An example of our ‘customer first’ approach is that our staff are not simply rewarded for collecting money, because this type of policy can encourage behaviour that is not in the best interests of the consumer. Instead, we reward our agents for good outcomes and upholding the Treating Customers Fairly principles laid out by the FCA. Customers who struggle to pay are not pressured, rather they are directed to free debt advice organisations in order to help find a long term solution to their difficulties.

We are also registered as a Data Controller with the Information Commissioner’s Office and all of our staff are fully trained in the Data Protection Act.

In order to be sure that we keep up the standards that we expect, all customer contact is retained in the form of call recordings and copies of letter or emails. These are then audited and feedback is given to staff, including retraining if necessary.

For our clients

Our clients can be sure that they are placing their business in safe-hands and we will treat their hard earned customers as if they were our own. Open and frank discussions take place between ourselves and all of our clients before we start work, to ensure we know the quirks of their business. This is the only way to ensure intelligent dialogue between us and customers and we are firmly of the belief that understanding is the key to ensuring positive outcomes for them.

It is also vital to ensure that our clients have the same customer first ethos as ourselves, so we complete a Know Your Customer exercise for all new clients. This includes identifying the beneficial owners of the business and the outset of our relationship, which is an integral part of the Anti Money Laundering checks we carry out. We endeavour to make these checks as quick and easy as we can but we are proud that they demonstrate the integrity that our clients, in addition to our regulator, demand.

Naturally, our clients’ money is of vital importance to them, and we ensure the security of funds by segregating them from our own at all times. Transfers to clients typically occur monthly, according to clients’ needs, but access to our online portal give our clients an up to date snapshot of how much we’re holding for them.

Clients can also be sure that we take the security of their data seriously and have systems in place that have been described as ‘bombproof’ by auditors. The approach we take in this and all regards follows through to our suppliers, who are all screened to the same standards we demand from ourselves.