ED Collection Contract Leaders Hold Serve in February

The two companies that have led in performance on the U.S. Department of Education’s student loan collection contract continued their run by topping the rankings released by ED for February.

Arcade, N.Y.-based Pioneer Credit Recovery dominated the unrestricted – or large business – category by raking in the most money for ED, $43.3 million, and at the highest rate of recovery, 3.65 percent. The ED rankings combine performance in January and February, and are based on scores given for certain criteria, including dollars collected. Pioneer currently leads all agencies on the contract with $453.5 million collected in the 36 months the contract has been in force.

Horsham, Pa.-based NCO Group came in second in the unrestricted category for February, collecting $31.9 million. NCO also stands in second over the life of the contract with $337 million collected. Livermore, Calif.-based Diversified Collection Service is right behind with $314.8 million collected.

On the small business set aside, Fairport, N.Y.-based Continental Service Group (Conserve) won the day with a fairly close victory over rival Account Control Technology (ACT) based in Canoga Park, Calif. Conserve brought in $12.5 million for ED in the first two months of 2008 at a recovery rate of 2.78 percent. Conserve leads all small business collectors with $106.5 million collected overall. ACT, the second-leading small business, has brought in $86 million, including $10.7 million in the report period.

The massive student loan collection contract — $3.32 billion has been collected in its three-year life — is due for renewal later this year. The vendor procurement process has already begun in earnest with ED hosting a per-solicitation conference for potential contractors in January.