Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
RELEASE 01
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0 6.0 7.0 8.0 9.0 10.0 11.0 12.0 13.0 14.0
CODE OF CONDUCT MECHANISM FOR ENLISTMENT ENLISTMENT CRITERIA FEE STRUCTURE ANNEXURE 1 ANNEXURE 2 ANNEXURE 3 ANNEXURE 4 ANNEXURE 5 ANNEXURE 6 ANNEXURE 7
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Scope
These Guidelines read in conjunction with the Prudential Regulations of State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) govern induction and monitoring of collection, recovery and/or repossession Agencies on Approved Panel of Collection, Recovery and/or Repossession Agencies of the Pakistan Banks Association (PBA). These Guidelines will be reviewed after one year of the implementation date.
1.00 DEFINITIONS
1.01 AGENCY
Agency means a sole proprietorship, association, partnership firm, or a limited company that is engaged in the business of collection, recovery and/or repossession of collateralized assets and the term Agencies shall be construed accordingly.
1.02 APPLICANT
Applicant means a Sole Proprietorship, Association, Partnership Firm or a Limited Company submitting an application for enlistment on an Approved Panel of Collection, Recovery and/or Repossession Agencies maintained by PBA.
COLLECTION,
RECOVERY
AND/OR
Approved Panel of Collection, Recovery and/or Repossession Agencies means the list maintained by PBA of collection, recovery and/or repossession Agencies to whom Financial Institutions are allowed to outsource collection, recovery and/or repossession assignments with reasonable assurance that no regulatory framework would be violated and all necessary precautionary measures and due diligence work would be put in place by them before commencing any such assignment. These Agencies would be engaged in collection and/or recovery of all loans and repossession of various types of collateralized assets financed/leased by the Financial Institutions. Further, PBA will maintain the list of Approved Panel of Collection, Recovery and/or Repossession Agencies in line with the SBP directives circulated vide Prudential Regulations and other notifications/circulars issued from time to time. The Approved Panel of Collection, Recovery and/or Repossession Agencies will be circulated to all Financial Institutions as and when updated and will be available on PBAs website. Intimation in respect of updating of the list of
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Approved Panel of Collection, Recovery and/or Repossession Agencies will be sent to Financial Institution promptly. Financial Institutions shall seek the services of only those Agencies which are enlisted on the Approved Panel of Collection, Recovery and/or Repossession Agencies, list of which shall be circulated to Financial Institutions as and when updated, and will be posted on the PBA website at www.pakistanbanks.org
1.05 DELISTING
De-listing is referred to, in these Guidelines, both, in the context of Financial Institutions and PBA. De-Listed Agency means an Agency either De-listed by PBA or De-listed by the Financial Institution. De-listing by PBA means the act of removing an Agency from the Approved Panel of Collection, Recovery and/or Repossession Agencies. Factors warranting delisting are attached herewith and marked as Annexure-1 and the phrase De-listed by PBA shall be construed accordingly. De-listing by Financial Institutions means the act of removing an Agency from the Financial Institutions own panel of such Agencies, due to irregularities in performance of assignments / corruption / other performance related issues. Such de-listings will be reported by Financial Institutions to PBA, and PBA will deduct points from the Agencies score, as mentioned in the Guidelines. De-listing of Agencies by Financial Institutions on account of rationalization of their Panel, or attrition in business, etc. will not be considered as de-listing in the context of these guidelines, and will not be reported to PBA and the phrase De-listed by Financial Institutions shall be construed accordingly.
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The Banks/DFIs shall ensure that the collection/recovery agencies employed by them must be enrolled with Pakistan Banks Association (PBA) once the arrangements in this regard are in place. In this regard, PBA is being advised to develop a criteria keeping in view the Guidelines on Outsourcing Arrangements issued by State Bank of Pakistan.
