A DCA (debt collection agency) is a company that chases up the arrears of accounts that have defaulted. They would either be acting on behalf of the creditor or they would have simply purchased the account. This sale is typically made for a much lower price and yet they would be looking to claim the full original amount (often with added charges). We have now introduced most of the big name debt collection agencies (current count of 35). The type of specialised debts being chased can often vary. Those of interest here collect consumer financial products such as credit cards and loans. Then there are commercial-type debts including businesses and governments.

Visitors here would be more aware of those competing on the consumer side since these are the guys that many of the featured lenders on this site will pass or sell their defaulted accounts on to. When loan repayments have been missed, the switch of contract can go ahead quickly. Since the agreement is unsecured and the amounts are typically of low value, it wouldn’t make much sense for the lender to spend lots of time and money going down the legal recovery route. Most send several emails (at the time adding on charges) and soon enough they will give up and this is when the DCA will step in.

These are naturally more aggressive in nature and you can soon be receiving letters, phone calls and even home visits. It should be noted though that most of these agencies have limited powers. As noted, 35 DCAs have been profiled here that includes most of the established names and industry newcomers. Within each introduction post, we typically reference the customer payment site and their contact numbers if you need to pay them. This is recommended since it will allow you to clean up your credit profile that would be damaged when you fell behind. We also usually make a reference to market share and CSA membership (if this is held).

For market share, we have took the data from one of the top debt management companies who openly share where all of their customer accounts are taken on by. This is just one data source, but from additional research these rankings do reflect the market accurately. We did leave out any companies that didn’t have a website (these are often internal agencies collecting for banks). Regarding the top DCAs, Moorcroft was ranked #1 and they had almost double the volume of accounts than Lowell at #2. We then had #3 Blair Oliver and Scott, #4 Wescot, #5 Fredrickson, #6 BCW, #7 Capquest, #8 Cabot, #9 1st Credit and finally #10 NDR.

Lowell of course now owns Fredrickson and there has been various other major acquisition deals in the industry that we may discuss in further detail at a later date. The only company missed out here was CK Edrupt and Co Solicitors who have no online presence. A few of those that did rank within the top 10 do actively focus on loan defaults. Outside of them, two notable DCAs that are known to work with payday lenders are Mackenzie Hall and Motormile. These aren’t challenging the big names, but they are popular. The prominent commercial firms ranked low in the list, but there is less volume to go after in this sector.

The big 5 here as they were ranked were Equita, Rossendales, Bristow and Sutor, Newlyn and Jacobs. Other than these rankings, a reference is made regarding CSA membership. This is the primary trade association for the debt collection industry. Most DCAs are members, although the qualified services as shown on their member pages do tend to vary. Whilst some may be listed under just Consumer Debt Collection, others may for instance be listed under Bailiff & Process Serving, Court Action, Debt Purchase, Repossessions etc. These are known to aggressively chase debtors and are commonly involved in commercial markets. It is important to settle defaults to improve your score.

Whether you have to deal with the collection agency or the creditor isn’t that important so long as you can get your profile updated. I would advise receiving confirmation that they can do this for you before making any such payments. This process will be detailed further at a later date. It is important to note anyway that CCJs, defaults etc will remain visible on your record for 7 years and so it can take time to completely fix past problems. Within the next few posts we will be providing introductions for the various credit reports available. These are important to receive if you are looking to start repairing the damage.

The Advantis Credit debt collection agency is based in Stoke on Trent and there are just over 200 employees here (150 are situated in their call centre). This DCA was formed in 2004 and soon after in 2005 they followed up with www.advantiscredit.com. This website showcases their available recovery services that caters not just consumer debts, but also arrears that have been made in the commercial sectors. The size of this recovery firm is quite small and they may not currently be one of headlining DCAs, but they have shown impressive growth levels in recent years and the volume of search engine queries in relation to them is continually increasing.

Carrying a market share ranking that lies in the 40s shows that they have progressed well in the limited number of years that they have been active within the industry. It will be interesting to see just how much they can move forward over the coming years. Although this firm caters a wide range of sectors, they are mostly aligned with recovering consumer arrears in finance, retail and in telecoms. Advantis Credit Ltd are CSA membership holders that stretches across various areas such as Consumer Debt Collection, Court Action, Utility Debt Collection as well as others. Through viewing discussion forums, the general market feedback for them looks to be positive.

