Recovering from COVID with Marc Billard

11/12/20 • 17 min

Overdue Advice: Cash Flow & Debt Collection Strategies to Grow Your Business

There’s no need to guess why it’s been months since we recorded a podcast. When the pandemic lockdown happened in March, everyone was scrambling. Well, almost everyone. Businesses without interruption, continuity, or disaster plans, scrambled to make them up as they went along, as if things aren’t hard enough. The fact that people’s incomes were locked down too, complicated matters more.

This podcast talks about ways to keep cash, credit, and debt in circulation so your business can prosper. What happens when the circulation is slowed or stopped...for everyone?

Marc Billard, MetCredit’s Vice-President of Contact Strategies and Performance, says it was a massive undertaking to keep working while changing how the company served its clients. Months later, Marc Billard says while strategies and client priorities have shifted, business is pretty much back to normal.

In this episode we’re reviewing the start of the pandemic to explore how it affected MetCredit and its clients. And we round out the conversation talking about the present, and how he thinks the future might unfold.

This podcast talks about ways to keep cash, credit, and debt in circulation so your business can prosper. What happens when the circulation is slowed or stopped...for everyone?

Previous Episode

Solutions for Unsolvable Debt with Jayde Samarzija, Quinn Yule, & Zak Abdi

If your customers are consumers, this episode is going to be of special interest. We’re going to pull back the curtain and have a frank discussion with debt collection specialists about how they try to resolve people’s debt problems.

Most consumer debts aren’t big - a reminder or call from a third-party collection agency like MetCredit is enough of a wake-up call to get paid. For a minority of people, debt is a big problem. And by big problem, I mean a house-sized problem.

“House poor” is more than just a label - when it happens, it’s a real crisis. This may sound like a nightmare, but it’s a reality for more people than you’d think: You own a house, you have a mortgage, but you spend more than you make every month, credit cards are maxed, banks won’t lend you money, and the bills just keep on coming.

Bankruptcy isn’t a great solution because everyone loses. The creditor may only get a portion of what they’re owed, and the person in debt gets a ruined credit rating that guarantees higher interest rates in the future.

This episode is about how MetCredit’s collectors work with mortgage brokers to recover the maximum amount of your debt and allow them to keep most of their assets and recover their credit rating. MetCredit’s strategy is to turn people in debt back into paying customers.

Quinn Yule is a collections manager at MetCredit, and Zak Abdi is a collections advisor. When debt situations get serious or complex, they’ll refer the file to Jayde Samarzija - a mortgage broker with Canadian Financial Solutions.

Quinn, Zak, and Jayde talk about the current state of consumer debt, how they deal with it, the situations they see, and the kinds of creative solutions and resolution for people who would otherwise have to declare bankruptcy.

Next Episode

Accessing Credit Solutions In A Pandemic, with Jayde Samarzija.

Individuals, businesses, industries, and governments have struggled to cope with the pandemic. Understanding what’s happening, why, what the risks and dangers are, and what to do about it affects everyone. It’s glib to say, “things are mess,” or “they’re going to be different.” Of course they’re a mess and they’re going to be different, but how? Our guest this episode is going to try to help us wade through debt and credit in the COVID era.

If your income in curtailed, even a little, it can be real real trouble, especially if you can’t get a loan from a bank. Rare collection agencies like MetCredit are sensitive to the human equation. MetCredit connects debtors with 3rd party lenders who work to secure lending so the debt can be managed affordably for a year, with the goal of stabilizing a bad situation to become eligible for cheaper lending at banks and primary lender. That was before the pandemic. Are things the same, better, or worse?

Today we’re talking with Jayde Samarzija about access to capital, and how his company JMS Mortgages, is dealing with the pandemic, and what trends he’s seeing looking into the future.