WO2001004810A1

WO2001004810A1 - System and method for monitoring collection activity associated with delinquent debtor accounts

Info

Publication number: WO2001004810A1
Application number: PCT/US2000/018362
Authority: WO
Inventors: William A. Swyers; Douglas W. Wallace
Original assignee: Tsys Total Debt Management, Inc.
Priority date: 1999-07-09
Filing date: 2000-07-05
Publication date: 2001-01-18
Also published as: AU5913100A; WO2001004810A9

Abstract

A system and method for tracking collection activity of collection entities with respect to delinquent debtor accounts (130). A central computing center (110) receives information associated with delinquent debtor accounts (130) from one or more sources of collection activity information. The central computing center (110) accumulates this data. The collection activity data is shared with users (creditors (100), collection agencies (125), etc.) on a periodic or on-demand basis to allow the user to review and evaluate the collection activity.

Description

SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MONITORING COLLECTION ACTIVITY ASSOCIATED WITH DELINQUENT DEBTOR ACCOUNTS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Nos. 60/143,034; 60/143,068; 60/143,070; 60/143,096, all of which were filed on July 9, 1999, and the entirety of which are incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to a system and method for enabling creditors and other auditing entities to monitor the collection activity associated with delinquent debtor accounts.

Creditors, such as credit card issuers, banks, lenders, etc., are faced with the problem of collecting on delinquent debtor accounts. Often, creditors refer their delinquent accounts to a collection agency or law firm, depending on the nature of the debt, the type of debtor and the debtor's credit history. In order to maximize the rate of collection of debts, it is desirable to enable creditors to periodically monitor the collection activity of a law firm or collection agency in order to assess and select the best and most successful law firms or collection agencies.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to a system and a method for tracking collection activity of collection entities with respect to delinquent debtor accounts of creditors. A central computing center receives information associated with delinquent debtor accounts from one or more sources of collection activity related information and optionally also debtor information from debtor information sources, such as credit bureaus, bankruptcy monitoring services, department of motor vehicles, deed offices, etc. The terms "collection activity data" and "collection activity information" are meant to include data representing collection activity on a delinquent debtor account and optionally debtor information from debtor information sources. The central computing center accumulates collection activity data representing collection activity of one or more collection entities associated with delinquent debtor accounts of a creditor.

The accumulated collection activity data is shared with users (such as creditors, collection agencies, law firms and other entities) on a periodic or on-demand basis to allow the user to review and evaluate the activity of collection entities operating on its delinquent debtor accounts. The data may be transmitted or downloaded to a user over a communications network, such as the Internet, or may be stored on a computer readable medium and sent to the user.

The user has computing equipment that executes a software program to process the collection activity data. The software program allows searching of the collection activity data, displays the collection activity data in a geographical and/or other type of presentation, and displays detailed performance information related to a particular collection entity. Alternatively, these functions are made available to users on a centralized web site to which users log on and review their collection activity data. The objects, advantages and features of the present invention will become more apparent when reference is made to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the interaction of a creditor, central computing center, law firm or collection agency and debtor.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing how the central computing center shares updated account information with users.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating steps associated with a method according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 illustrates a screen containing a map of the United States that enables geographical based searching about collection activity of law firms.

FIG. 5 illustrates a screen containing county maps of a state that enables county- based searching about collection activity of law firms. FIG. 6 illustrates a screen that displays account information for a county selected in the screen shown in FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 illustrates a screen that displays information for accounts in a spreadsheet format for the county and attorney selected from the screen in FIG. 6. FIG. 8 illustrates a screen that contains detailed account level information for a selected account from FIG. 7.

FIG. 9 illustrates a screen containing a map of the United States that enables geographical-based searching about collection activity of collection agencies, similar to FIG. 4. FIG. 10 illustrates a screen containing county maps of a state that enables county-based searching about collection activity of collection agencies, similar to FIG. 5.

FIG. 11 illustrates a screen that displays information for accounts in a spreadsheet format for the county and collection agency selected from the screen in FIG. 10.

