Although we are a small department within Payplan, we are growing!! As I write this currently we have 10 case officers and one problem solver. Generally we work Monday to Friday 9am-5pm and take it in turns to do two late nights and an early shift each week to give our clients more time to contact us or vice versa.
I have worked in the settlements department for seventeen months now and I really enjoy it. Payplan has its own personal training academy to make sure employees have up-to-date knowledge needed for their job roles. I absolutely love learning so this suits me down to the ground.
Just to give you an oversight of the settlements department each case officer has their own work load. Currently I have almost 40 clients who I contact on a weekly basis, either to give an update on progress so far or to advise if we are waiting for creditors to respond.
When a client comes in to the settlements department it is because they have a lump sum available which they want to use to try and clear their debts. This lump sum could have come from their family, an inheritance, an equity release from property or a bonus. We discuss how settlements will impact on our client?s credit file and answer any questions they may have.
Once a settlement decision has been made we start contacting the creditors in question, get the balances in and find out if they are still applying any interest or charges. If the client wanted a short settlement we would then negotiate a settlement figure and agree on an expiry date (this is when the funds have to be with the creditor). This information is then passed back to the client. If they are happy to go ahead we would then get the funds transferred over and I pay the creditors on the client?s behalf.
Here is an overview of my day:
8:45AM
My day starts with loading all relevant systems and documents needed for the day and planning the work I have to complete. Every day is completely different to the next. At 9am the incoming calls from clients and creditors start. The phone lines are open until 5pm every day. As well as ?phone calls I also check and answer my emails from the night before. Once this is complete I check my client?s files to see if any funds have cleared. If so, I will then distribute them to the relevant creditors. I try and share my time equally between all of my clients.
10AM
As I mentioned earlier we work as a team so, for instance if another case officer is out of the office, I and other case officers will check their incoming calls and deal with any issues. Once this is resolved we would send an email to the absent case officer to let them know what we have agreed with their client. If any payments need distributing we would do this because settlement figures have expiry dates. Some of the creditors only have certain dates when payments can be sent each month. We also liaise with our accounts department about payments.
1PM
During lunchtime there are less people available to take incoming calls so we can be very busy. Usually I spend some time working on my administration tasks and paperwork for my clients. Our team leader will assess and assign work too.
4PM
During the last working hour of the day I finish off creditor calls, which can be to check a balance or make a settlement payment, and send out all the relevant paperwork. Once this is done I make notes of all conversations on the client files to ensure there is proper backup. I also call any of my clients that need to be updated before I leave for the day.
Written by Gemma on March 15th, 2012
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