• FICO Platform operationalizes predictive models and scores to deliver fairest customer experience and help borrowers manage debt repayments
• Between 20,000 and 40,000 decisions rules implemented per country, starting with Germany and UK
• Hoist makes 1 million customer decisions a day using FICO® Platform
• Phase two will deliver a further €8.5m (£7.4m) in annual staff savings as lending book grows 40 percent

Hoist Finance, the consumer debt purchaser working with banks and financial institutions across Europe, has accelerated its digital transformation using the FICO® Platform. By rolling out a centralized approach to managing decisions on customers, Hoist has improved the customer experience, streamlined operations and sped up the process of change. Hoist Finance is now making 1 million real-time decisions each day in the UK and Germany using FICO technology — including FICO® Blaze Advisor® decision rules management system, part of the FICO Platform — to establish the best actions for borrowers.

For its achievements, Hoist and FICO have won the Best Use of Technology category in the Credit Excellence Awards 2021.

Centralizing Decisions on a Single Platform

Hoist Finance manages 18 million accounts across 10 countries, and before working with FICO customer decisions were managed using 14 different systems. Hoist sought to unify decisioning technology across all regions, deploy new strategies faster, and improve results through testing and simulation. It also wanted to make better decisions by calling on multiple external data sources and using advanced predictive models and AI. 

“We have hit all of our key targets with FICO Blaze Advisor,” said Fabian Zwanzig, head of operations for Germany, Hoist Finance. “This solution has delivered game-changing results for the business, with a clear path now plotted for extensive, future benefits. We have exceeded the targets in our business case by 400 percent.” 

Hoist Finance is currently live with the FICO® Platform’s rules management system in Germany and the UK, with five more countries due to go online in the next few months. Each country involves some 20,000-40,000 rules that are automated in the FICO Platform. The solution automates customer engagement and negotiation processes, enabling Hoist to resolve 20 percent of cases automatically at the group level, and 33 percent of cases in the UK. The platform operationalizes predictive models and scores and provides multiple, simultaneous challenger strategies.

Results include:

• 30% increase in data-driven, digital payment plans
• 87% decrease in plan breakage rate
• 97% lower carbon footprint for each digital resolution, resulting in annual savings of 442 tons of carbon for every 10% increase in digital collections – the amount of carbon that 35.3 people in the UK generate in a year

Further Collections Success

In addition, Hoist Finance used FICO’s collections technology to standardize its approach across countries, with seven countries using it so far.  

“It is central to our business proposition that we deliver the best possible customer experience for our bank clients’ customers,” added Zwanzig. “We also wanted to improve profitability by standardizing our collections approach across the company. It was, therefore, essential to find a scalable system that works 24/7, 365 days a year. FICO’s technology put us in position to streamline operations and standardize our approach, whilst maintaining best-in-class standards for the borrower experience. We expect to deliver a further €8.5 million in operational efficiencies as our debtor book grows 40 percent in phase two.”

“FICO’s Decision Requirement Analysis Workshop (DRAW) process was key to structuring Hoist’s decision requirements to help achieve its goals,” added Steve Hadaway, vice president and general manager for FICO in EMEA. “Through this process, we turned their needs into a comprehensive set of structured decisions. And by standardizing on a single platform, Hoist has rolled out the technology to new countries in just three months. Their multi-country, platform approach is the future of collections.”

The FICO® Platform unleashes the power of analytics and AI to enable smarter business decisions at scale. Enterprises using the FICO Platform are more ready to offer superior customer experiences because they can get to know their customers deeply and offer services and value that delights the individuals. FICO was named a leader by Forrester Research in The Forrester Wave™: Digital Decisioning Platforms, Q4 2020.