Back from the RMAI 2024 Annual Conference, or as we like to call it, the receivables management and collections Superbowl! 

Here’s what everyone was talking about:

‍Charge-offs are coming

Or maybe they’re already here? We saw in Capital One’s Q4 earnings report a couple of weeks ago that their charge-offs were up 77% from the previous year (we’ll give you a second to pick your jaw up off the floor here).

But even if they haven’t washed up on your particular beach yet, those charge-offs that were kept at bay during the pandemic are looming.

What does that mean? It’s a pro/con situation.

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Debt buyers were happy about the long-awaited inventory…

…but also sometimes struggling to find good agencies to work their volume.

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Agencies were also happy about the inventory…

…but worried about being efficient and effective in being able to work it.

Keeping profits up

Here’s where we are:

• Cost-to-collect via voice continues to rise.
• Salaries continue to rise.
• QA workflows are time-consuming (and therefore expensive).
• Collections numbers are down.

So keeping revenue up is both more important than ever, and more difficult than ever.

Teams at RMAI were looking for two big puzzle pieces:

1. Reliable QA automation that isn’t speech analytics (too many errors and problems)

2. Email and SMS outreach that would produce better results

Finding a place for AI in collections

The leading companies are finding powerful, practical ways to use AI to drive their businesses.

One hot topic of conversation was AI voice bots, which can make a huge impact on cost-to-collect through the voice channel, but come with risks, including increased FTC oversight and potential legislative action.

But leaders are also using AI for:

• Improving account prioritization results with better propensity-to-pay scoring
• Targeting email and SMS messaging timing based on account engagement
• Offering virtual settlement negotiation
• Customizing correspondence
• Boosting agent effectiveness
• Cutting QA costs

And they’re seeing tangible increases in profits from those uses, which was pretty exciting.

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RMAI learnings

Our big takeaway from the conference: The problems are the same, but the solutions are changing.

‍We’d love to talk to you more about it!‍

Now to trade our truffle sashimi from Catch at Aria for Superbowl snacks. See you next year!

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