Federation of European National Collection Associations

FENCA Declaration on COVID-19

Berlin, 22 April 2020

On behalf of the European credit servicing and credit purchasing industry, FENCA would like to express its support to the European institutions, businesses and citizens in dealing with the current COVID-19 pandemic.

Not only the health and wellbeing of all of us, including the people we hold dearest, are threatened, but also our social lives have come to a halt.

Beyond that, we see and feel the negative economic effects on the financial markets, on businesses large and small in all sectors, on self-employed people and freelancers, and on private citizens all over the EU.

For all FENCA Members and their member companies the basis and guiding principle for any debt collection activities has always been the fair treatment of persons who find themselves to be in arrears or are over-indebted. Persons who are in debt are often vulnerable, and for FENCA members it has always been the aim to find the best possible solutions for individual cases – where possible, even in collaboration with debt advice services.

These guiding principles are coming into even sharper focus for us in the current crisis.

In many EU member states governments have put in place emergency legislation to help and protect companies and private citizens by, among other things, providing financial aid or bridging loans, as well as by setting up moratoria on payment obligations, amending insolvency procedures, and other provisions.

FENCA fully supports these efforts and holds them to be right and necessary to protect the countless people in need because of the effect of the COVID-19 crisis.

At the same time, we would also like to emphasise that these measures – as important they are right now – are in place only temporarily and only for as long as this crisis lasts. They should not be used to prevent the collection of rightful claims permanently.

After all, the success and speed of the economic recovery for enterprises, SMEs, self-employed people and the economy at large will not least depend on the possibility for creditors to responsibly reclaim monies they are owed.

FENCA and its members will reach out to stakeholders and do everything to contribute to the restart the economy and to help pave the way to return to normality for the well-being of European companies and citizens.

About FENCA

FENCA, the Federation of European National Collection Associations, represents the interests of the European credit management, debt collection and debt purchase sector on the European level, coordinating the exchange with the institutions of the European Union, stakeholders in the European financial services industry, consumer groups and the European public.

Founded in 1993, FENCA’s 23 national member associations represent 75% of all credit management, debt collection and debt purchase companies in Europe and hold 80% of the market share within the EU, with well over 80,000 staff providing services for more than five million businesses, including SMEs, European and overseas banks, as well as the public sector across the EU.

One of the key activities of FENCA is to set and continuously improve business standards and good practices within the sector across the EU, to which its members subscribe in order to provide the best possible service to creditors, clients and consumers alike.

The European credit management, debt collection and debt purchase sector re-injects between 45 and 55 billion Euros of valid claims back into the EU-economy each year, thereby securing above all the liquidity of micro, small and medium enterprises within the EU, while helping to keep the cost of credit at a reasonable level for all consumers.

Through its cooperation with the IACC (FENCA committee) and ACA International in the United States of America, FENCA is part of a worldwide sectoral network of credit management, debt collection and debt purchase companies.