The www.advantiscredit.com website is a single trading web property. They did previously take payments on a strange outside URL, but they now take them on the main site. This is good to see although they don’t currently use encryption that is expected to be integrated by such a prominent firm. Due to this, you may wish to contact them to make an offer of payment by phone. This can be done on the number of 0844 5565440 if you wish to do this. Overall, this agency looks to be emerging well in their chosen markets that is notable for the short time that they have been competing.

The Arrow Global collection agency carries a rich history that dates back the year 1961. This was as Arrow Financial Services in their home country of America, with this featured firm being their European subsidiary. They have been introduced today due to the owner’s vast experience, but they don’t do a great job of making the payment process easy for anyone who is seeking to pay up. Their website address is www.arrowglobal.net that introduces their services, but there is no payment facility in place that we will come back to later in this post. This US company has of course had plenty of time to master their craft.

They did actually only arrive in the UK in 2005 though and so they have had to play catch up with the premier industry names. This debt purchaser has a few departments within their organisation. These are seen in their selection of profiles on their CSA page with most of these covering Debt Purchase and one covering Consumer Debt Collection. Arrow Global has tended to pursue financial sectors that has included working with banks and credit card providers. Telecom arrears are also actively chased. From scanning forum posts covering this company, these discussions do pop up a great deal and so lots of people are receiving letters from them.

They are clearly keeping busy and keyword data shows that they are being frequently queried in Google. For market share, they took a ranking of around 80 that is reasonable considering that they are one of the newer arrivals on the local scene. When you factor in their reputation and roots, you can see them being able to reach out to creditors effectively where they will be buying accounts in bulk. You can’t currently pay Arrow Global online at www.arrowglobal.net that hopefully they will update. They do list a number of 0800 130 0169 and so you would have to speak directly to them to make a payment.

Credit Resource Solutions (CRS) is a debt recovery agency that is headed in Elland, West Yorkshire. Their corporate home website is located over at www.creditresourcesolutions.co.uk that was created back in the year 2003. There is a reference that the company was took on by Andrew Calvert in 2004 and so their specific history is unclear and it is not detailed. There is a dedicated customer payment website at www.paycrs.co.uk that will be referenced further below. Credit Resource Solutions are known to chase up both business and consumer debts. Not too many details are disclosed in this regard, but they are known to work alongside utility companies.

There are just over 50 DCAs that have more accounts in place than CRS and so this agency has room for improvement. Credit Resource Solutions Ltd have taken on a CSA place and this does extend to cover Court Action and Repossessions. Their feedback across the web has been supportive and I spotted that they promoted being awarded as the DCA of the Year back in 2008. From checking on this further, this was the specific award covering under £2m turnover, with Clarity winning the main accolade. Either way, there have been no recent awards and so they will have to build and progress in this increasingly competitive industry.

One such step in the right direction has seen them give their payment website a complete overhaul. I remember visiting PayCRS a few years back and it was live and functioning. On a more recent check it appeared that they had removed this since they were redirecting visitors on to Payments Place (www.paymentsplace.com). This was obviously just whilst they were upgrading. When you visit www.paycrs.co.uk now you will be handed with full account servicing. When you actually go to make a payment this will be securely processed via Sage Pay. You can dial 01422 324 510 if you need to get hold of their customer support.

The Marston Group will be introduced here that is a division of Marston (Holdings) Ltd. This debt collection agency trades online through the single web property of www.marstongroup.co.uk that they launched in 2008. This company is certainly a large one with over 1200 staff members behind them. This is a commercial debt collector that chases up child support debts, Council Tax arrears and parking fines. Unlike many of their rivals, they choose to disclose who they have forged alliances with. This includes the likes of HMCTS, HMRC, Legal Aid Agency as well as various others. For Council Tax and parking penalties, they have 214 local authority contracts.