Approved Agencies shall issue an undertaking and /or a compliance with these in Guidelines a form and acceptable
Regulations/circulars/notifications of the SBP as amended from time to time (Certificate/Undertaking) Certificate/Undertaking should be submitted by the Approved Agency with PBA within the timeframe allowed by PBA for this purpose. The responsibility for ensuring timely receipt of the Certificate/Undertaking by PBA at its registered office shall be that of the Approved Agency.
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With any change in SBP Prudential Regulations/circulars/notifications affecting collection, recovery and/or repossession activities of the Approved Agencies, PBA reserves the right to seek from Approved Agencies submission of a Revised Certificate/Undertaking in form acceptable to PBA. The contents of the undertaking provided to the PBA shall be binding on Agencies. Non-compliance would lead to delisting the name of the approved agency, if warranted.
agreements with Agencies to enable cancellation of contracts with Agencies that are de-listed by PBA. Contracts with de-listed Agencies should be cancelled within thirty (30) days of receipt of notice of de-listing by PBA. e. Individual Financial Institutions should enter into separate legal agreements with the respective Approved Agency. The legal agreement as a minimum should address the following issues: a. Service levels and performance requirements; b. Audit and monitoring procedures; c. Business continuity plans; d. Default arrangements and termination provisions; e. Pricing and fee structure; f. Dispute resolution arrangements g. Defined Mechanism for redressal of complaints;
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5.06 RENEWALS
Approved Agencies shall be enlisted for a period of one year, beginning January 1st and ending December 31st, renewable for every subsequent year subject to compliance of the Renewal Terms and Conditions, and subject to completion of any other requirements as communicated to the Agencies. Renewals will be based on Annual Reviews, which will be carried out for Approved Agencies that have completed six months of enlistment. This would ensure that the Approved Agency had put into place all processes and procedures which are necessary in abiding by the rules defined by PBA. Agencies that have not completed six months of enlistment by the time of reviews will be renewed without Annual Reviews. Their reviews will fall due from the ensuing year. For timely renewals, the Approved Agencies shall provide the following data to PBA on a monthly basis no later than every 5th of the month and same shall be incorporated in the database as and when received by the PBA. i) ii) iii) iv) v) vi) vii) viii) Changes in constitution of the Approved Agencys concern, or changes in ownership. Particulars of new branches opened by the Approved Agency Particulars of branches closed by the Approved Agency Particulars of additions to Approved Agencys Professional Team Particulars of individuals departed from Professional Team List of Banks with which new collection agreements signed by the Approved Agency. List of Banks with which collection agreements cancelled/terminated. Particulars of collection, recovery and/or repossession carried out by the Approved Agency during the period (in tabular form, on format provided by PBA). a. New Assignments received during the period i. Date on which Assignment given ii. Assignment Number iii. Name of Customer iv. Assigning Bank v. Assigning Bank Branch vi. City in which assignment is being handled b. Assignments continuing from previous periods i. Date on which Assignment given ii. Assignment Number iii. Name of Customer iv. Assigning Bank
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v. Assigning Bank Branch vi. City in which assignment is being handled. c. Assignments concluded during the period i. Date on which Assignment given ii. Assignment number iii. Name of Customer iv. Assigning Bank v. Assigning Branch vi. City in which assignment was handled. vii. Collection, recovery and/or repossession Status (i Assignment withdrawn by bank, ii Assignments successful, iii Assignments partially successful, iv Assignments not successful) viii. Conclusion Date Requirements that are not covered above shall be communicated by PBA to the Approved Agencies two (2) months before the end of the year, and the Approved Agencies shall be required to complete those requirements within thirty (30) days of such communication. Approved Agency failing to submit the above data for two (2) consecutive months shall not be renewed till such time that they provide the required data. Additionally, Financial Institutions will send Annual Performance Rating for the Approved Agencies (in form appended herewith and marked as Annexure 5), which will be considered for renewals as per Performance Rating criteria.
