Emergent Business Group Launches Next-Generation Debt Collection Company to Service Record Levels of Consumer Debt

HORSHAM, Pa. –– Emergent Business Group, Inc. announced today the official launch of its business and the opening of its corporate headquarters in Horsham, PA. The headquarters will include a 150-person servicing center in addition to executive, compliance and administrative staff. In conjunction with the company launch, Emergent has secured up to $10 million of equity financing from Strandview Capital, a growth equity fund focused on the financial services industry.

Consumers in the U.S. are heavily reliant on credit to purchase goods and services. The purchase and collection of delinquent debt is a $14 billion industry and serves a vital role in the U.S. economy. If this debt is not recovered, consumers are negatively impacted through higher prices for goods and services, increased interest rates, and decreased availability of credit.

Over the past ten years since the mortgage crisis of 2008, a new consumer debt cycle has emerged, and household debt levels have once again risen to all-time highs. The combination of auto loans, credit card debt, student loans and new online lenders has resulted in household debt reaching a record level of over $12 trillion. Subprime auto loans have already experienced increased defaults, which are expected to rise further. In addition, after the mortgage crisis, the leading commercial banks in the U.S. dramatically reduced their practice of selling and outsourced servicing of delinquent credit card debt due to increased regulatory scrutiny. However, industry analysts expect these banks to begin selling and servicing delinquent credit card debt, eventually to previous levels.

To address these major market trends, Emergent Business Group has combined state-of-the-art technology and industry-leading compliance standards to become the ideal Accounts Receivable Management (ARM) and servicing partner for first and third-party servicing and purchase of non-performing debt portfolios in the auto (subprime and prime), traditional loans, credit card and online lending sectors. The Emergent platform is designed to provide clients an end-to-end fulfillment solution regardless of the product line or contracted ARM service.

“We operate with the highest ethical behavior to create integrated and compliant business practices and standards” says President and CEO Bruce White. By optimizing our internal performance through state-of-the-art and highly compliant business process management and workflow tools, we are building a best-in-class organization and industry leader.”

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) was established in 2010 as a result of the mortgage crisis and has aggressively established itself as a major force with creditors, collections agencies and debt buyers. The Emergent team has leveraged its extensive compliance experience to incorporate the most current critical path compliance practices into operational standards to ensure a highly compliant and leading-edge partner for Emergent customers. Emergent is also certified as a minority and women owned business.

The Emergent culture cultivates customer-centric practices to engage with each consumer to create goodwill, trust and accountability, and foster a team approach in every servicing situation. “A core objective of Emergent established in the early developmental processes of the organization is to be a valued and compliant servicing partner, and to protect our client’s brand while delivering significant operating efficiencies. By combining this objective with our customer-centric mindset and approach, we will achieve superior standards of operation.”

Emergent was formed by Bruce White and a veteran executive team with over 100 years of combined experience in all aspects of the credit, collection and servicing industries. White and his team have extensive experience in operational risk and regulatory management, recovery, valuation analytics, customer service, and managing multi-state strategic operations. Previously, White held executive positions with Household Finance, Wells Fargo, and Fireside Bank.

“We are excited to partner with Emergent to build a world class servicing company,” says Mike Sekits, Managing director at Strandview Capital. The Strandview team has extensive experience investing in the debt collections industry and building large, profitable specialty servicing businesses. Prior to the 2008 mortgage crisis, Sekits and his former partners predicted and prepared for the wave of distressed mortgage debt by investing in three mortgage collections companies. “We see major financial market corrections every ten years or so. With the current record levels of consumer debt, we are anticipating a consumer credit crisis in the next market correction. Also, due to increased regulation after the mortgage crisis, there has been a lack of investment and innovation in the collections industry over the past seven years. The market is ripe for a state-of-the-art, highly compliant new entrant such as Emergent.”

Sequence Financial Specialists acted as Advisor and Placement Agent for Emergent Business Group in the financing transaction.