Browse our Debt Awareness Weeks series articles
At Lenvi we’re proudly supporting StepChange Debt Charity’s campaign to break the stigma around debt and encourage open conversations about financial wellbeing. In our latest series of conversations with our expert team, we look at how we're supporting this initiative through our technology, our people and our compliance.
Article by Sam Goodacre, Director of Product at Lenvi
The stigma surrounding debt often prevents people from seeking help, exacerbating financial difficulties. However, technology is playing an increasingly crucial role in creating a more open and supportive environment for individuals struggling with debt.
In line with our support of Debt Awareness Week, an initiative from the charity StepChange to encourage conversations and help remove the stigma around debt, we spoke to Sam Goodacre, Director of Product at Lenvi. Sam highlights how our loan management platform, Lenvi PF1 (PF1), empowers lenders to support vulnerable customers and encourage open conversations about debt.
Helping lenders identify and support vulnerable customers
We know that vulnerability is complex, and not everyone who misses a payment is necessarily in financial difficulty, but it’s important lenders take the time to connect with the customer and offer support when its needed. Through our loan management technology, we can support this in a number of ways.
PF1 is designed with a human-centred approach, prioritising the needs of customers and creating an environment where information is clear and accurate. The system proactively identifies customers who may be facing financial difficulties by monitoring payment patterns and flagging unusual activity. This allows agents to focus on the customer, offer support, and understand their individual circumstances and requirements.
PF1’s intuitive UI, allows agents to flag customers as vulnerable and make detailed notes about the reasons for the flag. This information is clearly displayed whenever that customer's record is accessed, ensuring that specially trained agents, skilled in supporting their needs, handle these cases. PF1 also offers a variety of configurable options to further support customers, such as breathing space and flexible payment arrangements. The system's flexibility allows for a personalised experience, moving away from a "one-size-fits-all" approach.
Improving customer and agent communication
When an agent uses PF1 they’ll interact with a user-friendly interface which presents all pertinent customer and agreement information clearly and simply. This enables them to have informed conversations and discuss a customer’s available options if their financial health is suffering. The system also prevents customers from having to repeat difficult conversations by making case notes readily available to agents. Furthermore, vulnerability flags can be updated as a customer's situation improves, ensuring fair and relevant treatment.
Through Lenvi's purpose-built AI tool, we can streamline simple processes, freeing up agents to focus on more complex customer interactions. PF1’s integrated arrears management module automatically manages arrears, identifies non-payment events, and directs cases down appropriate strategies. We proactively work with lenders to define what these are, and we’re supported by our inhouse compliance team to ensure continued adherence to the latest regulatory standards. The system also triggers mandatory compliant communications and manages forbearance measures.
We encourage lenders to foster more proactive communication strategies, such as payment reminders and discussing financial concerns with customers before they become a more complex issue.
Leveraging API Integration and Partnerships
Lenvi has invested significantly in our API integration capabilities. This allows for seamless integration with third-party systems and those of our growing network of industry Partners, creating a more comprehensive and supportive Partner ecosystem.
For example, integration with telephony providers can automatically link a customer to their agreement information before a call is answered, improving the customer experience.
Lenders can also integrate PF1 with their own self-service portals and, with customer consent, PF1 can leverage open banking data to provide real-time views of income and expenditure, helping identify potential financial shocks.
By using technology to facilitate open communication, personalise support, and streamline processes, Lenvi's PF1 is helping to break down the stigma surrounding debt and encourage people to seek the help they need.
Article by Martin Kisby, director of Risk and Compliance at Lenvi
Debt can be a difficult topic to discuss, laden with stigma and anxiety. At Lenvi, we’re continually working to change that through all areas of our products and service offerings.
By taking a consumer-centric approach, to our operations Lenvi stives to foster an environment where discussing debt becomes more accessible and less daunting.
This year we’re supporting Debt Awareness Week, an initiative created by the charity StepChange to help remove the stigma around debt.
In this article, Martin Kisby, Lenvi’s Director of Risk Compliance looks at how effective compliance can aid challenging conversations around debt, and how embedding compliance at the heart of what we do is just one of the ways Lenvi achieve this.
A holistic approach to compliance services
At Lenvi we take a holistic approach to our compliance services ensuring it impacts every area of the business. For us, this isn't just about avoiding fines; it's about enhancing the overall customer experience. Our goal is to proactively support lenders and in turn, their customers, with their regulatory requirements, business strategies and growth.
Lenvi achieves this through ongoing reviews, horizon scanning, audits, and consultations, always ensuring a best-practice standard and keeping the consumer at the heart of what we do. As an FCA-regulated business, our team harness an in-depth understanding of a firm’s requirements, and how to implement them successfully.