The market share of this DCA isn’t significant with there being over 110 busier agencies. They are much more popular than those companies that circulated them within these rankings. A major development for Marston (Holdings) Ltd was their acquisition of Rossendales who were recently introduced. Rossendales are a prominent enforcement firm chasing up accounts in much higher volume and so this has been a very savvy move on their part. This acquisition was made a few months into 2013 and later in the year they also took on Swift. If we go back to 2012, they also took on Harrison HCE and so they are continually expanding for the better.

The www.marstongroup.co.uk site provides detailed information surrounding their operations. They did take in payments on a secure area of this site, but they now use Key IVR on the customer side. This is on a subdomain at https://marstongroup.keyivr.co.uk and so we have referenced their main website. There is a listed phone number of 0845 074 3749 that is an automated payment line, but you can select option 2 to speak directly to an advisor. Marston Group Ltd is CSA qualified that covers Bailiff & Process Serving, Repossessions and all of the other necessary fields that allows them to work with such established organisations.

This collection agency that is based in Merseyside has received a recent rebrand. Their official name as listed on their CSA page is Jacobs Certificated Bailiffs, however they have generally been known over the years as Jacobs Bailiffs and have operated through www.jacobsbailiffs.co.uk. A recent change has seen them rename as Jacobs Enforcement Agents and they have now setup www.jacobsenforcement.com. The old site is still live, but when you click through the menu selections you are redirected to their new one. Customer payments are taken on a secure domain of the older website at this time, but I can see them eventually removing this.

This commercial recovery agency looks to be one of the original industry firms with their formation year being 1959. They state that there are 220 staff members working within the company. This DCA collects such debts as overpaid housing benefits and road traffic enforcement fees. Local Council Tax debts do look to be central that is a market that they targeted throughout the 80s that worked out very well for them. It is referenced that they work with over 150 local authorities in the enforcement of such unpaid debts. They have earned themselves several awards over the years and are of course CSA qualified in the services that they serve.

Jacobs is one of the most well known bailiff firms in the industry, although their major rivals are taking on more accounts than they are including Bristow and Sutor, Equita, Newlyn and Rossendales. They as noted use a subdomain of www.jacobsbailiffs.co.uk for customer payments that are secured, but it is likely that they will soon replace this fully for www.jacobsenforcement.com. Questions can be posed to their team on 0845 601 2692. This highly experienced agency benefited greatly throughout the 80s when they established valued partnerships with many local authorities. Despite this, they do look to have lost their way (certainly in the manner of market share).

Newlyn Plc was originally formed as Newlyn Collection Services Ltd back in 1999. They went on to become a public limited company that naturally resulted in them setting up www.newlynplc.co.uk (this was in 2006). This is a central site to deal with visitors on both the corporate and customer side. This website in discussion is currently being updated and so it looks like they are devising a fresh look. They state that you can still make payments if you need to do so. Due to this current state, it is difficult to determine if any major changes have taken place since they were last studied.

Their progress will be monitored and we will update this posting if any notable changes have been implemented. This commercial collection agency is based in Northampton that is interestingly where their big rival Equita is also based. Bailiff enforcement services are offered by this DCA that covers Council Tax collections, road traffic fines and other commercial debts like this. When looking into their industry market share they ranked in the late 70s and were just a few places behind Bristow and Sutor who are another big rival to them. Equita and Rossendales each ranked much higher who do look to be the busiest commercial recovery agencies competing today.

The www.newlynplc.co.uk website is as noted currently in the middle of a major update. Over the years this site has always been used to cover their background and service, as well as being in place for customers to make direct payments that are securely taken. The contact line is displayed as 01604 633001 if you need to reach a customer advisor of theirs. Newlyn Plc is highly established and fully qualified via CSA for their catered services. They don’t carry as much experience as their major rivals, but it is clear that they have managed to bite into some of their market share in recent years.

Bristow and Sutor is one of the most well known commercial firms across the industry today. This DCA that is fully known as Bristow & Sutor Civil Enforcement collects the arrears of Council Tax, landlord rents, road traffic fees and so on. They are certificated bailiffs and hold a membership place with the CSA. This company that is based in Redditch solely trades online through www.bristowsutor.co.uk that they created back in 1998. They have been trading for much longer than this though with their formation year being 1977 that shows how much experience this enforcement agency carries behind them. Their web popularity is also notably high.