FIG. 12 illustrates a screen that contains detailed account level information for a selected account from FIG. 12.

FIG. 13 illustrates a screen that ranks collection entities for a creditor.

FIG. 14 illustrates a graphical diagram that shows performance information such as the average number of days before a telephone attempt is made by a collection agency on accounts.

FIG. 15 illustrates a graphical diagram that shows comprehensive productivity and quality performance information for various collection agencies used by a creditor.

FIG. 16 illustrates a search query screen to enter information for accounts to be searched.

FIG. 17 illustrates a screen that contains fields for information on the accounts that meet the search criteria.

FIG. 18 illustrates a screen that lists the accounts that meet a certain set of search criteria. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 illustrates an overall system of the present invention. Creditors 100, such as creditor card issuers, lenders, mortgage lenders, etc., have delinquent debtor accounts associated with debtors 130. Collection entities, such as law firms 120 and collection agencies 125, are hired by the creditors 100 to collect on these delinquent debtor accounts. Creditors may directly select a particular law firm or collection agency and transmit the delinquent account to that collection entity. Alternatively, creditors may employ the services of a referral center 105 that selects the particular collection entity and transmits the account to that entity. An example of a referral center 105 is the National Attorney Network (NAN™). The particular law firms 120 and collection agencies 125 selected for handling a delinquent debtor account are typically based on the geographic proximity to the debtor, creditor preference based on history with that collection entity, etc. The law firms 120 then pursue legal action against the debtors 130 associated with the delinquent accounts referred to them and the collection agencies 125 contact debtors 130 to collect on their delinquent accounts. Any one creditor 100 may directly, or indirectly through the referral center 105, retain the services of several different law firms 120 and/or collection agencies 125 in the same geographical location, or in diverse locations around the country.

Information pertaining to the collection activity of law firms 120 and collection agencies 125 is important to the creditors 100, as well as to individual law firms 120, collection agencies 125, and other entities (hereinafter referred to as users). The collection activity information or data is generated by the law firms 120, collection agencies 125, creditors 100, referral center 105, or third party entities (such as third party payment processors). Further still, the central computing center 110 may receive debtor information from credit bureaus, bankruptcy monitoring services, department of motor vehicles or other sources of debtor information. The terms "collection activity data" and "collection activity information" are meant to include data representing collection activity on a delinquent debtor account and optionally debtor information from debtor information sources. The central computing center 110 receives collection activity information from any one or more of these sources in order to compile it into a format suitable for conveying useful information to the user about the status of delinquent debtor accounts.

FIG. 2 is a more detailed diagram of the system and shows how the central computing center 110 communicates with creditors 100, law firms 120, collection agencies 125 and other entities. The central computing center 110 comprises one or more computers 112 and data storage equipment 114. Similarly, each law firm 120 comprises a personal or other computer 122 and each collection agency 125 comprises a personal or other computer 127. The central computing center 110 tracks activity of delinquent debtor accounts by electronically communicating via communication network(s) 107 with the computing equipment of each law firm 120 and collection agency 125 to receive updated collection activity information about debtor accounts pursued by those collection entities. The communication network(s) 107 is any one or a combination of local area networks, wide area networks, such as the Internet, dedicated networks, wireless networks, etc. The central computing center 110 may also receive collection activity information from creditors via a creditor computer 102, from the referral center 105 via the communication network(s) 107 and/or from third party payment processors 115 that process payments received from debtors on behalf of creditors. Moreover, the central computing center 110 may receive debtor information from credit bureaus, bankruptcy monitoring centers, etc. The central computing center computing equipment accumulates collection activity data representing collection activity of each creditor's delinquent debtor accounts. On a periodic or "on demand" basis, the central computing center 110 makes all or certain portions of this data available to users (creditors, law firms, collection agencies or other entities) in a format that is easy to understand and evaluate. Alternatively, the central computing center 110 may manually input collection activity or other data from any one or more of the sources.