For us, it’s about an ongoing relationship, and our compliance team gets involved at the very start of a lender's journey with Lenvi, taking on an advisory role to understand their business’ requirements against the increasingly complex landscape that we each operate within. This proactive approach helps weave a compliance mindset into the fabric of a firm's culture and the solutions we provide to them.
An extra line of defence
Lenvi's in-house compliance service provides clients with an additional line of defence in a complex regulatory landscape. For consumers, this translates to lenders being continually driven and supported towards delivering the best possible customer outcomes. Obviously, we want to ensure customers are treated fairly but it’s how we do this that has an impact.
Even before the introduction of Consumer Duty, regulation has been increasingly consumer-centred, holding all levels of an organisation accountable for doing the right thing by consumers and creating better customer outcomes. Lenvi works collaboratively with lenders and financial organisations to ensure they are fully prepared for existing and upcoming regulatory requirements.
Consumer Duty: An opportunity for continuous improvement
Lenvi views Consumer Duty as an ongoing consideration rather than a one-time exercise, continually ensuring that our technology and people understand their role in meeting regulatory requirements. This involves considering both consumer and client perspectives and treating Consumer Duty as an opportunity for continuous improvement. By building the regulatory framework into the core of the technology we create, Lenvi ensures that both current and future regulatory impacts are considered.
Support through challenging times
At Lenvi, we recognise that facing forbearance on a loan agreement is a challenging situation. From a compliance perspective, the company provides support in several ways:
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Ongoing Quality and Assurance monitoring ensures that contact centre agents have the right tools, skillsets, and support to uphold a high regulatory standard when talking to customers, while delivering empathy and care. Our loan management platform (Lenvi PF1) is developed with a clear, user-friendly interface that allows agents to easily highlight vulnerability concerns and signs of financial distress, then triage customers toward specialist forbearance teams.
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We also work with lenders to ensure every stage of a customer’s journey features the correct statutory documentation, which is clearly communicated and not misleading.
Through compliance we offer a programme of ongoing activity to ensure that when a customer reaches out in a challenging time, we are ready to support them.
Article by Trish Norman, COO at Lenvi
As the financial landscape evolves to drive technical innovation, the contact centre still plays a vital role in customer service. Extending beyond transactional interactions, loan servicing contact centres have the potential to serve as a crucial hub for fostering open and supportive dialogues about finances, particularly for customers facing financial challenges.
By prioritising early engagement, offering tailored solutions, connecting customers with external resources, and continuously striving for improvement, Lenvi are working towards a more supportive and transparent loan lifecycle.
In this article, Trish Norman, COO at Lenvi discusses how the nuances of customer service drive the best customer outcomes.
Early engagement and proactive understanding
It can be really challenging to be honest about a difficult financial situation. Missing a loan re-payment and entering into arrears can be a worrying time for a customer.
At Lenvi we recognise the significance of early engagement with a customer who may be showing signs of financial difficulties, and we prioritise proactive outreach to those who might be at risk. This involves equipping agents with the skills to listen actively and understand each customer's unique circumstances. By identifying potential difficulties early on, they can offer timely support and prevent situations from escalating.
Our contact centre understands that sensitive conversations require specialised expertise. Calls from potentially vulnerable customers are channelled to highly skilled agents who undergo additional training. These agents are not only well-versed in good customer service but also offer exceptional "softer skills". They're trained to identify subtle triggers and indicators of vulnerability, allowing them to approach each conversation with empathy and build trust with the customer.
This human-centric approach is essential for creating a safe space where customers feel comfortable discussing their financial situation from short-term shocks to longer term challenges.
Tailored solutions and a collaborative approach
A one-size-fits-all approach simply doesn't work when it comes to debt management. Our agents take the time to fully understand each customer's situation before recommending a course of action. This ensures that the proposed solutions align with the customer's specific needs and are mutually agreed upon. The focus is on providing genuine help and support.
As a loan servicer, we also recognise that we are part of a broader support ecosystem. We actively connect customers with external resources, such as debt management charities like StepChange, who can further support customers with comprehensive assistance and financial guidance.
Continuous improvement and enhanced training
Through our in-house compliance team we are able to offer regular Quality and Assurance monitoring, continually working with lenders to evaluate their servicing strategies and reflect the voice of the customer.
We channel these learnings back into our agents’ personal development, whilst also focusing on enhancing their softer skills and enabling them to handle sensitive conversations personably and patiently.
The ultimate goal is to ensure customers feel understood, supported, and valued.
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