Anyone who works bigger balances and counts on tax-time settlements, how have they been for you this year? Are you seeing a change in either direction?

We don't really "do" SIF's here, but I certainly see an increase in the # of debtors that offer them around tax time.

This year seems to be lighter than the others.

I'd say I'm about par for the course right now.

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I'm all for consumer's rights, but you simply can't fix stupid. - Some Guy (5/4/09)

Actually, every one of my posts on this board have been uncalled for. - Spy Boy (8/2/07)

What I have noticed this year is that many customers are getting a tax refund card, like a credit card with their refund balance on it. It's a real Visa/MC number, complete with expiration and CVV2 numbers. How cool is that?

Ah, yes. The H&R Block Mastercard. I've seen a few for Jackson Hewitt too.

That's very cool. We haven't seen any of those. We're down a bit this year. I wanted to get a sense of what's happening in the rest of the world.

Thanks for the replies guys.

Ditto here, and I suspect with a lot of shops that probably just don't want to admit it.

The recession we're in (that Bush refuses to concede to) has really affected the tax refund season and we saw a lot less SIF's this year compared to past years. People are simply hanging onto their refunds with a kung fu grip. Accordingly, we switched tack and entered a very large number of people into monthly PPA's though.
So while we didn't have the blow-out month we expected, we did set up a large number of monthly payers, which will benefit us long-term.

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"I know this might sound weird but I came to this web site because Derek is stalking my family" - 05/21/2008 by Jane (mentally deranged sister of convicted con-man James Tibor).

I agree with Derek. We in an average month campaign about 5-9k settlements by letters and we are seeing very few responses to a point where we just decided to do verbal offers.

A year or two ago we would see a 50-70 basis point jump when letters were sent but now probably lucky to see a 10-20 basis point jump.

Good luck, But hey remember do not say the "R" word or you will scare the public into actually thinking they are broke and have no money to spend on delinquent bills and obligations.

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Shovel

Derek,

Same with us. The sifs were not there, but we have been increasing our PPA's.

I smell times getting tougher, with payments, and sifs getting smaller.

Everyone is saving their money to buy gas.

Dont count on the stimulus checks to inspire debtors to settle either.

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"No dice, Chicago. I'm giving the orders and we're coming in. I guess the foot's on the other hand now, isn't it?"

....seems everyone felt the pinch this year. Here is a small excerpt from today's news regarding West Asset Management:

"....Further explaining the collections environment in response to an analyst's question, Barker hinted that things are not improving. "March was a tougher month than January," he noted when asked to assess the market over the quarter.

Paul Mendlik, West's CFO, noted that tax refund liquidation in the quarter was not as high as the company is accustomed to seeing. Collection agencies typically see a spike in consumer payments in the first quarter as early tax refunds are applied to household debt."

I was reading an article in the recent Collection Advisor magazine that also confirmed many agencies are focusing more on monthly payers, less on SIF/BIF collections.

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"I know this might sound weird but I came to this web site because Derek is stalking my family" - 05/21/2008 by Jane (mentally deranged sister of convicted con-man James Tibor).

excuses excuses



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beat it.

....and I am suffering from the old "Can't teach an old dog new tricks" complex!

Working only purchased paper, it has been a real eye opening experience--I have had to change my approach (BIF, BIF or BIF was the only option!), and the numbers are gradually coming along. But it has been a challenge!

Edited: 04/18/2008 at 10:44 AM by gfg