“We use STA International to collect overdue student debt, and this involves UK and overseas collections. Because of...
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Student Debt Collection
We have been helping universities collect unpaid tuition, accommodation, library, commercial and research debts for more than 10 years. We currently collect all these types of debts for more than 70 university clients across the whole of the UK, representing over 50% of all universities registered with Universities UK. Last year we collected nearly £9M for our university clients. We currently have c15,000 ‘open’ student debts worth over £29M which we are pursuing. Our expertise, experience and attainments are as follows:
| - LUPC Framework Supplier: In February 2013, STA achieved Framework Supplier status with the London Universities Purchasing Consortium providing service to its members, and those of other Purchasing Consortia in the UK. Members have access to accredited collection partners, overcoming the need for expensive and time consuming Tender processes. |  |
- Collection Methodology: we have a dedicated student debt recovery department working between 9am and 9pm Monday to Friday. Our proven collection process of escalating written and verbal communication is aimed at collecting the debts amicably from our efforts in the UK supported by legal action in the UK and overseas offices across the globe if required
- Collection Success: we have proven collection success demonstrated by having collected c£31M (45%) from a placement of £70M from 52,000 closed student debts at UK addresses and c£9M (35%) from a placement of £26M from 11,000 closed student debts at international addresses. Of the c£9M international debt collected, 72% was collected by us from Maidstone. As well as speeding up recovery times for our clients, this also saves them the additional cost of overseas offices and agents.
- Reporting: all of our reporting and collection activity is available for scrutiny online via a password protected area of our web site – Your Debts Online
- Pricing Methodology: we operate a competitive ‘no collection, no commission’ pricing structure ensuring that you only pay if we collect. For debts below £5,000, legal issuing will be via the County Court Bulk Centre (CCBC), reducing the normal County Court fees by £15-35
- In-house Tracing: many students are ‘unintentional skips’ who have simply left their term time addresses after finishing their studies. Others are ‘intentional skips’ and continue to move in order to avoid their creditors attention. Our dedicated in-house skip-tracing team has the compliant tracing systems – databases and intuitive search tools – coupled with the manual dexterity, to locate them
Our collections success is achieved without ever applying unreasonable pressure on the student debtor and our collectors will never be aggressive in their approach. Collectors will treat hardship and special needs cases with the utmost care. Income and expenditure forms are used to establish the student's ability to pay and the collector will establish an instalment plan in line with this whilst regularly reviewing their financial situation.
In addition to these collection efforts, we also facilitate University Discussion Forums across the UK where our clients meet to network, discuss best practice, and receive advice from support specialists including UKCISA, Travelex, High Court Enforcement Officers Association, Student Loans Company and the Institute of Credit Management.
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China tops 2012 H&FE collections table!
In 2012 our student collection success reached record levels, reflecting our growing influence in the H&FE market, where our placement value reached over £25M. Below, you can see the share of collection by continent, and three league tables of the Top 10 countries that we collected from for our H&FE clients.
