Debt collection practices

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US007403923B2

(12) United States Patent

Elliott et al.

(io) Patent No.: (45) Date of Patent:

US 7,403,923 B2 Jul. 22, 2008

(54) DEBT COLLECTION PRACTICES

(75) Inventors: Michael B. Elliott, Wilmette, IL (US);

Patrick G. O'Neill, Wilmette, IL (US);
Jorge Nocedal, Evanston, IL (US);
Robert Fourer, Evanston, IL (US)

(73) Assignee: Accenture Global Services GmbH,

Schauffhauen (CH)

( * ) Notice: Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this patent is extended or adjusted under 35 U.S.C. 154(b) by 666 days.

(21) Appl.No.: 10/011,523

(22) Filed: Nov. 5, 2001

(65) Prior Publication Data

US 2003/0078881 Al Apr. 24, 2003

Related U.S. Application Data

(63) Continuation-in-part of application No. 09/976,607, filed on Oct. 12, 2001, now abandoned.

(51) Int. CI.

G06Q 40/00 (2006.01)

(52) U.S. CI 705/38; 705/40

(58) Field of Classification Search 705/35,

705/36, 38, 40 See application file for complete search history.

A method of optimizing debt collection attitudinally classifies debtors into one of several attitudinal segments. The approach uses an assessment of current attitudes rather than past behaviors as to predict future behavior. Each segment can be addressed with an offer, which is a combination of attributes which together, have an expected, measurable, and predictable response from the debtor. Debt collection requires the expenditure of resources, at least one of which the availability of a relatively small number of debt collectors. The offers that can be extended to debtors are identified on a debtor-by-debtor, offer-by-offer basis to identify the best offer to propose to each debtor by the limited number of debt collectors in order to maximize the economic return from all debtors.

8 Claims, 6 Drawing Sheets

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2002/0188638 Al 12/2002 Hamscher

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* cited by examiner