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c) Bank Statement for last 1 year d) Ownership Guidelines or rent deed of premise i.e. main office e) Bank Letter stating CNIC Number, A/C Opening Date, Account Number and Name of the Proprietor/ Partner/ Director of the account OR Proof of Ownership Sole proprietorship i. NTN Certificate ii. Latest tax returns Not applicable to newly originated companies. Partnership i. NTN Certificate ii. Latest tax returns - Not applicable to newly originated companies iii. Partnership Deed. Private Limited /Public Limited/ MNC i. NTN Certificate ii. Latest tax returns - Not applicable to newly originated companies iii. Certificate of Incorporation, Memorandum & Articles of Association f) Authorized Signatory List with contact details g) Letter of Recommendation from at least one Financial Institutions (Format in Annexure 3) h) Undertaking/ Certificate of Compliance as per PBA format. i) Copy of CNIC of Owner(s) and Authorized Signatories
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In case where PBA decides to have the Guidelines and office premises physically verified, fresh enlistment/continuation on the Approved Panel of Collection, Recovery and/or Repossession Agencies would be subject to verification of Guidelines and premises.
6.03 APPRAISAL AND ASSESSMENT OF APPLICANTS / ENLISTED COLLECTION, RECOVERY AND/OR REPOSSESSION AGENCIES
On the basis of the data provided by the agency, both, at the time of enlistment and on a periodic basis, PBA would work out weighted average scores of the agency as follows (Periodic Data): A. No. of years in Collection, Recovery and/or repossession business for F.I.s (10 points) 2 points for every year completed in Collection, Recovery and/or repossession business, maximum 10 points B. No. of F.I.s for which Collection, Recovery and/or repossession is carried out (10 points) 2 points for every F.I. to which the agency is currently providing Collection, Recovery and/or repossession services, maximum 10 points. C. No. of Cities in which Collection, Recovery and/or repossession is carried out (10 points) 2 points for every city in which the agency is carrying out Collection, Recovery and/or repossession business, maximum 6 points per Province, overall maximum 10 points. D. Size of Professional Team (20 points)
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1 point for every team member (actively involved in Collection, Recovery and/or repossession), who has completed at least 1 year service with the agency. At the time of enlistment, the agencys rating will be calculated on the basis of the above four factors, out of fifty points. However, for annual reviews, the following two factors will also be considered, taking the total points to 100. Collection, Recovery and/or Repossession agencies are advised to start compiling data specified in point E herein, which will be required from them towards the end of the first year of enlistment, and thereafter periodically. If any agency does not compile and provide the data by the end of the year, its rating may be adversely affected. E. Number of repossession cases handled and concluded during the year (20 points) a. Collection, Recovery and/or Repossession concluded during the year, within 3 months of assignment b. Collection, Recovery and/or Repossession concluded during the year, within 6 months of assignment c. Collection, Recovery and/or Repossession concluded during the year, within 1 year of assignment d. Collection, Recovery and/or Repossession concluded during the year, concluded after 1 year of assignment e. Number of Cases outstanding/in progress F. Performance Rating of F.I.s (30 points) (to be sought from F.I.s directly) At the time of Annual Reviews, PBA will confidentially seek the following information from F.I.s i. Total Number of Cases handled during the past 12 months. ii. Number of Cases in which performance has been good iii. Number of Cases in which performance has been average iv. Number of cases where Collection, Recovery and/or repossession failed, but case was not mis-handled by the agency. v. Number of cases mishandled. Points for individual transactions mentioned in clauses 6.03 E & F will be decided towards the end of the year, after receipt of data for the year. G. Deduction of 10 points for Agencies De-Listed by Financial Institutions PBA will deduct 10 points from the score of Collection, Recovery and/or Repossession Agencies for each Financial Institution that has delisted the Agency for reason of Performance Issues / Irregularities. These points will
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be re-instated only when the agency has been re-enlisted by the Financial Institution. However, during the initial enlistment period (prior to the first annual review), since the total points on which the agency is appraised is 50, only 5 points will be deducted for each Financial Institution that has de-listed the company as stated earlier in this clause.
