LOS ANGELES — Westlake Financial Services cited the success of a recent test program with National Creditors Connection as the reason to expand a partnership with the field contact service provider.

Executives highlighted that NCCI's tool helped to improve contact and payment rates of delinquent accounts by 10 to 15 percent.

Westlake vice president of servicing Timo Saarela explained that the testing period began Jan. 1 and ran throughout the first quarter. Saarela indicated 50 test accounts were sent to NCCI each month to measure success rates for customer contact, vehicle location and payment rates.

Concurrently, the Westlake executive pointed out that 50 control accounts also were set up with similar delinquency rates and geographic location.

At the end of each month, the results of the two groups were compared. Westlake found that the test accounts with NCCI had significantly higher success rates than the control accounts.

"The results speak for themselves," Saarela stated.

"Our partnership with NCCI is especially valuable in the subprime field where customers may be more reluctant to return a phone call or answer a letter," he continued.

"In those cases, the face-to-face contact NCCI provides has proven to be more effective," Saarela added.

NCCI officials pointed out that they specialize in field contacts, offering an enhanced service when a specific request comes in. Basically, a personal visit can be made to a borrower's residence or place of employment to assist with re-establishing contact between the creditor and borrower.

"Technology is a strength that NCCI has compared to various other field contact companies," Saarela stressed.

"That makes them a perfect fit for Westlake since we are also technology-oriented. We look forward to our expanded partnership with NCCI in 2010," he went on to say.

Justin Meece, NCCI's director of sales, also expressed his enthusiasm for the broadened relationship with Westlake.

"NCCI is proud to form a partnership with Westlake. Their successful track record in the auto finance space makes them a valuable addition to our existing client base," Meece indicated.

"It has been a pleasure developing and implementing field call services into their current collection practices," he continued.

"We look forward to strategizing with Westlake in the coming months on how NCCI can continue to help them achieve their objectives in 2010 and beyond," Meece concluded.