New entrant in car finance market to unify collections and recoveries

Chartsbridge, which will offer services to clients on a modular or full partnership basis, has been set up by John Ingram, founder of the enforcement firm Burlington Group before it was sold to Marston Group, and Andy Thomas, who recently left sub-prime car finance provider Moneybarn.

Both aim to drive innovation into the motor finance collections and recoveries supplier pool, by providing a full-service collections and recovery outsource offering across the entire post-arrears collections lifecycle.

Having recently secured authorisation from the FCA, Chartsbridge will offer a suite of services that encompass the motor finance post-arrears customer journey end-to-end. Clients will be able to pick and mix service modules that can be deployed across all jurisdictions.

The suite will include front-end account rehabilitation and collections activities, back-end asset recovery and shortfall enforcement services.

Announcing the launch today (Friday February 7), Ingram said: “The wider debt collection space is clearly extremely well serviced by long-established and highly sophisticated providers that cater right across the market from mortgage arrears servicing into unsecured financial services spanning cards, loans, across into utilities and telecoms. But none of these providers specifically service the motor finance sector.”

He added: “There’s a lack of niche expertise in terms of an external supplier providing a full service of debt collection right through the cycle of post-default. We have the background, experience and expertise from both collections and asset recovery within motor finance to understand this like no one else and offer a truly end-to-end modular service to motor finance clients.”

Along with a nationwide team of uniformed field officers, Chartsbridge has also established a specialist technology platform with four principal modules; one that Chartsbridge operates itself, one for field officers, one for clients and one for customers themselves – a first for the market.

Both Ingram, managing director, and Thomas, operations director, reveal the full details of Chartsbridge’s infrastructure and offering in the next issue of Credit Strategy magazine, which will start arriving on members’ desks on February 21.

Thomas will be speaking at the Car Finance Conference at the Nottingham Belfry Hotel, June 25. Chartsbridge is also sponsoring the Car Finance Provider of the Year category at the Credit Awards in London on May 14. The free entry deadline for this category, and all other Credit Awards categories, ends today (February 7), but firms can still enter until February 14 for £200.