ARTICLE...
Tessera Viewpoint
As I write this, and despite the never-ending financial headlines, I'm still on something of a high following the CSA/DBSG conference at Forest Pines in North Lincolnshire.
Gillian Forrest-Elliott of Head Office spearheaded the organisation of the event, and the quality of speakers, accommodation and logistics set an impressive level of professionalism for future conferences.
On day one, while some delegates enjoyed a round of golf on the hotel's excellent and challenging course, others attended a compliance meeting, predictably dominated by discussion of the CCA06 changes that took effect on 1st October.
Following a busy networking dinner the first night, the main day of conference sessions dealt with a wide range of debt sale issues, including a thought-provoking presentation on the US marketplace by Dennis Hammond, an insightful talk on debt purchase acquisitions by Shaun McNamee of PwC, and another session by Graham Haxton-Bernard on the post contractual information required under the Consumer Credit Act.
The DBSG has been working hard for members on this particular issue, and the latest information and guidance can be found on the members-only section of the website www.dbsg-uk.com or alternatively you can contact the compliance team at complaints@csa-uk.com.
We have also been working hard in lobbying BERR to allow exceptions in the case of an IVA and when a debtor has "gone away". This has resulted in a Legislative Reform Order which has been granted by the House of Commons, it is now with the House of Lords for the final seal of approval, which is expected in October.
We are in the process of setting up a DBSG working party for CCA06 implementation, so if you would like to be involved in this important initiative, please contact Claire Aynsley or Robert Bell at Head Office.
The new CSA Code of Practice and Trace Code of Conduct were launched at the conference, both of which will greatly assist our members, and special thanks go to Claire Aynsley, Godfrey and the trace working party for pushing the Trace Code through to completion.
The conference ended with a very successful DBSG AGM and I'm grateful to all members who attended so close to the Gala Dinner, at which the Rat Pack Band was a great success. For those few of you who were unable to attend this year's conference, hopefully you will be able to join us next year in Brighton. No excuses for Southern members this time!
Moving on to membership, since my last article when I was pleased to say we had 70 members in the Group, we have now grown to over 80 members! Thanks to our sales executive Adriana Galli we are certainly on target for our 100 members by 2010. This is excellent news and shows how important the group has become in these turbulent economic times.
We also recently held the first "sellers' lunch" for all of our DBSG members who sell debt. This luncheon was a huge success and I think everyone benefited from the meeting. A number of informative discussions took place and it also allowed questions to be answered on specific areas. For many of our members this was an opportunity to put aside the competitive element and simply find out more and ask questions about how things are handled in other organisations. Another sellers' lunch is planned soon, and similar events targeted at buyers are also in the pipeline.
Finally, the campaign to protect the industry's use of the electoral roll is well under way, and I firmly support this campaign, recently commenting on the subject to Credit Today: "DBSG members are some of the largest users of the electoral roll, and the recommendation would greatly harm our ability to ensure we are contacting the person whose debt has been purchased.
Since debt buyers were granted additional access to white credit data last year, the sector has shown itself to be both responsible and efficient in the use of data, and many thousands of false address links have been identified and corrected. We have also forged very constructive links with government and the ICO, which makes the ongoing bracketing of debt collection with direct marketing rather frustrating."
Enough said. See you next time.
by Leigh Berkley, Chief Executive, Tessera
Chairman, DBSG
