Four Top Card Issuers Select Online Resources for Web-Based Collections

Online Resources Corporation, a leading provider of Internet financial services, today announced that four top credit card issuers in the U.S. have selected its recently introduced, award-winning online collections product. One issuer is a top 10 general credit card issuer and three are top 15 bank credit card issuers.

Online Resources Collections functions as a “virtual collections agent” that provides card issuers and other types of creditors with a fully branded, 24×7 online environment. Delinquent account holders can apply for payment programs, with rules specified by the creditor, enabling their customers to privately and conveniently self-cure their delinquent status.

“As early adopters of this technology, these four top card issuers recognize the value that the online collections service adds to their Internet channels, particularly through significant reductions in losses and collections costs,” said Bill Kinnelly, president of Online Resources’ Card & Credit Services Division. “The trend is now set for agencies, debt buyers, holders of consumer loan portfolios, and creditors across multiple industries to empower themselves with a service that functions as a virtual collections agent.”

The issuers’ decisions to use Online Resources Collections were based primarily on service capabilities and strong research findings.

• Results of a five-month pilot conducted in 2005 with a top three U.S. based credit card issuer show the collections service enabled an improvement of 310 basis points in reduction of losses, or an annualized savings of $3.1 million for an organization with $50 million in delinquent outstandings.
• Research results and feedback from delinquent account holders indicate convenience, ease-of-use and lack of stress as key factors in acceptance of the service.
• Multiple self-curing options are available within the service enabling the ability to pay immediately or enroll in rules-based payment programs.
• The web channel has proved particularly effective in reaching early stage and late stage delinquent account holders, particularly those who were not reachable by phone.

Two issuers recently deployed the service and two will implement it later this year, along with multi-faceted consumer marketing to drive account holders to the collections web site.