What is the opportunity

Front line staff are a vital touch point for identifying, recording and responding to customers who are in arrears or facing financial difficulty.

The role will involve communicating with customer to understand their financial circumstances and make appropriate decisions that support our customers and limit losses to the Bank. This will be achieved by fully understanding the individual needs of customers and where necessary using negotiating and influencing skills to agree a sustainable strategy.

Appropriate signposting of customers to agencies that can provide further support (eg. External agencies and debt advice organisations) when customers are in financial difficulty, experiencing vulnerability or require further help to make decisions regarding their mortgage or financial affairs is also key.

Where support has been agreed the role holder will monitor ongoing arrangements to ensure they accurately reflect customer's current financial circumstances and assist customers with debt management tools where appropriate.

In this role you will:

• Contacting customers to understand their financial circumstances and make appropriate decisions that support our customers and limit losses to the Bank.
• Handling own caseloads and those of others and ensuring actions are in line with the required regulatory framework, policies and procedures.
• Using negotiating and influencing skills to agree a sustainable strategy or make recommendations to a higher mandate holder where required.
• Chairing and leading calls between key stakeholders to discuss individual cases and agree appropriate forbearance to address the immediate customer needs. This may be with the leadership team, complaints, special circumstance forum or others.
• Be a subject matter authority for more complex cases including (but not limited to) Legal Referrals, Repossessions, Voluntary Termination, Voluntary Surrender, Crushwatch, Insurance write offs, Breach of contract.
• Responsible for "on the job" training within the team and wider C&R function
• A point of escalation within the team.
• Signposting customers to agencies that can provide further support (eg. external agencies and debt advice organisations) when customers are in financial difficulty, experiencing vulnerability or require further help to make decisions regarding their mortgage or financial affairs.
• Monitoring ongoing arrangements to ensure they accurately reflect customer's current financial circumstances and assist customers with debt management tools where appropriate.
• Understanding and acting within the conduct framework ensuring that all customers are treated fairly.
• Identifying customer vulnerabilities and ensuring that these are dealt with sensitively.
• Updating system records to ensure that all activity is recorded accurately.
• Handling mailbox enquiries from internal and external customers.
• Liaising with 3rd parties suppliers and parties including site visits, if required.
• Takes ownership of issues that are observed and follow up to close gaps.

What will make you stand out?

Experience within a hire purchase/car finance Financial Services Industry.

Confirmed experience in a lending or debt recovery management function.

Able to demonstrate attention to detail and focus on delivering quality outcomes for customers.

Essential Qualifications

There are no minimum educational requirements for this role.

More about the team

The Northridge collections and recoveries department is responsible for managing all UK customers who are experiencing financial or repayment difficulties. This may be because of a change in their circumstances leading to arrears on the account or due to a breach of contract, such as non-payment of a matured loan. We deliver responsible debt management throughout the customer lifecycle, balancing commercial risk with the delivery of fair & sustainable customer outcomes.

We attempt to proactively engage with our customers to help us to gain a full understanding of their financial situation, and we will take into account their individual circumstances while working with them to tailor a strategy that suits their needs. We utilise a range of hardship tools and forbearance options which can help customers through difficult periods or provide solutions which enable repayment of loans past maturity.

We deal sympathetically and positively with any cases where a customer is in financial difficulty, and we are informed that they have potential vulnerability. Their vulnerability may affect their ability to deal with financial matters or mean that they will experience difficulty in being contacted by our usual communications channels. We will work with the customer to minimise the risk of detriment whilst working towards an outcome which is appropriate to the customers individual needs and circumstances.

Having to adhere to strict Regulatory requirements laid down by the Financial Conduct Authority means that we have to strike a balance between helping the customer where there is a chance of recovery, and identifying an exit strategy when the loan is unsustainable in the long term.

Why work with us

The Bank of Ireland company culture prioritises work-life balance with an opportunity for flexible working, along with 26 days annual leave and excellent pension contributions. Family can mean different things to different people; we offer 6 months paid maternity leave, an innovative fertility and surrogacy policy and working parent supports.

Your wellbeing is important to us; we have an employee assistance program, WebDoctor and financial wellbeing coaches available. We also encourage and support staff to pursue educational and professional qualifications to grow and enhance your career!