Feast or Famine? Smart Solutions to Accelerate Lending to Small Businesses Through Bridgeforce’s research and analysis of this complex problem in our hands-on work with clients and our direct experience as a growing small business, we have identified two key challenges that are impacting lenders and small businesses: - Tightened Credit Standards and Lower Quality Applicants - Reduced Loan Demand Request the full position paper
	Getting Back to Growth - Credit Acquisition and Growth Opportunities in 2010 The global economic downturn shifted the focus of ALL financial institutions from growth to risk mitigation and loss reduction. Most have spent the majority of the last two years repairing the dikes, essentially doing whatever it takes to stop the flow of losses as credit cards defaulted, small businesses shut down, and homes were foreclosed on. Request the full position paper
	Making Mortgage Modifications Work Low pull-through and trial modification success rates are plaguing the Treasury Department’s Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP). All too many executives, politicians and reporters are quick to point fingers at the culprits, but identifying a sole responsible entity is not an easy target. Unfortunately, pointing fingers and assigning blame will provide little benefit to financial institutions, homeowners or government agencies that are all desperate to get the nation’s mortgage woes clearly focused in the rear view mirror. Request the full position paper
	An Irrational Economic Environment Forcing the Auto Finance Industry to Become Rational As much as we never want to blame the economy for unexpected portfolio performance, the auto finance industry has undeniably been challenged by significant, worldwide, economic developments. Despite best efforts, rarely do all functions of an auto finance company perform at their optimal level at the same time; and, the transparency of challenging economic times is very unkind to the “soft spots” to an organization (defined as those areas that management is either in process of addressing and/or does not yet have time to address). Request the full position paper
	A Game Plan for Addressing the Challenges in Real Estate Collections and Loss Mitigation The recent housing crisis has created our most challenging economy in modern day memory. The financial industry cannot ignore its lessons. Among them: Major improvements are necessary in real estate collections and loss mitigation. The fact is that until very recently lenders lost little money from foreclosing upon property. Now the average foreclosure comes with significant losses, and that changes everything. Many new government programs are being created in the US and abroad to systematically address the mortgage problem, but it is ultimately the job of lenders to re-direct business growth and curb losses. With each new month come an ever increasing number of distressed customers seeking loss mitigation assistance. Request the full position paper
	Position Paper: A Candid View of Auto Finance in Crisis Management 2009 The auto finance industry is suffering severe pessimism. Markets are obviously in a state of flux, access to capital is tough, and loan originations are down while losses are undeniably headed in the wrong direction. No one seems to have a good answer to the question “where’s the bottom of this economic downturn?” Taking into consideration several other trends (housing market crash, home equity defaults, record-high consumer debt levels, rising unemployment, and general market constraints), it seems that 2009 may very well be to auto finance what 2008 has been to mortgage. Request the full position paper
	Opportunities in the Crisis: Protecting Both Customer Loyalty and Mortgage Assets in a Difficult Time The concurrence of a broad housing market decline, all time high consumer debt levels and inflationary pressures on daily living expenses has resulted in a major consumer liquidity and debt crisis. The severity of the current market conditions make this credit downturn cycle potentially more severe and persistent than past cycles of rising delinquency, requiring more focused loss prevention efforts. Request the full white paper
	Comprehensive Management of Profitability and Credit Risk Bridgeforce is focused upon helping clients manage consumer and small business credit products, both in the US and internationally. Within this focus we work closely with clients across the full range of credit segments, often with multi-product customer relationships, and we see first-hand the importance of a comprehensive approach to managing risk and profitability. We have found that for any strategy regarding the management of risk and profitability to be truly comprehensive, it must be comprehensive in two dimensions: Across products to take a full customer view Throughout the credit life cycle Recent challenges in credit markets have highlighted the need for careful focus upon these topics, as any lack of alignment across either of those dimensions leads to reduced profitability. The rest of this document explores these concepts and their application throughout the cycle of customer relationships. Request the full white paper
	Cards ~ Driving the Convergence of Insurance and the Financial Services Industry The topic of integrated payment trends is extremely broad and can not be given proper attention in a single white paper. Therefore, we've chose to focus on one of the hottest areas, the phenomenon of cards driving the convergence of insurance and the financial services industry. Our first assertion that we want to share is that there IS a convergence underway, and cards are a key reason for it. Just over the past year, there has been a lot of movement in this area. Second, it is our intention to help educate particularly those in the insurance industry on payment solutions, and offer some perspectives on the use of cards in insurance verticals, with emphasis on the value proposition and where they apply. Lastly, we hope to frame some challenges and outline an approach to getting directionally started with a card offering in this space. Request the full white paper