In order to process and display the collection activity information accumulated by the central computing center 110, a software program is provided for execution by the user's computer (such as a computer 102, collection agency computer 127, law firm computer 122 or a computer of any other entity) that enables the user to process and display the collection activity data. The functions of this software program are described in further detail hereinafter. Depending on the particular user, collection activity data that is made available may be for all delinquent debtor accounts for one creditor, delinquent debtor accounts for multiple creditors, collection activity data for all or certain law firms or collection agencies, etc. The user may communicate with the central computing center 110 via communication network(s) 107 to electronically download or receive this information from the central computing center 110. Alternatively, the central computing center 110 writes collection activity or other data to one or more memory devices, such as a CD-ROM 104, and sends them (by mail or express mail) to a creditor 100. In either way, the user computing equipment processes the collection activity data using the software program mentioned above. As yet another alternative, the central computing center 110 may make the collection activity data available to a user through a secure World Wide Web site to which a user logs in, and views collection activity information in the same or similar manner that the user may do so through the use of the software program resident on its computing equipment. In this manner, the user need not have the software program resident on its computing equipment.

Referring now to FIG. 3, the overall method of monitoring collection activity will be described. In step 200, the central computing center 110 accumulates collection activity data associated with the delinquent debtor accounts received from any of the sources described above. In step 210, at the end of a predetermined period of time (such as one day, one week, one month, quarterly, etc.) the central computing center computing equipment builds a data file from the accumulated collection activity information data associated with the collection activity of all collection entities (law firms 120 and collection agencies 125) handling accounts for a creditor and any debtor information on a debtor. The central computing center 110 knows which law firms 120 and collection agencies 125 are handling a creditor's accounts because collection entity identification information is maintained for the accounts for each creditor. As described above in conjunction with FIG. 2, this data can be sent to any user on a periodic basis on a CD-ROM, floppy disk, or by other means, such as electronic mail or other electronic transfer. The information made available by the central computing center 110 may be creditor specific, collection agency specific, law firm specific, for all creditors in general, etc., depending on the desire and authorization of the user.

Steps 220 through 250 pertain to operations that a user would typically perform after having access to the collection activity and other data. In one form of the invention, the user computing equipment performs these functions by a software program resident therein, or according to another form, the user accesses a WWW site maintained by the central computing center to provide access to the collection activity or other data and operations on that data. The types of processing that the user may perform on the collection activity data varies. The left branch of FIG. 3 illustrates a more basic search and view type of processing, while the right branch of FIG. 3 illustrates a more advanced geographical based analysis and processing.

The right branch of FIG. 3 will be first described in conjunction with FIGs. 4- 15. FIGs. 4-8 illustrate screens that can be displayed when the collection entity is a law firm. FIGs. 9-15 illustrate screens that can be displayed when the collection entity is a collection agency. In step 220, a geographical map of a region is displayed and viewed. For example, as shown in FIG. 4, a national map of the United States is displayed (actually two maps of the United States are displayed on one screen). Sub-regions (such as states) in the map may be shaded or colored according to a legend that reflects the approximate number of accounts placed in that sub-region for that creditor. The user can move a cursor over the map to select a particular state. When the cursor is over a particular state, information is displayed in the box in the lower right hand corner of the screen. For example, in FIG. 4, when the cursor is over the state Oklahoma, the following information for Oklahoma is displayed in the bottom right box: the number of debtor accounts for that creditor is displayed, along with the total dollar amount placed, the total dollar amount collected and the liquidation rate.

Above this box, starting from the top, are controls that can be used to customize the map. The first group of controls is for the top map and the next group is for the bottom map. There are four drop down boxes in each group: Population, Attorney, Vintage and Dimension.

Population is defined as a grouping of similar accounts, such as Broken Promise, No Contact, etc. The Attorney drop-down contains a list of all attorneys that work for a creditor. By choosing one of the attorneys in the drop-down box, the map will redraw itself to display only information about that particular attorney.

Vintage is defined as a group of accounts placed with the collection entity during a given period of time. For example, accounts placed from Dec. 16, 1998 through Jan. 15, 1999 could be the January 1999 Vintage.