6.04 The points secured by the agencies on the factors specified above will be
circulated to the Financial Institutions for reference. These points are for internal use of the Financial Institutions, who will maintain confidentiality of this information.
6.05 PBA will confidentially circulate to the Financial Institutions a report specifying
the reported number of cases mishandled by the Collection, Recovery and/or repossession agencies during the year.
a) Default of Payment of Fee Default of payment over 60 days since renewal is due would result in de-listing the applicants name from the list. b) Mode of Payment of Fee All fees are payable as required, only through crossed Pay Orders in the name of Pakistan Banks Association. Collection, Recovery and/or Repossession Agencies
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operating outside Karachi would pay fees through Bank Drafts drawn in the name of Pakistan Banks Association. c) De-listed Agencies Processing Fees shall lapse if an Agency remains de-listed for more than one year. Such Agencies shall have to deposit fee applicable to Fresh Applicants if seeking reenlistment. They shall also have to clear their dues / arrears if any. Annual Subscription shall lapse upon completion of the term for which the Subscription was paid. d) Revision in Fee The fee may be revised by the PBA at its sole discretion. e) Coverage of Annual Subscription.
Applicants seeking fresh enlistment after 31st January will pay annual subscription fees on pro-rata basis. Processing Fee shall remain unchanged.
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ANNEXURE 1
DELISTING
An Agency shall be de-listed from the Approved Agencies on account of deficiencies/discrepancies specified below: PBA reserves the right to seek any additional information regarding the grievance resulting in the complaint, and to instigate an independent inquiry of the matter by a competent authority. The Investigatory Concerns decision shall be final.
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ANNEXURE 2
Company Telephone Number COMPANY INFORMATION Name of the Company Owner (s)
(use extra sheet if more than 2)
Partnership Repossession
Geographical Coverage
(List Name of cities and Branch addresses & phone numbers)
National Tax Number Years in Business (Years) 1. 2. List the Financial Institutions your company have had worked with
(use extra sheet if more than 5)
3. 4. 5.
Enclosed documents mentioned in clause 6.0 of the Guidelines? Signature(s) with Company Official Stamp:
Yes
No
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We will abide by all the provisions of the Guidelines for Collection, Recovery and / or Repossession Agencies Induction & Performance Monitoring, Release 01. We will not violate any regulatory framework and all necessary precautionary measures and due diligence work would be put in place by us before commencing collection/recovery/repossession assignments. We shall not sub-contract collection/recovery/repossession assignments given to us by Financial Institutions We shall not induct any contractual/ Third Party staff for carrying out the collection/recovery/repossession assignment for Financial Institutions. We shall follow the Code of Conduct attached as Annexure 4 to these guidelines in letter and spirit. We will maintain proper record of our staff, in which, among others, the basic information like CVs, CNICs, addresses, phone nos, reference letters etc. will be maintained for future use.
Agreed
Disagreed
Agreed
Disagreed
Agreed
Disagreed
Agreed
Disagreed
Agreed
Disagreed
Agreed
Disagreed
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ANNEXURE 2A
List of Employees
Name CNIC Designation Posting Branch Date of Joining
Attach detailed CVs as required in Clause no. 6.0 (b) of the Guidelines.
