Halloween is coming—but what’s really spooky isn’t ghosts or goblins. It’s sending out millions in charged-off accounts and not knowing if you’re doing enough to bring that money back.
The real fright? You might be leaving recoveries hiding in the dark.
You just handed $1 million in charged-off accounts to your collection vendors. The question isn’t just how much they’ll recover—it’s whether you are doing enough to make sure every possible recovery dollar comes back to you.
With limited time, resources, and oversight, it’s easy to wonder: are you managing these accounts enough, or too little? Are your vendors pushing hard enough—or just enough to stay in the program? Without clear benchmarks, active monitoring, and a strategy for allocating effort, uncertainty rules—and money quietly slips through the cracks.
This is the reality for many financial institutions. Agencies are expected to recover debt—but without active oversight, you can’t know if they’re doing everything they can or just enough to stay in your program. Multiple vendors competing doesn’t automatically mean maximum results. Each agency has its own definition of “enough,” leaving you guessing about what’s truly possible.
Meanwhile, your team is busy. Collectible accounts, reporting, audits, compliance, and daily operations take priority. Charged-off accounts often receive minimal attention, fewer resources, and limited analytics—quietly leaving money on the table.
Even within the agency, outcomes vary.
Your accounts might land with top-performing collectors—or average staff.
They might be prioritized—or shuffled to the back of the queue.
Add compliance and security obligations into the mix—critical to protecting your institution and customers—and it’s easy to see how recovery potential can slip through the cracks.
The Oversight Dilemma: How Much Is Enough?
One of the toughest questions in collections management is understanding how much effort you should invest versus how much your vendor should invest. With limited budgets and competing priorities, it’s easy to wonder: am I doing enough—or am I over-managing? Conversely, are my agencies pushing hard enough, or are they doing the minimum to meet contractual obligations?
There’s no perfect answer—but you can approach it strategically:
- Define expectations clearly: Benchmarks for recovery, response times, and prioritization help gauge whether your team and vendors are aligned.
- Balance resources with opportunity: Focus oversight where it matters most—high-dollar accounts, accounts with complex issues, or those historically underperforming.
- Measure effort vs. outcome: If additional oversight or intervention doesn’t move the needle, resources might be better allocated elsewhere. Conversely, if small changes drive meaningful recovery gains, your oversight is paying off.
- Leverage data to validate decisions: Analytics can reveal underperforming vendors, neglected accounts, and where additional attention could generate returns.
Practical Steps to Capture Every Dollar
- Track results regularly, look for trends, and identify gaps before they become losses.
- Ask which collectors are handling your accounts, how they’re prioritized, and how your portfolio fits into the agency’s overall strategy.
- Update your audits to include performance measurements, or add a third-party checkup to your oversight program.
- Address underperformance, reward strong performance and adjust your vendor mix if needed.
- Integrate security and compliance checks—oversight isn’t just about dollars; it’s about doing it safely and responsibly.
Don’t Let Uncertainty Haunt Your Results
Every account deserves attention. Without regular review and performance tracking, recovery potential can fade into the shadows.
By actively managing your vendors, measuring your own efforts, and ensuring compliance, you turn uncertainty into action—and keep your recoveries from becoming another Halloween mystery.
Author: Judy Hammond
judy.hammond@resourcemanagement.com
Judy Hammond is founder and President of Resource Management Services, Inc. The corporation was founded in 1986 and specializes in auditing and consulting, serving the collection and recovery industry. As President of Resource Management Services, Inc., she has more than 35 years of experience with an emphasis on operational reviews for compliance and operational effectiveness of collection operations, both for creditors’ internal collection and recovery operations as well as collection agencies and attorneys. She has worked with top banks and financial institutions, utilities, credit unions and telcoms, (and their vendors) and has conducted many Best Practices projects. She is author of various industry publications: “Comprehensive Agency/Attorney Usage Study,” “Comprehensive Agency/ Attorney Usage Study II” and “Collect More From Collection Agencies”. Her work with creditors who were looking to sell debt for the first time, and subsequent Buyer/Seller research was the foundation for the second corporation, The Debt Marketplace, Inc. She worked with Dennis Hammond as co-founders of the Debt Buyers’ Association, (now RMAi), building the foundations for industry standards, as well as the original code of ethics. She developed and produced two industry conferences, Collection and Recovery Solutions and Debt Connection Symposium & Expo, from their inception in 2002 and 2006, respectively, to 2022. Prior to starting her own company, she worked with two large collection agencies.
