NCO Group
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
NCO Group, Inc. (formerly National Collection Office, Inc.), based in Horsham, PA[1], is a collection agency that manages customer service, outsourcing and accounts receivable for its clients. Its subsidiary, NCO Portfolio Management, handles delinquent accounts from credit card companies. NCO also purchases delinquent debt from a variety of companies, such as credit card companies, hospitals and other industries, that it then attempts to collect. NCO Group is currently the world's largest collection agency [2], owing to its recent acquisition of large U.S. competitor, Outsourcing Solutions, Inc. (OSI) [3]
NCO Group was publicly traded on the NASDAQ stock exchange under the ticker symbol NCOG from 1996 until November 2006, when the company’s management team and private equity bought the company and took it private.[4] The company’s Portfolio Management unit was separately traded under the ticker symbol NCPM until it merged with the parent company in March 2004.[5] NCO still files with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission because it issues public corporate bonds and debt.
NCO Group has over 30,500 employees in 140 locations in 9 different countries.[6] In 2007, the company reported revenues of $1.2 billion, although the figure is expected to be significantly higher in 2008 due to the OSI acquisition.
[edit] FTC ruling
In May of 2004, NCO Group division NCO Financial Services, the collections division of the company, was forced to pay $1.5 million in penalties to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for violations of the U.S. Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).[7] The FTC stipulated that NCO used later-than-actual delinquency dates of potential debtors, which allowed the alleged delinquency to be noted on that individual's credit report. The fine was the largest in U.S. history for a collection agency. According to the FTC, the division violated terms of the FCRA related to reporting the date of last delinquency, making it subject to fines of $2,500 per offense. [8]
[edit] References
- ^ NCO Group > Contact > Feedback / Info
- ^ BW Online | March 19, 2001 | NCO Group Is All Set to Collect
- ^ insideARM.com | March 3, 2008 | NCO Group Completes Acquisition of OSI
- ^ insideARM.com | Nov. 16, 2006 | NCO Announces Completion of Merger; Company Now Private
- ^ The Daily Record | Dec. 16, 2003 | NCO Portfolio Management to be bought out
- ^ NCO Group > About NCO > NCO Fact Sheet
- ^ NCO Group > News > Recent News
- ^ NCO Group to Pay Largest FCRA Civil Penalty to Date
