From Collection Advisor Magazine – August 2008
PCI Group is a family-owned business established in 1970 in Hauppauge, N.Y. They are a premier source for outbound mail in the collection industry. They recently opened a new facility in Fort Mill, S.c., which will become the company’s headquarters in 2009.
The Service
PCI Group has taken for itself quite a task; they work with technologies intended to leverage “Old World institutions like the post office,”to redefine what direct mail can do for them and you, the collection industry. PCI wrote that deciding to outsource letter services is not a decision,to be taken lightly and one that should be thoughtfully planned and implemented.The company believes by applying technology you should be able to not only save money, but streamline operations and maximize mail delivery. However, as a customer, you still maintain full control over direct mail decisions for all functions of your mailing accounts.
This company believes in having frank discussions with their customers about their portfolios and how to best maximize collection efforts. Being a family owned company, PCI Group seems to take a more personalized approach in how they discuss the direct mail process.
As would be expected with one of the first letter service companies in the market, PCI is able to print single-sided, double-sided and multiple page letters. PCI can even provide a variety of colored paper stock and different envelopes are available to reduce visual identification by the consumer as a “collection letter,” which means your letter is more likely to be opened.
Once you have engaged the services of PCI Group, you will let your account manager know which service(s) you choose to utilize and then they will provide letter samples as well as a test file for each letter and any filters you wish to activate. PCI will run and provide POF letter samples for you to approve. Following approval, you will enter the files into the production stream. Once active, clients send and receive files via PCl’s Webtrak (a proprietary customer account portal) or FTP or SFTP (secure)sites. Letters may run under any kind of filter (called business rules) established with PCI and, attached to a letter, these may be updated as your business climate changes. To meet client or state specific needs, you need only to update PCI.
Additionally, by leveraging Intelligent Mail Barcode technology, PCI can all but eliminate your manual returned mail. PCI supplies its customers with an electronic copy of both the letter that has the erroneous address and a copy of the corrected mailing address, as provided by the USPS. For those pieces of mail that are rejected by the postal system as bounced mail, the USPS destroys the physical mail piece and sends PCI an electronic file of the destroyed letter, which it then forwards on to you so you can update your system, thus reducing 98 percent of your manual returned mail process.
Changes made to a letter are handled in a pretty straightforward manner. Contact PCI and tell them what changes need to be made and/or send a test file. A POF proof will be cr~ated and provided for review. Only after receipt of a faxed copy with your release signature will the changes enter production.
Support
Support is provided as part of their extensive customer service, a 24-hour operation means someone is always available to help you. For changes or more involved needs you will contact your dedicated account manager.
The Future
PCI Group sees growth in business due to the large amount of bad bank and mortgage debt coming to light. Anthony Faldetta feels that many mortgage lenders are going to sell off debt to recover some money quickly rather than pursue the archetype collections route.
