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Our Ref: |
B1/1C and B9/67C |
13 February 2004
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The Chief Executive |
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All Authorized Institutions |
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Dear Sir / Madam,
Complaints against Debt Collection Agents employed by Authorized Institutions
I write to inform you of the main results of the industry survey on complaints against debt collection agents (DCAs) for the fourth quarter of 2003. Please see Annex for details. The latest survey results show further improvements in the number and incidence of complaints.
During the reporting period, 161 of the 211 surveyed authorized institutions (AIs) did not employ any DCAs. For the 50 AIs using the services of DCAs, they had altogether assigned 190,527 accounts to 33 DCAs.
26 of these 50 AIs received a total of 139 complaints against 18 DCAs (compared with 166 complaints received by 25 AIs against 22 DCAs in the previous quarter). On average, the incidence of complaints per 1,000 accounts assigned decreased to 0.73 from 0.84. 13 complaints were lodged by unrelated third parties, versus 16 in the third quarter. 24 AIs using the services of DCAs did not receive any complaints.No instance of breach of the Code of Banking Practice was reported, as compared with 1 case in the previous quarter. Nevertheless, there was 1 case which resulted in the issuance of a warning letter. In this case, a debtor made a repayment but forgot to put his name on the pay-in slip sent to the DCA. Without taking proper steps to verify the identity of the debtor, the DCA erroneously took the payment as that of another debtor. The AI concerned has instructed the DCA to establish proper procedures to prevent recurrence of similar incidents.
The continued reduction in the number of DCA complaints is encouraging. However, it is important for AIs to remain vigilant in monitoring the performance of their DCAs. We hope you will find the information useful.
Yours faithfully,
Raymond Li
Executive Director (Banking Development)
Survey on DCA complaints received by AIs – Q4/2003
Table 1: AIs using DCA service
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|
Q4/2003 |
Q3/2003 |
Q2/2003 |
Q1/2003 |
Q4/2002 |
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AIs receiving DCA complaints |
26 |
25 |
28 |
29 |
25 |
|
AIs receiving no DCA complaints |
24 |
23 |
24 |
25 |
29 |
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Total |
50 |
48 |
52 |
54 |
54 |
Table 2: Number of DCAs employed by AIs
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|
Q4/2003 |
Q3/2003 |
Q2/2003 |
Q1/2003 |
Q4/2002 |
|
1 – 5 |
23 |
22 |
27 |
28 |
28 |
|
6 – 10 |
21 |
20 |
18 |
22 |
21 |
|
11 – 15 |
6 |
6 |
7 |
4 |
5 |
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Total |
50 |
48 |
52 |
54 |
54 |
Table 3: Incidence of DCA complaints
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|
Q4/2003 |
Q3/2003 |
Q2/2003 |
Q1/2003 |
Q4/2002 |
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DCA complaints received (A) |
139 |
166 |
181 |
231 |
260 |
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Accounts assigned (B) |
190,527 |
197,281 |
184,772 |
178,917 |
193,546 |
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Incidence of complaints per 1,000 accounts (C = A/B x 1,000) |
0.73 |
0.84 |
0.98 |
1.29 |
1.34 |
Table 4: Status of complainants
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|
Q4/2003 |
Q3/2003 |
Q2/2003 |
Q1/2003 |
Q4/2002 |
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Debtor |
92 |
114 |
123 |
166 |
186 |
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Family members/friends |
34 |
36 |
43 |
48 |
57 |
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Referees |
- |
- |
2 |
3 |
1 |
|
Innocent third parties |
13 |
16 |
13 |
14 |
16 |
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Total |
139 |
166 |
181 |
231 |
260 |
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c.c. |
Chairman, HKAB |
