CCICM Wins Best International Agency Award

CCICM, the world’s leading debt recovery agency, is voted the UK’s best international collection company, following expert panel analysis by industry leaders and a poll among up to 180,000 finance magazine readers worldwide.

CCICM is a small/medium-size and family-owned agency – but it recovers debts of hundreds of millions annually for its UK and global clients. These include multi-nationals, lenders, governments and their departments, major health, social care and Higher Education bodies, public utilities, and many SMB/Es.

International Credit Exchange

A CCICM director, Mr Carl Hackman, says its clients also benefit from the company being the founder, owner, operator, and exclusive UK member of the International Credit Exchange (ICE) – the world’s leading, largest, and most regulatory-compliant network of collection agencies in 130 countries.

Mr Hackman says of their IFA from publisher Acquisition International: “CCICM is naturally delighted to win this prestigious award, especially as chosen by our finance industry peers! Our clients and their customers expect and deserve the best debt recovery solution. Constantly striving to improve and to deliver on their expectations is central to our success.

“We would like to thank all who voted for us. We work incredibly hard to drive standards forwards and, while we and our clients know that, it’s fantastic that our peers also appreciate it. We have won several other industry awards in recent years and all are testament to our overall philosophy, culture, and practice!”

Innovation, Customer Care, & Growth

Since 2010, Acquisition International Magazine’s annual awards have highlighted firms ceaselessly dedicated to innovation, customer care, and the continued growth and improvement of their business, that forge ahead of their competitors and increase performance and results within their industry.

Every award winner – whether an individual, small business or multi-national corporation – is rigorously nominated, judged, and selected from a shortlist by a highly-experienced panel of international, multi-lingual judges with backgrounds in business, media, history, and European languages.

CCICM and its ICE Member network specialise in managing high-value, international, commercial accounts – litigating where necessary – as well as recovering consumer domestic debts, both in the UK and overseas.

Senior In-House Legal Counsel

Earlier this year, CCICM appointed its first senior in-house legal counsel to manage such corporate cases, especially business insolvency, re-structure, and turnaround.

CCICM’s network of ICE Members and Overseas Agent partners includes 3,000 credit management, debt collection, litigation, and tracing specialists – all carefully selected to be compliant with its data security and performance-quality systems, and processing accounts 24/7 through a central online portal.

Mr Hackman says: “While we now specialise in complex, cross-border, and high-value cases, we remain the undisputed market leader in health and social care collections, with 80% of UK NHS trusts, health boards, and private hospitals as our clients. In the Higher Education sector, we act for many universities and colleges, recovering loans, tuition fees, and accommodation debts from UK and overseas students.”

Investment In Staff

He adds that a few other aspects of CCICM’s business – namely client service, value-for-money, regulatory compliance, and investment in staff – have helped it stay ahead since the firm was founded 35 years ago.

“We offer a bespoke service tailored to clients’ individual needs. Our flexible approach, coupled with specialist teams of expert collectors, negotiators and litigators, ensures clients enjoy the highest possible recovery ratios.

“We always offer them the best value-for-money solution, based on our ‘no-win no-fee’ pricing model around the world, as well as our highly-competitive rates with no set-up fees or hidden costs.

“Clients’ data and reputation are also safe with us because we never compromise on quality. Our data and management systems meet the highest, best-practice, compliance standards and we deliver these worldwide,” says Mr Hackman.

Employs 60 Local People

He says this approach means CCICM has enjoyed double-digit growth for the past five years, with over 16% achieved for the last year, and that the company now employs around 60 local staff with Investors In People accreditation.

“Given our relatively remote location in stunning Snowdonia – where many sectors can struggle to recruit excellent staff – we do surprisingly well! We attract enough talent to key roles and then impart our knowledge and experience to existing staff through on-the-job and external training,” explains Mr Hackman.

Other industry awards won by CCICM in recent years include: Credit Services Association Collector Accreditation Initiative award (2016) for continuous commitment to best-practice in staff training and quality; Investors In People Gold for leadership, culture of improvement, and motivated staff (2016); and the Institute for Welsh Affairs/Western Mail award for ‘Best use of Foreign Languages in Business’ (2013).