Rifco boosts cure rates with Symend’s customer-centric debt recovery approach

Rifco, a rapidly scaling subprime and near-prime auto finance provider, sought to increase brand recognition and engagement to increase cure rates—all while reducing manual workloads. By implementing Symend Cure, they amplified brand recognition and significantly increased response, self-cure, and recovery rates.

The need to manage a rapid rise in delinquent accounts with scalable, aligned messaging across channels

Delinquent accounts for Rifco’s repair loan portfolio quadrupled within a year, stretching its existing collections processes to the limit. The sudden surge in accounts overwhelmed the collections team’s CRM systems. Additionally, the team was using a general-purpose AI tool to manually develop outreach campaigns, resulting in messaging that was inconsistent and often ineffective or counterproductive for their specific needs.

Adding to the challenge, the loans were originated by third-party entities before Rifco took over the servicing. Because of this, customers often failed to recognize Rifco’s brand. This made them more prone to ignoring communications as potential spam— and less likely to engage. “People really had no idea who we were,” said Tammy Shanks, Manager of Collections and Customer Service at Rifco. “They thought our messages were spam, so they didn’t respond to them.”

To address these issues, Shanks’s team needed a strategic partner whose method aligned with Rifco’s innovative, customer-centric approach—focusing on nonjudgmental messaging rather than punitive measures. They’d already adopted a “what’s in it for me” (WIIFM) tone for inbound and outbound calls, in which they prioritized solutions over consequences. However, this approach wasn’t yet reflected in their written communications.

Symend’s approach complemented Rifco’s perspective

After learning about Symend from a publication listing top Canadian financial service startups, the Rifco team became interested in our similarly nonjudgmental approach and AI debt recovery solution. They decided to partner with Symend due to our use  of applied behavioral science, emphasis on personalized messaging, and ability to scale cost-effectively as the number of delinquent repair loan accounts increased. “One of the great things about Rifco is that we’re always looking to be innovative,  start something new, and try new things,” said Shanks. “And Symend’s approach closely matched the way we already looked at our customers.”

The partnership

Thanks to the partnership, Rifco gained access to Symend Cure, our AI-driven technology that leverages behavioral science to refine customer segmentation  and implement consistent communication strategies. This approach aligned with Rifco’s “what’s in it for me” (WIIFM) messaging while reducing the overwhelming manual workload.

To begin with, Shanks used Symend’s predictive scoring and delinquency archetypes to fine-tune Rifco’s customer segmentation strategy. She was able to verify that approximately 80% of the customers were classified correctly and identify additional opportunities to optimize the classification for the remaining 20%.

Next, Symend deployed a messaging playbook that was tailored to each customer’s behavior and repayment capacity. Unlike Rifco’s previous written communications, the messaging from Symend didn’t focus on penalties. “Symend keeps it about the facts,” said Shanks. “There are no opinions, no judgments, no emotions. Yet you hear emotion coming through the words they choose for the correspondence. On top of that, Symend found those behavioral tactics that weren’t like shaking your finger— but that triggered something in the customer’s brain that said, ‘I’ve got to do something, I’ve got to act on this.’”

Lastly, Shanks reduced the number of outbound calls to complement Symend’s lower-pressure approach. Before that, her team had been calling every delinquent customer every day; now they adjusted their strategy to call each customer segment only once a week.

Despite an 80% reduction in outbound calls, response rates to the outreach campaign remained high. As a result, Shanks was able to allocate resources more effectively while maintaining high engagement levels.

“Symend actually helped us see our collections strategy a little bit differently. We don’t necessarily have to do the same thing at the same frequency on every account every day. AI couldn’t have shown us that,” explained Shanks.

Enhanced customer engagement and increased self-cure rates

Symend’s consistent, behavioral science-driven messaging campaigns enhanced brand recognition for Rifco and drove a surge of customer action to resolve past-due balances.

In response to Symend’s outreach, 26.6% of recipients self-cured by using the email links to make payments. Another 34%, wary of clicking on links, reached out directly by phone or email. Of this group, 30% made a payment or requested instructions for online payment, reducing the need for manual follow-ups and intervention.

“As a third-party loan servicer, we often encounter skeptical customers,” explained Shanks. “Symend helped us build trust with our customers and encouraged them to reach out, which gave us the chance to address any spam concerns and accept payments over the phone. We also found that these customers were more likely to self-cure for subsequent delinquencies.”

The remaining 70% of those who reached out made payment arrangements or disputed the debt. Because these customers initiated contact, Shanks’s team had the opportunity to showcase the Rifco brand and build stronger relationships.

Following this surge, Symend fine-tuned the messaging and expanded the various self-service repayment options. Consequently, the demand on Shanks’s team diminished and the increase in customer engagement proved sustainable.

Last, but certainly not least, Shanks noticed a boost in positive Google reviews, with customers reporting more positive interactions with Rifco’s Collection and Customer Service department. “Nobody’s going to brag about a collection call,” said Shanks. “But for them to say, ‘I’ve got a loan with Rifco and the way they serviced me was very good,’ I’m happy with that.”

Future outlook

Given the success of the partnership on the repair loan portfolio, Rifco is planning to extend its collaboration with Symend to other loan portfolios. This expansion aligns with Rifco’s ongoing commitment to a forward-thinking, customer-centric collections strategy.

Shanks highly recommends Symend to other auto financing companies, emphasizing that the behavioral science-driven strategy should be adopted industry wide. “If we don’t want our customers yelling, swearing, or screaming at us, we can’t do it to them,” she said. “And shaking our finger at them is like non-verbally doing the same. I’ve seen customer responses to how we used to do things, and I see better results with a more strategic, customer-centric approach. I honestly believe all companies need to make this shift.