The last drop-down box is Dimension. Dimension relates to the different ways to display the maps, and controls the legend of the color-coded (or other visually coded) map data accordingly. Examples of Dimension types are dollars placed, number of accounts, dollars collected and overall liquidation rate. The top map and the Dimension selected determine the breakdown of the legend. The check box labeled State Level Information, if checked, allows a user to select a particular state and go to the screen where all accounts within that state are summarized as shown in FIG. 5.

FIG. 5 illustrates a particular state and all of the counties within that state, colored or shaded according to a range of number accounts placed in a county for that creditor. A user may move a cursor over a particular county and see displayed in the box in the lower right corner information similar to that described above in conjunction with FIG. 4. The drop-down features in FIG. 5 operate in a manner similar to that shown in FIG. 4.

Next, in step 230 (FIG. 3), a user may select a particular county to see more detailed county-level information as shown in FIG. 6. The county name is displayed at the top of the screen. The control at the top left indicates how many different attorneys (law firms) have accounts within that county. The arrow buttons are used to scroll through the records for each account within that county. The information fields displayed on this screen include collections, court costs, legal activity and timelines, exceptions, payment activity and liquidation rates. The map button takes the user back to the county map screen and the account level review button opens a screen that displays the accounts in a spreadsheet like format shown in FIG. 7.

FIG. 7 shows a screen that displays individual accounts in a spreadsheet format for the county and attorney selected from the screen shown in FIG. 6. The total number of accounts, amount placed, balance, total amount collected on the accounts are displayed. A (SQL) query is also displayed to inform the user as to what was selected. The buttons on the bottom allow a user to view the records individually, go back to the state/county information screen or print the spreadsheet of information.

In step 240, a user selects the View Records button to open a screen where a user can view each account that was selected. FIG. 8 is an example of a detailed account screen. This screen gives detailed account level information for each account selected. The arrows at the bottom of the screen allow scrolling between accounts. Information included on the screen is defined according to the chart below.

Field Name Description

NAN ID Central computing center's assigned account number Date Placed Date account was placed Atty Number Central computing center's or creditor's internal identification for the attorney assigned the account

Account Number Client's account number Rollup Central computing center's internal identification for the client

Name Debtor's name ST Debtor's state of residence

Amt Placed Amount placed to collect Paid to Date Amount collected to date ACK Date Date the attorney acknowledged receipt of the account SUT Date Date the attorney filed suit SVC Date Date attorney got service on the suit JDG Date Date attorney obtained judgment GAR Date Date attorney filed garnishment BK Date Bankruptcy date Closed Date Date account closed Closed Reason Reason account was closed Last PMT Date Date of last payment Last PMT Amount Amount of last payment Balance Principal balance remaining Total Balance Balance remaining including costs, fees, and interest Loss Code Client driven code for segregating accounts based on type of loss

Due Stage Pre-charge off Months past due

Due Stage @ Placement Pre-charge off Months past due when placed

JDG Information

Case # Judgment case number Principal Judgment principal amount awarded Costs Judgment court costs awarded Atty fees Judgment attorney fees awarded Interest Judgment interest awarded

Account Status

The boxes display a quick description of the status of the account in the central computing center system. The first box tells you if the account is open or closed. The next box tells you where in the legal process the account is. The statuses are Non- Legal (Pre-Suit), Suit, Judgment, or Garnishment. The last box tells you how it is paying. The statuses are not Paying, Irregular, or Paying. There are also two grids that contain the activity transactions and financial transactions that have been posted onto the account (by the law firm, collection agency, creditor, a third party payment processor or other entity). Two additional grids are provided that contain comments sent by the firm and payment arrangements made with the debtor.

FIGs. 9-12 illustrate screens that are displayed to a user in the case where the collection entity is a collection agency. Similar to FIG. 4, FIG. 9 illustrates a screen that shows performance of collection agencies on a national basis for all accounts placed by a creditor. The map may be color-coded and displays the results of a selected variable. The user can select from a list of different variables including accounts placed, dollars placed, liquidation rates, type of placement or accounts handled by a specific agency. Additional information related to productivity, performance, quality and inventory are also made available by clicking on the buttons entitled Graphs, Batch Reports and Activity Reports.

