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Debt Counsellor Workshop

ABSA’s Distressed Consumer Solutions department hosted a online workshop with Debt Counsellors.

160 Debt Counsellors Attend

In an effort to engage directly with Debt Counsellors and improve communication and relationships, ABSA are trying to regularly meet with as many Debt Counsellors as they can, as often as they can.

ABSA are holding virtual workshops over Teams every 3 months. The recent workshop held in March 2024 was attended by over 160 Debt Counsellor guests as well as many key members of the ABSA team.

The Workshops are a great opportunity for Debt Counsellors to get to meet team members and be introduced to new members of the ABSA team. Over time most departments will experience some changes and these workshops help share info in regard to these changes and escalation processes that may then change given those staff changes.

Correct escalation processes can help speed responses so this is an important part of the workshops.

Presentations and Questions & Answers

The workshop featured a wide range of presentations from various teams within ABSA’s debt review teams and certain issues, concerns and improvements that apply.

ABSA have made some huge strides in regard to automation and Jaco VD Merwe was able to share some insights into these improvements. They are rolling out access to the data portal in the next few weeks. The system allows for Debt Counsellor admin staff to gain limited access as well.

He also highlighted integrations with various PDAs.

A nice feature of the workshops is the availability of senior staff to answer questions and enquiries right away.

Debt Counsellor guests were not shy to throw some hard questions, suggestions or even concerns at the ABSA team and were happy to see how willing ABSA are to engage on these issues. Topic ranged from 17.3s to terminations to system limitation (on both the DC and CP side) and communication challenges.

All in all, the meeting was very well attended and helped address many ongoing industry issues and challenges.