The Collector Gets More When the Debtor Haggles: Debt Resolve

(This is the last in our series on firms offering online collection solutions including Apollo Enterprise Solutions, Debt Resolve, and Online Resources.)

Debt Resolve, White Plains, N.Y., calls itself the “Priceline.com” of online collection solutions.

As with other solutions, the debtor receives a letter, e-mail or phone call inviting him to the online payment solution, which is branded by the creditor or collector. However, the collection solution is hosted by Debt Resolve, rather than being hosted at the collector’s premises.

The first step for the debtor upon entering the site is to update his contact information. This helps collectors get better information to keep in touch with the debtors.

Rather than offering a debtor one or more specified payment options, the Debt Resolve solution asks debtors to make a bid on what they’re willing to pay. Debtors have three chances to make a bid within the collector’s customizable and pre-defined parameters.

If the debtor bids over what the collector has defined as the minimum amount (this amount is unknown to the bidder), the Debt Resolve application accepts the bid and enables the debtor to make a payment using the collector’s preferred payment method.

Using the “administrator’s view,” the collector can adjust the acceptable payment terms as it sees fit.

If the debtor’s bid is too low, he will get a message asking him to make another offer. The debtor has three chances to meet the collector’s minimum. If the debtor comes close (the collector decides what “close” is), he gets a “bonus” round. If none of the offers meets the pre-defined minimum, the debtor is invited to contact the collecting authority to work out a solution.

By offering the bidding option, more than 60 percent of debtors bid more than the collector’s pre-determined minimum, according to Jim Burchetta, company chairman. The amount over the minimum averages between 15 and 20 percent.

In contrast with other online solutions, the collector wouldn’t get this “overpayment” benefit if it had revealed the minimum as an option, Burchetta explained.

“We don’t want to tell a bank or collection agency what they should be collecting,” Burchetta added. “They have a lot of experience with collections and analytics. So they are better trained to devise a good payment floor.”

He said that Debt Resolve concentrates on maintaining and improving its technology, which is now available in several languages.