Despite your best efforts to avoid risk, you may have customers who become delinquent in paying you. Business Collections Suite^SM is a group of tools that have been proven to improve collection activities. The tools allow you to:

• Research debtors, including payment behavior and alternate contact information
• Leverage Experian-branded letters to improve your chances of collection
• Set up collection letter campaigns, mail letters, and measure results

Use of Business Collections Suite requires the following items. Your Experian sales representative will help you through the setup process. Please contact him or her directly or call 1 800 520 1221.

• If you are using Business Collections Suite letter campaigns, you must contribute your portfolio of accounts to Experian’s trade data file. (Typical contribution is monthly.)
• If you are using Business Collections Suite to research accounts only, data contribution is not required.

What is Business Collections Suite?

Business Collections Suite is Experian’s commercial collections tool that provides one-stop access to many of the functions required by collections departments.  By providing access to Experian’s rich business database, Business Collections Suite allows you to query your accounts to find alternate contact information on debtors and identify your customers’ ability to pay.

Do I have to contribute my data to use Business Collections Suite?

Sending collections letters requires data contribution. The contributed accounts are put into a database for your use and to help generate results reports.

However, if you are interested in researching debtors only, this portion of the system does not require data contribution.

How do I research customers?

The research portion of Business Collections Suite lets you search for accounts by Business Identification Number (BIN) or a combination of business name, city, state and ZIP Code^TM. The reports you receive display alternate addresses and contact telephone numbers as well a 90-day cross-trade payment summary, which plots how the business is paying creditors.

How do the letter campaigns work?

The letter campaigns leverage Experian’s Delinquency Notification Service^SM to promote payment by debtors. Within Business Collections Suite, you can set up campaigns, query your portfolio to identify accounts for mailing and execute a campaign where letters are sent within 48 hours.

The letters are Experian-branded, but the contact and payment information is yours. Users have found that leveraging the Experian brand brings stronger collection results.

Why are some letter types not available for some of my accounts?

Our system matches the legal entity designation to the available letter types. The following table summarizes what letter types are available based on legal entity:

Letter type:

• Letter A: “Friendly” letter. Minimal severe language. Best for accounts that are 1 to 60 days beyond terms (DBT).
• Letter B: “Severely worded” letter. Severe language. Best for accounts that are 60 or more DBT.
• Letter C: “Just the facts” letter. Contains no severe language. Best for sole proprietorships and unknown corporate status.

Available letter by legal entity:

Does the system tell me how successful my collections letter campaigns were in generating revenue?

Yes. However, your internal systems are the best guide for measuring success. Our system uses an algorithm based on the data you report to us from month to month, but since your company receives the checks, you should cross-reference what is in Business Collections Suite with your internal system. As part of the service, you also will receive National Change of Address (NCOA^®) feedback to let you know if the letters are reaching their intended destination

1. From the Business Collections Suite homepage, enter either a BIN or a business name, city, state and ZIP Code^TM.
2. Click on the Search button.
   
   
3. Review report details. You may sometimes see a list of businesses that closely match your inquiry. If this is the case, select the business you are looking for.
   
   

1. From the Business Collections Suite homepage, click on the Campaign Management tab.
   
   
2. From the Campaign Summary screen, click on the New Campaign button. You also can modify an existing campaign by clicking on any of the Update buttons next to each campaign.
   
   
3. Enter a campaign description and your query criteria. In this case “>” and “100” were entered into the 1-30 DBT bucket. Also, enter an acceptable range (from 1 to however many records you want the application to return). Click on the Select button to continue.
   
   
4. When the message box appears, click on OK to confirm the new request.
   
   
5. Identify accounts for mailing by clicking the check box in the Mail To column.
   
   
6. For applicable accounts, select a letter type from the drop-down menu.
   
   
7. (Optional)To select alternate addresses or to confirm which address will be used, select the Address Selection button at the bottom of the screen.
   
   
8. (Optional) If you wish to mail to multiple addresses for a single account, select each address by clicking the Mail To check box.
   
   
9. (Optional) Confirm your selections by selecting the Save button at the bottom of the screen.
   
   
10. Next, click on the Submit button at the bottom of the Delinquency Notification Service page to finalize the letters that will be sent.
    
    
11. Click on OK to mail the letters. Letters will begin mailing within two business days.
    
    

1. From the Business Collections Suite homepage, click on the Campaign Management tab.
   
   
2. From the Campaign Summary screen, click on the New Campaign button.
   
   
3. Toward the bottom of the screen, identify the file you want to upload by clicking on the Browse button. Note: Experian^® expects this file in a specific format. Please contact your Experian representative to request the file format.
   
   
   
   
4. Once the file is located, enter a campaign description at the top of the page and your email address at the bottom of the page; then click on the Upload button.
   
   
5. You will be returned to the Account Summary screen. The campaign you created for this file upload (in this case, campaign code WJ8) should have a status of “Uploading.” Once this process is complete, you will be notified that the file was successfully updated
   
   

Experian is a nonexclusive full-service provider licensee of the United States Postal Service^®. The following trademark is owned by the United States Postal Service^®: ZIP Code. The price for Experian’s services is not established, controlled or approved by the United States Postal Service.