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ANNEXURE 3
Letter of Recommendation Date: To:
Dear Sir/ Madam, We Messrs.____________________________________________ are applying for enlistment on the Approved Panel of Collection, Recovery and/or Repossession Agencies of Collection, Recovery and/or Repossession Agencies of PBA. As a part of PBAs terms and conditions for Application, we are required to submit Annual Performance Rating from Financial Institutions for whom we have conducted collection, recovery and/or repossession during the past twelve (12) months of enlistment. As we have been serving your institution during the past twelve (12) months, you are requested to provide us Annual Performance Rating, as per the following given scale defined by PBA in their Guidelines on for Collection, Recovery and/or Repossession Agencies. A. B. C. D. E. Excellent Experience Good Experience Satisfactory Experience Unsatisfactory Experience No Experience
Yours faithfully
(TO BE FILLED BY ADDRESSEE FINANCIAL INSTITUTION) The requesting Collection, Recovery and/or Repossession Agency is rated by us as ______________. (please write above the assigned rating in full). ________________________ Authorized Signatory ___________________ Authorized Signatory
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ANNEXURE 4
CODE OF CONDUCT FOR AGENCY & ITS STAFF General Principles 1. Approved Agency and its staff shall conduct their business with utmost honesty, applying due professional diligence and undertaking all checks and controls as necessary to ensure smooth discharge of responsibilities imparted to them by the Financial Institutions. 2. Approved Agency while discharging responsibilities imparted to them by the Financial Institutions would operate within the regulatory ambit defined in SBP directives and Prudential Regulations. 3. Approved Agency shall bring to the knowledge of the Financial Institutions on voluntary basis any information, circumstances or factors affecting or may affect the discharge of responsibilities imparted to them by the Financial Institutions. 4. Approved Agency or its staff is bound to treat all the customers (including customers who are late in paying outstanding amount(s) owed by them to the Financial Institutions and/or are in default) with respect, dignity and courtesy during the course of action while discharging the responsibilities imparted to them by the Financial Institutions. The same also applies while interacting with customer whether on telephone or in person and staff of Approved Agency should display highest level of professionalism and work ethics. 5. Any communication sent to the customer should only be in the mode and format approved by the Financial Institutions. Staff of Approved Agency should not serve any written message to a customer unless such authority has been granted to him or her in written by the designated official of the Financial Institutions. 6. Approved Agency or its staff shall bring to the knowledge of the Financial Institutions on voluntary basis any information / detail, related to fraud & forgery that may consequence the Financial Institutions with losses. In the course of their activities, if they discover issues with the underwriting of the loan, e.g. identity theft, they shall immediately escalate this information to the Financial Institution, and suspend recovery activity on that account until further guidance is obtained from the Financial Institution. 7. Approved Agency or its staff shall bring to the knowledge of the Financial Institutions, on voluntary basis, in case if they observe the professional misconduct, misrepresentation, negligence from any of their own staff. 8. Approved Agency or their staff members should ensure mandatory training is delivered regarding these general principles and training records are maintained by the Approved Agency / designated function. 9. Approved Agency or their staff members should conduct periodic health checks to review the controls and ensure that all general principles are being followed. 10. Approved Agency or their staff members should not: I. Misrepresent any facts and information pertaining to them (the company or the staff himself) or the task assigned to them while interacting with the customers on behalf of the Financial Institutions; II. Use the official Guidelines or stationery of the Financial Institutions under any situation i.e. banks letter heads, bank logos, banks visiting cards etc. III. Delegate or assign tasks to unqualified persons who have not signed the code of conduct; IV. Mislead the customer on the action proposed and the consequences thereof; V. Misinform the customer about his/her true business or organization name, or falsely represent or imply that the staff is an attorney (lawyer, government official, officer of any court etc; VI. Threaten the customer of any extreme actions i.e. repossession of pledged assets, filing an FIR, filing a legal suit etc. when such action is not immediately planned, proposed, or suggested by the Financial Institutions; VII. Threaten with imprisonment or even mention imprisonment unless legal action planned or currently underway could result in imprisonment; and VIII. Threaten with arrest/detention by the police unless prima facie, the customers action indicate criminal intent that could lead the police to arrest/detain him/her; for example, if a customer has sold the automobile Page 22 of 28
financed or has falsified Guidelines at the time of application, the customer may be prosecuted leading to arrest/detention. 11. During the course of their interaction with customer or with any of his/her nominee or references, Approved Agency or its staff should not: I. Make use of written or verbal threats or resort to abusive or rude language or display anger or frustration at the customer even when customer himself is not at his best behavior. They should only use acceptable business language, even if the other party does not; II. Attempt to force the customer to speak in a language he/she is not comfortable with or finds it offensive. If any staff of the Approved Agency is not comfortable with the language spoken by the customer, the account may be referred to another staff or the conversation should be continued in the language with the consent of the customer; and III. Use the informal mode of address in the language of choice of the customer and customer should always be referred with a formal salutation. 