£3.3 million recovered after sub-prime lender enters administration
Hilton-Baird Collection Services has successfully recovered £3.3 million after an FCA-regulated sub-prime car finance company entered administration.
Stepping in to support the insolvency practitioner, Harrisons Business Recovery, our collections experts have been able to continue recovering the balances owed from regulated debtors, maximising the returns for creditors whilst enabling Harrisons to focus on their core activities.
Our task was helped by virtue of initially being engaged to conduct some contingency planning surrounding the lender’s credit management function, before they entered administration, with the information gained during this process invaluable to understanding the nature of the debt.
Numerous challenges
The sales ledger contained more than 850 customers in a variety of circumstances, from being fully up to date with payments to accounts where the vehicle had been repossessed and sold, but a balance remained owing.
Given the high risk nature of sub-prime lending, our team faced numerous challenges in recovering the balances owed, with many spurious reasons given for non-payment and multiple debtors in severe financial difficulty.
Our task was further complicated by the COVID pandemic, which resulted in a ban on repossessing the vehicles and the debtors becoming eligible for a six-month payment holiday.
However, the team used all its experience to deliver an outstanding result by taking a professional, compliant and thorough approach to each debtor, working with them to agree an attainable payment plan that reflected their financial circumstances.
As a result, take-up of the payment holiday was negligible and legal action hasn’t been required on any debtor, with £3.3 million successfully recovered to date.
“Outstanding result”
Describing the job Hilton-Baird did, Tony Murphy, Director at Harrisons, said:
“The team at Hilton-Baird once again showed their proficiency and professionalism in delivering an outstanding result.
“It was a seamless transition that saw Hilton-Baird manage the loan book and keep repayments coming in, which meant we could get on with our work in the knowledge the ledger was in good hands.
“We have worked with Alex and his team on several occasions and they never fail to deliver, no matter how complex the ledger is.”
