The Challenge

The finance company was concerned that its document processes were impeding the growth of its loan portfolio. Customer service and document management were also serious issues. The related departments were not satisfied with the time it took to put monthly finance statements into the hands of customers.

Experience indicated that if the statements were sent later in the monthly cycle, more customers paid their bills late. This situation was driving up delinquent accounts and payment periods, incurring additional collection costs. What's more, the departments concerned with origination and underwriting were not comfortable with the loan-approval cycle time. It took one day from the moment a new contract arrived in the mail until the underwriters could begin to work the loan. In a competitive market where borrowers apply to multiple funders simultaneously, the finance company that approves the loan first usually gets the business. A significant amount of work is wasted when the prospective borrower withdraws the application because they received funding elsewhere.

The Solution

Océ Business Services implemented a wraparound document process that logically connected front-end document intake with imaging, file management, printing and mail production functions. As loan applications arrive in the mail daily they are logged, prepped and immediately imaged. The imaging process involves indexing, data capture, and quality control. Bar-code and document management technology was deployed to compress the cycle time and automate the record keeping process. Each contract file is maintained in both paper and electronic format, but the two are linked electronically.

In this way, files can be easily retrieved during the funding process, or later on when they are sold on the wholesale market. To solve the statement printing and distribution problems and help the customer pay on time, Océ integrated the Central Reprographics Department (CRD) with the mail center. This allows customer statements, correspondence, notices and disclosures to be printed, inserted, sorted, metered and placed in the mail stream in one process. Océ highspeed printer and Océ print management software was installed to automate the statement print process.

The Result

The Océ unified document process helped turn around document management for the finance company. On the intake side, we implemented an imaging process that makes the contract file available electronically to funding by 1 p.m. each day. Additional data entry is performed in the afternoon. All paper files are bar-coded and filed immediately, ensuring the integrity of records.

While before, servicing struggled to print and distribute customer statements within the available time, Océ is now easily able to meet deadlines, with additional capacity available at no increase in labor or facility space. That helps customers avoid late fees and it helps our client cut down on unnecessary collection work. In the final analysis, Océ was able to reduce hard-document process costs by over $100,000 in the first year alone.

The savings came from efficiencies in print, copy, and mail processing. Additional soft savings are expected to permeate the company in the form of direct labor savings, resulting from electronic document management efficiencies.