12. During the course of their interaction with any of customer references as given in applicant form, Approved Agency or its staff should not force or attempt to force them into cooperation. 13. Approved Agency or its staff deserves to be treated with dignity. They may refer the customer to management, or end the call when a customer becomes abusive or threatening. Additionally, customers should be informed prior to termination of such calls. 14. Approved Agency or its staff should always identify themselves and the Financial Institutions at the beginning of every conversation with customers. 15. If a customer requests that calls/visits to place of work should be avoided / stopped, such request should be honored if he/she provides a suitable alternate where customer can be reached during collection working hours. Such customers should be asked to provide an alternate address/phone number where they may be reached. 16. Customers question(s) should be answered in full. They should be provided with the requested information, given assistance and their issues must be resolved. Accounts with un-resolved issues are to be escalated to management. 17. Request by customer for providing them with any supervisors or higher ranked officials name or making them talk to him/her should be honored. In case of nonavailability of the required official the same is to be informed to the customer and a time is to be agreed with the customer for his conversation with supervisor. 18. Complaints and disputes must not be ignored by the Approved Agency or its staff and timely action should be taken against any such complaints. The details of the complaint and action taken to resolve it should be communicated to the Financial Institutions by Approved Agency or its staff. 19. For the identification purpose, staff of Approved Agency should have their CNIC, which can be shown to the customer upon request. They should also carry their business cards or organizational identity card at all times. 20. Not under any circumstances enter the customers residence unless invited by the customer 21. Not under any circumstances restrict the customers movement or restrain him/her from entering or leaving the house/room or place of work 22. Approved Agency or its staff shall explicitly refuse any offer of bribe or a gift. All such instances should be reported to the respective Financial Institutions at the earliest. 23. Approved Agency should ensure repossession is effected as per agreed/ approved process of respective Financial Institution. 24. Approved Agency should allow the customer to take possession of their valuables /goods out of the vehicle before commencing repossession activity. 25. Staff of Approved Agency must be appropriately dressed at all times when personally interacting with customers Men - Well-ironed trousers Page 23 of 28
Women - Well-ironed formal attire - Well-groomed appearance Contact Frequency & Ethics 1. The customer may be given a reminder call in respect of the payment commitment made. 2. In the event a commitment is not fulfilled or the customer has broken his/her promise, calls may be made at reasonable frequency, based on the amount owed, product aging of debt and account history. 3. A Customer may be contacted at time when the call is not expected to inconvenience him/her. The authorized time to contact customer is between 8 AM to 10 PM. The authorized time to contact customer should be strictly observed. 4. In addition if a mobile number is called and the customer is driving then the call may be disconnected, in the interest of safety. 5. Calls must first be placed to the customer. When making direct contact, it is imperative to establish that the person the other side is indeed Financial Institutions customer. In the event the customer is not available, a message may be left for him/her. The goal of the message should be to get the customer to return the call or to check for a convenient time to call again. Customer Confidentiality 1. In recognition of the fact that the Financial Institutions must maintain confidentiality of customer related information, attention should also be focused on the customers privacy. Accordingly, information shared by the Financial Institutions pertaining to the loan details about customer should only be discussed with the customer himself and a co-borrower (if any) and such information should not be divulged to any other relative or whatsoever unless specifically mentioned by the Financial Institutions to do otherwise. 2. Approved Agency would keep in secure custody all the records of the Financial Institutions customers. These records include the information either shared by the Financial Institutions with the Approved Agency at various time intervals during the length of the service or generated by the Approved Agency itself during the discharge of its responsibilities imparted by the Financial Institutions. 3. Approved Agency would keep a back up of all these records at secure location to ensure efficient working in case if the records are lost, damaged, or digitally corrupted. Additionally, Approved Agency would require prior approval from the Financial Institutions authorities if they ever wish to dispose or dump any historic customer data shared by the Financial Institutions or generated by the Approved Agency itself. 4. The customers loan details and obligation thereof may only be discussed with someone other than customer only and only if the customer has communicated his/her acceptance of the same and/or has nominated a representative on his/her behalf in terms of handling the loan matters with the Financial Institutions. 5. In situations where the customers has alienated the property financed/pledged, the collection unit may discuss the fact that the customer has an overdue obligation with the third party in possession of the asset for example, If the customer has sold the Automobile financed by the Financial Institution to a third party the person in possession of the asset may be put on notice that the Financial Institution has a prior claim on the vehicle. 6. Staff may communicate with the third parties to obtain customers location information home address, business, home phone number and work place phone number. This may be done when the customers present location is either unknown or uncertain. While obtaining such information the staff must clearly identify himself.
