PAR3 Helps BOK Financial Minimize Charge-Offs and Enhance Customer Service

PAR3 Communications, a leading provider of enterprise customer communication solutions and business continuity notifications, announced today that BOK Financial Corporation (BOKF) is using PAR3 to increase its customer contact rate and reduce account charge-offs, both while decreasing its overdraft operating expenses. BOKF, a $16B multi- bank holding company, is now expanding its use of PAR3 to areas such as auto loans and other consumer debt.

The FDIC reported $32.8 billion in service charge income in 2004. While these fees account for a significant banking revenue stream, many result in account charge-offs and negatively impact customer satisfaction. To help combat the increase in overdraft fees while reducing account charge-offs, BOKF partnered with PAR3 to quickly contact overdrawn customers and encourage them to deposit sufficient funds to cover the deficit — all without impacting the call center.

“PAR3′s solution has allowed us to successfully reach nearly four times as many overdrawn customers than before, at a fraction of the cost,” said James Morris, senior vice president of customer service for BOKF. “Most importantly, our customers appreciate receiving the notifications before fees escalate and having the ability to quickly address the problem.”

BOKF is experiencing significant results with the PAR3 solution including:

• 370% increase in its customer contact rate.
• Increase in its collection of NSF income share.
• Reduction in the number of overdraft service agents by 75 percent, deploying the valuable resources to other priority projects.

With PAR3, BOKF sends personalized voice notifications to customers on the first day an account is overdrawn, and continues to reach out until the customer covers the deficit or the bank takes further action. The automated calls feature interaction options, including the ability for the customer to promise to cover the overdraft or transfer to an agent to discuss other options. To elicit the highest interaction rates possible, the tone and the content of the message dynamically change based on the number of days since the overdraft occurred, becoming more urgent as accounts near charge-off.

“There are a lot of vendors out there that can make the phone ring, but we knew we had to be careful when considering a solution that would have a significant impact on customer service and, ultimately loyalty,” said Morris. “PAR3 understands the value of the customer experience, which is why the company consistently delivers measurable, positive results.”

Based on the success of its initial application, BOKF is now deploying the solution across other business units, including loan collections where it plans to treat past due auto loans and other consumer debt.