LOS ANGELES — Westlake Financial Services expanded its partnership with National Creditors Connection Inc. (NCCI), a field contact service provider, after a successful three-month test program showed a 10- to 15-percent improvement in contact and payment rates of delinquent accounts.

NCCI provides field contact services to financial institutions and various other industries. NCCI’s experience in personal field visitation leads to higher contact rates compared to traditional collection techniques. According to NCCI, a field contact is a “specific service request where a personal visit is made to a borrower’s residence or place of employment to assist with re-establishing contact between the creditor and borrower.”

Timo Saarela, Westlake’s VP of Servicing, says the testing period occurred during the first quarter of this year. During the program, 50 test accounts were sent to NCCI each month to measure success rates for customer contact, vehicle location and payment rates.  Concurrently, 50 control accounts were set up with similar delinquency rates and geographic location. At the end of each month, the results of the two groups were compared. The test accounts with NCCI had significantly higher success rates than the control accounts.

“The results speak for themselves,” says Saarela. “Our partnership with NCCI is especially valuable in the subprime field where customers may be more reluctant to return a phone call or answer a letter. In those cases, the face-to-face contact NCCI provides has proven to be more effective.”

Saarela says NCCI’s user-friendly portal was a factor in the successful test program. “Technology is a strength that NCCI has compared to various other field contact companies,” he says. “That makes them a perfect fit for Westlake since we are also technology-oriented. We look forward to our expanded partnership with NCCI in 2010.”

Justin Meece, NCCI director of sales, says, “NCCI is proud to form a partnership with Westlake. Their successful track record in the auto finance space makes them a valuable addition to our existing client base. It has been a pleasure developing and implementing field call services into their current collection practices. We look forward to strategizing with Westlake in the coming months on how NCCI can continue to help them achieve their objectives in 2010 and beyond.”