	Profit is the Reward of Risk It has been said that profit is the reward of risk. Every decision an employee of a financial institution makes involves some degree of risk; it is unavoidable and not within the direct control of the financial institution. However, accessing the risk and incorporating the risk level as part of the decision process is an integral part of doing business. With the economic downturn and market saturation, financial services institutions find themselves in an increasingly competitive and challenging marketplace. Strong risk management practices are a critical driver of profit and, in some cases, have proven to be the difference between a company posting a profit or a loss. While managing risk is a core competency for many financial organizations, there is room for improvement in most. Managing risk can take many shapes, including new account credit policies, high risk account management, collections strategies, pricing and authorization policies. The fact that risk management is critical is not in question. However, the question to be answered is what impact it can have on profit. This vision and strategy document will review the impact it can have on profits, how it can impact profits and several strategies to utilize risk management as a profit driver. Request the full white paper
	A Strategic Framework for Improving Loan Approval Rates The challenge that all marketers face in acquiring and retaining "the right" new customers is a daunting one. With the continued commoditization of loan products and the widespread acceptance of scoring and automated lending programs, loan marketers face some fierce competition. It is not enough to have the lowest rates, innovative products, or advanced marketing strategies these days. Loan marketers need to make sure that once they have a customer’s attention they don’t inadvertently loose an opportunity by making a credit decision based on inaccurate and/or limited information. By applying the basic principles of the strategic framework outlined in this white paper, progressive financial service companies can gain a competitive advantage by identifying creditworthy customers who may be slipping through the cracks. Allowing lenders to proactively identify and resolve potential weaknesses within; prospect targeting criteria, manual credit review criteria, credit policies, and line assignment / loan amount policies and ensure that they are getting the maximum return on their marketing program investments (ROMI). Progressive financial service companies that are prepared to invest the time and effort required to fully optimize their new customer acquisition programs, will gain the type of competitive advantages that were only available to a select group of lenders before the widespread acceptance of scoring and automated lending processes. Request the full white paper
	Another Approach to Managing High Risk Customers With the sustained economic downturn of the past few years, bankcard issuers are seeing an increase in delinquent dollars coupled with a general decrease in overall collection rates. This trend makes it increasingly critical that companies take a more proactive approach to managing their high risk current and early stage delinquent customers that are "At Risk" for a prolonged period of non-payment, which for the purposes of this document is defined as falling behind by two or more payments. Using improved modeling and customer management strategies to target "At Risk" customers, progressive financial service companies can reduce credit losses by decreasing their portfolio’s overall "At Risk" exposure levels and by helping customers before it is too late. By proactively establishing contact with these customers before they reach their highest stress point, companies can work with them to identify potential internal and external options that will help them through an often confusing and difficult time. This approach will help companies reduce delinquency in the early stages, and that is critical because customers who historically roll to more than two payments delinquent, are 50% more likely to charge off than those customers who do not. More importantly, they can prevent full utilization of the customer’s credit line by proactively reviewing "At Risk" current customers at pre-defined utilization levels, thereby reducing the overall delinquent dollars entering collections. Progressive financial service companies will remove the limitations of traditional collections processes that require a customer to reach a certain level of delinquency before actions can be taken and will instead focus on a customer’s current financial condition to determine the most appropriate course of action needed to reduce future losses. Request the full white paper
	The Future of Collections Management With recent changes in the economy, new consumer technology, and increased competition in the maturing credit card market, managing account receivables is becoming more of a challenge. Bankcard issuers are seeing an increase in delinquent dollars and customer attrition while there has been a decrease in new accounts and applications. This increasing trend is making it more critical that companies become innovative in their approach to collections and recovery. This changing environment, coupled with the new business paradigm focused on total customer relationship management (customers deciding when and through which channel they will communicate) has driven financial service companies to embrace new technologies. Collections channels of the future include the internet self service, email, outbound interactive voice response units, traditional call centers and direct mail. Progressive financial service companies will take their traditional collections operations and move them towards a financial advisor model using these new technologies coupled with customer focused strategies. Request the full white paper
	Advances in Collections & Inventory Management With recent changes in the economy, new consumer technology, and increased competition in the maturing credit card market, managing account receivables is becoming more of a cFind out the latest in Advances in Collections & Inventory Management by reviewing the presentations from participants in Bridgeforce's Content Track from Source Media's 10th Annual National Collections & Credit Risk Conference. The first panel titled, "Alternative Collections Channels: Making It All Work Together", focused on how to integrate new technology channels and remove the "silos" that may exist during the new technology adoption phase. The second panel titled, "Dialers: Poised for a Comeback", focused on recent innovations from both vendors and the collections organizations that are using the latest dialer products. The last panel titled, "Alternative Data Sources in Collections Modeling: New Fad or Here to Stay", focused on the latest in non-traditional data sources, and how using this data can result in improvements to a variety of collections decision processes. Request the full set of presentations