Overdue Advice: Cash Flow & Debt Collection Strategies to Grow Your Business

Artificial Intelligence is a more than a hot-button topic lately. It's a group of technologies that is revolutionizing our way of life. From asking Siri on your smartwatch to the emergence of self-driving cars, machine learning and computers that “think” are rapidly working their way into every home, office and garage—as well as our pockets and wrists.  Anand Mahurkar spent three years on the advi...

Ever wondered what it’s like for the people who make collection calls for a living? Meet Ourvashi, Zak and Jay, three collectors at MetCredit. Learn why Jay, a former nurse and father of three, Ourvashi with a Bachelor of Commerce in Accounting and Finance, and Zak, a university graduate with loads of ambition, decided to work at MetCredit — and thrived in their professional and personal lives. Su...

Disputing a bill is not terribly uncommon, and in some cases makes sense. Billing errors can happen, and it’s fair to have them resolved before paying. But imagine claiming you don’t need to pay ANY bills—or even your rent—ever, because you have special status or philosophical separation from your “debtor self” that renders financial obligations null and void. Such are the type of stances taken by...

Consumer debt collection is delicate business at the best of times. Throw in a global pandemic where people’s livelihoods are in doubt, and it becomes exponentially harder.  For telecommunications companies, the question becomes more than ever how to help customers, who need their phones and the Internet to work and function, but many of whom are struggling to pay for other essential services—like...

What we need is a deep breath to reset how we think about our businesses. Enter Dominic Rubio - a professional business coach, entrepreneur, host of his own podcast called The Profit Toolbelt.  While this episode isn’t specifically about credit and debt recovery, we wanted to hear what Dominic Rubino has to say about planning for the future because the first step to debt recovery, is not to have t...

Individuals, businesses, industries, and governments have struggled to cope with the pandemic.  Understanding what’s happening, why, what the risks and dangers are, and what to do about it affects everyone. It’s glib to say, “things are mess,” or “they’re going to be different.” Of course they’re a mess and they’re going to be different, but how? Our guest this episode is going to try to help us w...

There’s no need to guess why it’s been months since we recorded a podcast. When the pandemic lockdown happened in March, everyone was scrambling. Well, almost everyone. Businesses without interruption, continuity, or disaster plans, scrambled to make them up as they went along, as if things aren’t hard enough. The fact that people’s incomes were locked down too, complicated matters more. This podc...

If your customers are consumers, this episode is going to be of special interest. We’re going to pull back the curtain and have a frank discussion with debt collection specialists about how they try to resolve people’s debt problems. Most consumer debts aren’t big - a reminder or call from a third-party collection agency like MetCredit is enough of a wake-up call to get paid. For a minority of peo...

Every episode of overdue advice is aimed at providing business leaders perspective on how and why debt collection can have a positive effect on your business’s cash flow and customer relationships. By the time some companies contact MetCredit, the pressure of receivables is extreme. MetCredit can usually start collecting within a few days. If it’s a larger client, MetCredit scales up to accommodat...

The financial services sector is built on trust. The clearer the contract, the more trust. In debt collection experience is the currency of trust. Debt collection is a people business after all. And MetCredit's people know their business. If you tour MetCredit's offices, you'll see long time service awards of 5, 10, 15 and over 20 years experience. In business, longevity translates as consistency,...

When you think about debt collection, you think about a phone call. There was a time when that was more or less true. It's 2020 and the telecom industry has shifted. Cord cutting means landlines aren't as available as they used to be, and there's no phone book for mobile phones. Text messaging have shifted when and where collectors can reach people.  Simon Howard is the Canadian Director of Canadi...

We live in the self-help era. From books to YouTube, you can learn about anything, or learn to do anything. Restoring an old radio, or calibrating a robot motor is one thing. How do you build a team? Soft skills are hard. Debt collectors get results, but almost entirely through soft skills. Debt collection is, mostly, one person communicating with another. Shawn Virk is a Vice-President at MetCred...