Similar to FIG. 5, FIG. 10 illustrates collection activity of collection agencies at the state level. All of the information available on the national level is also provided at the state level. Like FIG. 6, FIG. 11 illustrates account placement, performance, productivity and quality information at the county level of collection agencies in that county. In addition, a comparison of pre-established performance measurements to actual results is provided. Agency-specific data is listed on the top pop-up screen. A user may go to the account level review screen by clicking on the button so labeled. Finally, like FIG. 7, FIG. 12 illustrates account level information for a selected account. This enables a creditor to perform detailed auditing on every account at every collection agency at which the creditor's delinquent debtor accounts are placed.

FIG. 13 is a screen that lists for a creditor all of the collection agencies where accounts have been placed, and for each collection agency, a summary about the accounts placed with that collection agency. In addition, the screen orders or ranks the collection agency in order of liquidation rate, number of accounts placed, dollars placed, or dollars collected, etc.

FIG. 14 is a screen that illustrates an example of a graphing function that is performed on a creditor's collection activity data. In particular, this screen shows the average number of days before a telephone attempt is made on an account for selected agencies. This screen enables a creditor or other auditing entity to determine how quickly a collection agency is taking action on a new account.

FIG. 15 is a screen that illustrates another example of a graphing function that provides comprehensive productivity and quality information on how accounts are being worked by a collection agency.

Referring back to FIG. 3, the processing that occurs on the left branch of the flow chart will be described. A creditor or other auditing entity may choose to directly search collection activity data in step 260. The creditor may then select specific collection entities to review detailed account information in step 270. For example, FIG. 16 illustrates a search query screen for searching collection activity of collection attorneys. The search query screen allows the user to enter a variety of search query criteria about a creditor's accounts. FIG. 17 is a more detailed search query screen that contains additional search criteria. FIG. 18 is a screen that lists all of the accounts that meet the search criteria, the total amount placed, balance, and total collected on those accounts. The Print button will print the accounts in a table format to the printer. The New Query button takes the user back to the previous screen to allow new searches to be made. The View button takes the user to the screen where more details on each account are available individually, which is very similar to the screen shown in FIG. 8. It should be understood that the foregoing description and accompanying drawings are by example only. A variety of modifications are envisioned that do not depart from the scope and spirit of the invention. For example, data searches or filters may be based on number of accounts, dollars placed, dollars collected, court cost spent, court cost returned, number of suits, number of suits unable to serve (UTS), number of judgments, number of garnishments, overall liquidation rate, liquidation rate by every 30 days or 3, 6, 9, 12, 18, 36 months, or any other desired period of time. Moreover, any of these parameters can also be searched as a percentage of accounts under that client number in an area of a map.

Other criteria that may be searchable and displayed are non-sufficient funds (NSF) rate, i.e., when a debtor payment is returned for insufficient funds, bankruptcy (BKO) rate, promise rate (percentage of accounts where debtors promise payments, and percentage of promises kept), charge-off rate, net credit loss (NCL) rate, 3+ due rate (percentage of accounts > 3 months past due), 4+, 5+, 6+ due rate, contact rate, review (attempt) rate, rank (county vs. state, state vs. national). Any of these rates may also be searched as total number of accounts meeting the criteria. Still further searchable and displayable criteria are: rate and number of open accounts, number and rate of closed accounts, close code (reason - such as the account closed as "bankruptcy filed", "litigation criteria not met", "skip - can't locate debtor", etc.), good address, co-debtor, good phone number, timelines (number & percentage rank - above or below avg. state vs. national or county vs. state), judgment age, non- producing judgments, court costs spent after payment made, paying judgments, payment after court costs, suits with or without judgment, bankruptcy (BKO) status (whether Chapter 7, 11, 13, discharge, dismissal, paying or not, claim filed or not), debtor's place of employment (POE) verified, assets verified (home, titled vehicle, etc.), liens (debt lien and any other outstanding liens), attorney fees (total, average per account with suit), principal, interest, attorney fee, court cost awarded, document requests (outstanding, filled, time to fill), bank information (have or have not), relationship accounts (same debtor w/multiple accounts), skip-tracing code, deceased (yes or no, claim filed - yes or no), payment within last x number of days, previous address (moved), cured accounts, fraud accounts, incarcerated debtor, etc. To summarize, the software, system and method of the present invention enables users, such as creditors, collection entities, auditing entities, etc., to accurately review and audit the performance of collection entities. With this information, creditors can decide to shift accounts away from unsuccessful collection entities to more successful ones, as well as using the information for other purposes. Similarly, collection entities can compare their performance with that of other collection entities. The above description is intended by way of example only and is not intended to limit the present invention in any way.

