging Promise to Pay or Likelihood to Pay scores. Devise different offerings for payment plans based on the member’s likelihood to pay, allowing for more leniency when history shows that the member has been able to keep their promises, and less when scores show otherwise.

Let Digital Do the Work 

Leverage Self-Cure Predictor scores to determine which members are likely to pay without prompting (albeit a little late) and direct them to an any easy-to-use, digital option. Allow members to pay-in-full, set up a future payment, or get in contact with a collections agent who can explain their options in detail. This gives members a more discreet, sensitive avenue to self-cure and frees up collections staff to work directly with more complex accounts, members who need unique solutions, or those who simply prefer to speak over the phone.

Let’s remove “collections” from the dirty word list; instead, leverage data to engage members positively and proactively for a more effective and pleasant collection experience.

Happy New Year and happy planning, everyone!