With each DCA that we cover here, a reference is usually made to how well they rank factoring industry market share. Bristow and Sutor popped up in the mid 70s in this list. This isn’t overly impressive although they aren’t chasing up the type of debts that the major names do (typically with creditors involved in financial sectors). They were one of the highest ranked agencies that is specifically known to focus on commercial recovery. They did for instance rank higher than other big name enforcement firms such as Jacobs and Newlyn. Two notable commercial DCAs that did rank much higher than them in this list was Equita and Rossendales.

For anyone wishing to pay any arrears, this can be done swiftly through www.bristowsutor.co.uk. When you go to do this, a secure form will popup allowing you to complete the payment. When it comes to the Bristow and Sutor phone number, they choose not to openly disclose this to all visitors. Before they can provide you with this you would have to enter in your specific case reference number that is a strange move on their part. There is no doubt that this agency has come along way since the late 70s and they continue to stand as one of the frontrunners in their field.

Rossendales was formed in the year 1972 and they started out offering nationwide bailiff and warrant services in these early days. This Enforcement department at www.rossendales.com has 140 clients, but there is a lot of volume here since this includes many popular local authorities. Then there is Rossendales Collect that was setup at www.rossendalescollect.com back in 2004. This is a separate division that was setup to compete with the leading DCAs on the consumer side, although they also promote commercial services here as well. They list having 300 clients on this side. There is a third department although this is merely a training division. They are owned by Marston (Holdings) Ltd.

When we picked out this agency they ranked in the mid 50s and this listing covered their experienced Enforcement team. When checking through their CSA member page there was just one profile and this was for Rossendales Collect Ltd. This covered an extensive range of services from Bailiff & Process Serving, Court Action and so on. It would be assumed that this membership extends to cover their entire operations. Their latest project covers finance, mail order, telecoms etc and as noted also some of the commercial services seen on the other side. This covers for instance Council Tax recovery, road traffic debts, unpaid child maintenance and Warrants of Arrest.

In regards to their ranking in the 50s, the only commercial agency that ranked above them was Equita that shows that they are one of the premier names in this sector and they are certainly very popular online. All payments are taken on www.rossendalescollect.com that is fully secured. Even if you are trying to pay Rossendales Collect you will be redirected here to pay them. The support team can be reached on the number of 0845 078 1194. It will be interesting to see if this prominent debt collection agency can become as successful in their mainstream collections, as they have been through their original commercial recovery service.

Equita has always stood clear as one of the premier names in commercial recovery. This popular agency headed in Northampton trades online through www.equita.co.uk that was setup in 1999. They use E PayCapita for payments, but we have referenced their main site today that will be detailed further below. This agency is owned by Capita Plc. Capita who have enjoyed significant growth over the years recently acquired IQor who are a moderately popular collection agency. Equita Ltd has a qualified bailiff team that collects Council Tax arrears, unpaid parking fines etc. The hold CSA membership and this covers all of the required services that they participate in.

The debt collectors discussed here are usually measured by their rankings factoring total market share. Equita floated around the 40th mark that is very impressive when you consider that commercial debts are being specifically targeted. Other big enforcement firms such as Bristow and Sutor and Newlyn Plc ranked in the 70s that shows how well this featured DCA has performed. One notable contract worth mentioning here has been Capita’s lengthy contract in place with Transport for London. It is this agency that has been handed the enforcement responsibilities of the congestion charge that as you can imagine generates big business and so they will be hoping to keep this going.

On the site now it is mentioned that they are stretching to offer High Court Enforcement services that is a further development moving forward. The industry feedback for them has always been highly supportive. Payments are securely taken through E PayCapita (www.e-paycapita.com), but to complete a payment you will have to visit a specific long URL on a subdomain. This is best reached by clicking through the button on www.equita.co.uk. The website design could do with an overhaul when you consider that this is one of the top enforcement agencies. Their support team can be contacted on 0844 5618807 if you wish to reach them.