Claims

Claims:

1. A method for tracking collection activity with respect to delinquent debtor accounts of creditors, the method comprising the steps of: receiving information associated with delinquent debtor accounts from one or more collection activity information sources; accumulating data representing collection activity associated with delinquent debtor accounts; and displaying collection activity information associated with delinquent debtor accounts on a geographical basis.

2. The method of claim 1, and further comprising a step of communicating to a user the collection activity data associated with delinquent debtor accounts to enable the user to search the data.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of accumulating comprises accumulating collection activity data on a periodic basis representing collection activity data of delinquent debtor accounts data for a time period.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of displaying comprises displaying a graphical map of a region in which collection entities have pursued collection against debtors, and further comprising selecting a particular sub-region from the graphical map to display collection activity information on a sub-region basis.

5. The method of claim 4, and further comprising a step displaying in the graphical map one or more data items pertaining to collection activity of delinquent debtor accounts on a color-coded or other visual basis across sub-regions.

6. The method of claim 1, and further comprising displaying a list of delinquent debtor accounts placed with a particular collection entity.

7. The method of claim 1, and further comprising a step of searching the collection activity data based on one more or more criteria pertaining to the collection activity of a delinquent debtor account or performance of a collection entity.

8. The method of claim 1, and further comprising the step of ranking collection entities in order of one or more criteria pertaining to the collection activity of delinquent debtor accounts.

9. A system for tracking collection activity of collection entities with respect to delinquent debtor accounts, the system comprising: central computing equipment associated with a central computing center that receives information associated with delinquent debtor accounts from one or more collection activity information sources, and data storage equipment, wherein the central computing center accumulates collection activity data representing collection activity of delinquent debtor accounts for storage in the data equipment; and user computing equipment associated with an entity desiring to review collection activity data, wherein the user computing equipment allows a user to evaluate collection activity information of delinquent debtor accounts.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the central computing equipment generates collection activity data associated with delinquent debtor accounts on a periodic basis representing collection activity for a time period.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the user computing equipment receives the collection activity data generated by the central computing center computing equipment via a communication link.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the user computing equipment receives the data generated by the central computing center computing equipment from a readable memory medium to which the central computing center computing equipment has written the data.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the user computing equipment communicates with the central computing center via one or more communication networks to evaluate collection activity data of delinquent debtor accounts.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein the user computing equipment displays collection activity information for delinquent debtor accounts on a geographical basis.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the user computing equipment displays a graphical map of a region in which collection entities have pursued collection against debtors, and allows selection of a particular sub-region from the graphical map to display collection activity information on a sub-region basis.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the user computing equipment displays in the graphical map one or more data items pertaining to collection activity information of delinquent debtor accounts on a color-coded or other visual basis across sub-regions.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the user computing equipment displays a list of delinquent debtor accounts placed with a particular collection entity or meeting one or more user-selected criteria.

18. The system of claim 14, wherein the user computing equipment receives a search query to search the data based on one more or more criteria pertaining to the collection activity of a delinquent debtor account or performance of a collection entity.

19. The system of claim 9, wherein the user computing equipment ranks the collection entities in order of one or more criteria pertaining to the collection activity of delinquent debtor accounts.