Estate recovery process best practices for auto lenders

Identify and verify decedent information

The first part of the process is identifying deceased customers. Doing so quickly and efficiently is paramount. This segment of inventory is time-sensitive for auto lenders and estate recovery partners alike. A multi-faceted approach, which includes a robust date of death scrub and internal resources to handle notification of a customer’s passing, is critical to the overall success in resolving the account.

In the past, it was common for auto lenders, or all lenders and creditors, to look past an account if it remained current. There are many benefits to proactively understanding if a customer has unfortunately passed, including mitigation of fraudulent activity on an account, and ensuring the proper treatment if the account does become delinquent. Specific to estate recovery, probate claim filing is time sensitive and failure to actively identify deceased accounts can result in enormous loss on the back end. This occurs when front end processes are not efficiently implemented and executed.

Create process transparency

A transparent and streamlined process adds value throughout your organization. Aligning independent processes and departments is critical for all stakeholders involved in order to have clear line-of-sight throughout the estate account life-cycle.

For instance, do your department leaders in Customer Service, Pre-Charge Off Recovery, Charge-Off Recovery, Repossession, and Agency Management all know how their process impacts the customer experience and the recovery of estate accounts? When these stakeholders understand how they impact the end-to-end process, it creates a clear-cut and frictionless long-term strategy. In addition, it adds to the surviving family members’ experience in working with your organization and promotes a positive experience with your brand.