Co-operative Financial Services
The Co-operative Financial Services operates through the brands The Co-operative Bank, The Co-operative Insurance, The Co-operative Investments and smile the internet bank. It is one of 9 sub-business groups of the Co-operative Group. The Co-operative Group is a democratic business run by its members, who are its customers. In 2006 it had 1.5 million economically active members. The Co-operative Bank is the only UK high-street bank with a customer-led Ethical Policy that says who they will and will not do business with.
Before buying Fastrac the Co-operative Financial Services Debt Management Unit would use their own in-house software and disparate external data sources to trace lost debtors and untraceable accounts were sent to an external tracing agent. The Group decided it would be more cost effective to increase the size and ability of the Debt Management team instead of out-sourcing. They met Data Discoveries at a trade show, where they were able to demonstrate a range of trace tools in the marketplace including Fastrac.
Fastrac is an interactive tracing application that automatically searches back to when the individual was last at a given address. Then using, co-habitant and date information will search forward to identify the new address of the individual. The product contains historical information going back to 1996, date of birth information and telephone numbers. Additionally Fastrac online includes deceased and gone-away checks in real-time.
Following a successful trial of Fastrac, Co-operative Financial Services chose to purchase it. Fastrac was chosen because it was easy to use and the implementation team believed it would be a very useful and cost effective way of building a bigger picture of debtors to help the trace team recover debt.
Before Fastrac could be purchased Data Discoveries had to confirm they met the Co-operative Financial Services' ethical policies. Data Discoveries were fully supportive of this process. In tandem Data Discoveries arranged setup and training to ensure the software could be installed as soon as possible and that the new team could benefit fully from the outset.
Adam Twidale Debt Management Business Advisor said:
‘I found the whole process of buying and implementing the system very smooth and stress free. The trace team have found it easy to use and it has increased our collection rates. The initial investment for Fastrac was very quickly recovered.'