Some industries are regulated more than others. The Financial sector is one of the most high regulated sectors in the Canadian economy. And within finance, debt collection is a unique - and often - ignored corner. But it’s a corner with a lot of legal obligations…so today, we’re talking about compliance.   When a company is meeting all its legal obligations, it’s in compliance. Regulations are a w...

If you're organized and attentive to your accounts receivable, collections can be an orderly process, but it's still stressful.  The general impression is that collections has a negative impact on business relationships. In fact, professional debt collection can reset and improve relationships with clients. What happens when things go really off the rails? We've covered Canada, but we've never tal...

Credit and debt collection is as much social engineering and art as it is about business and finance. The crux of debt collection is asking for the money, but it’s not like a sales job. Tim Paulsen is an Accounts Receivable expert focused on training collectors. He’s an author of several books including the Amazon 5-star rating for “Paid in Full” and “Tipping the Scales,” about maximizing collecti...

George Preece is a veteran of credit and collections in Canada. He served as President of the Credit Institute of Canada, and he was also a founding member and first president of RMA, the Receivables Management Association of Canada. He joined MetCredit in January of 2019 and works with clients in Ontario, and across Canada.   George was in Edmonton for working meetings and we decided to it would...

After hours-long searching online, you'll find very little information about estate collections. What you will learn about estate collections - collecting from the deceased - is that it's a specialized branch of debt collection, virtually no one offers the service, and if you want to learn more, you pretty much have to talk to our guest, JoJo Staples. JoJo is MetCredit’s Estate Recovery Supervisor...

Debt is egalitarian. It doesn't discriminate. Credit card and line of credit debts can inflate until they're so large the debt crowds out the rest of your life. It's not uncommon to have a house, a car, and other assets, but max out credit to the point where the bank won't talk to you. Then what? Jayde Samarzija is a mortgage broker who specializes in using equity strategies to not just get out of...

If you think soft skills were easy, try asking someone for a few thousand dollars they owe someone else. But businesses are moving away from having their own credit managers and collections departments. The loss of internal expertise comes at a price: more bad debt, and more collections. In this episode, Andreas Schwabe talks with Benjamin Scott, CEO of Accès Crédit. The conversation touches on ho...

Who is a debt collector? Looking at MetCredit's career videos, you'd think they only hire shy, reserved wall-flowers who are more comfortable being in the background. You might think the biggest asset for debt collectors is nerves of steel. But being a superhuman pillar of strength isn't what's most needed in debt collection. Maturity, emotional intelligence, and problem solving skills are the rea...

George Preece started his career in 1964 as a loan manager with a bank. He would go on to manage loans and collections for some of Canada's most storied institutions. At the time, even banks had what can be described as "uneven" loans and collection policies. Fast Forward to this episode and George provides perspective on how the industry developed, how he helped shape the industry, and proven adv...

It might come as a surprise that issues, solutions, products and services in the financial credit sector are constantly evolving. Every two years the Credit Institute of Canada invites its members to gather and learn about new trends in the industry. MetCredit's VP of Business Development, David Hopkyns, talks about the 2019 convention in Niagara Falls - and what issues have seen change, and what'...

Jobs numbers are the best they've been in a generation, but investment is down. Voters across the country have sent multiple-term governments packing. Are we on the cusp of a turnaround, or waiting for the other economic shoe to drop? It's better to be proactive than reactive. If revenue is important to your business, then uncollected revenue is affecting your bottom line and ability to do busines...

In business the bottom line is literally the bottom line. When it comes to outstanding revenue, we’ve heard time and again from experienced debt collectors: do not wait. Time is the enemy. If you want to recover as much money as possible, you need to act as quickly as possible. But that’s really the question. Act? Sure! But what to do…where to turn? If you’re prepared to rebuild your bottom line a...

People are hard-wired to find patterns. Whether it’s a picture, sound, or behavior, we look for patterns in everything. Businesses are good at detecting patterns in customer behavior. They’re not so good at predicting behavior - especially when it comes to who is going to default on a payment. Katrina Nilsen is a Collection Manager, and TsiTsi Chiwara is a collector at MetCredit. Part true-story,...