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7. If the customer has provided a financial guarantee from a third party, the third party may be called and the customers payment obligation discussed. In such a situation the guarantor may be treated as the borrower. Call making etiquettes While contacting customer over phone the staff of the Approved Agency should keep into perspective following guidelines: Identify one-self and the Financial Institutions Product State reason for the call Offer to call back on landline, if call is made to a cell phone. To the extent possible, talk in the language which is most comfortable to the customer Keep the conversation limited to business matters Make the customer aware of Loan Terms and Conditions if required Reconfirm next call or next visit details Provide your telephone number, if asked for by the customer
Physical visit to customer A customer may be visited at the address provided by him/her when telephonic attempts to contact such customer have either failed in terms of procuring a mutually acceptable payment commitment or when contact could not be established with the customer, when it is found that the customer is going out of city/country on vacation or even immigration to another country and when there is an indication that the customer might become unreachable. Visit Reports should be kept on records in the form of hard copy or on electronic collection systems for atleast 6 months. Moreover, to the extent possible; visits should be avoided to the customers references unless consent for such a visit is not granted by the customers references prior to actual visit. Precautions to be taken while visiting customer The staff of the Approved Agency should: - Respect personal space and maintain adequate distance; - Under circumstances when the customer is not available / accessible at the work place or home during normal working hours, a visit may be arranged after office hours to contact the customer; - Ensure that not more than two staff should visit the respective customer for effecting a collection, recovery or repossession. Exceptions can be made in cases involving disputes, large balances and repossessions because in such instances the supervisors or senior collectors may also visit with the staff to enable/ facilitate an immediate decision in the event that a customer is willing to negotiate a mutually acceptable settlement; - Not remain in the customers house if he/she were to leave for any reason including for collecting money from a Financial Institution /elsewhere; - Respect the customers privacy do not embarrass the customer in the presence of his/her neighbor (s). The purpose of visit may be disclosed to the immediate family members. However if the customer is untraceable the purpose of the visit may be disclosed; and - If the customer is not present and only minors/elderly are present at the time of visits, the staff of the Approved Agency should end the visit with a request that the customer should call back. The staff should not enter the house and neither should he wait for the customer in the customers residence. The staff of the Approved Agency should not - Offer to assist the customer by driving him/her to Financial Institution / any other spot from where the money to repay the debt can be collected - Agree to collect payment from third parties, have discussions of a personal nature with the customer and should maintain a professional distance. Restrict conversation to the debt owed and the customer proposed repayment plan or repossession
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- Use means that are unfair for example: o Collect sums in excess of total debt of the customer; and o Threaten to take extra judicial action (e.g. physical threat or any unlawful action) to expropriate and dispose of customer assets where no such right exists.
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ANNEXURE 5
Other Comments:
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ANNEXURE 6
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