John Lewis, President & CEO Barely a few minutes into John Lewis’s speech at FinovateSpring 2011, Twitter was already alight with incessant feeds that darted rapidly from all across the room. From bankers to tech innovators, everyone had one thing to say about Intellaegis’s masterQueue platform: #brilliant. Six years ago, Intellaegis was among the chosen few—from over 600 contenders—to participate in Silicon Valley’s renowned fintech conference. At the time, the company was years ahead of the lending industry with masterQueue, a web based-risk management collection workflow software that requires no installation or IT resources. Built to handle early to late stage delinquent accounts, masterQueue was, and still remains, the only software that combines the power of intuition, artificial intelligence, predictive analytics, and big data to facilitate next-gen debt recovery.
Converting Data into Results
While many debt collectors, skip tracers, and investigators still manually scour through mounds of unstructured information available online or in public records, masterQueue effectively gathers, organizes, and tracks all relevant data about a borrower and houses it on one screen. Within seconds, it gives the lender information about a customer’s relatives, employers, and web footprint. The software then uses a proprietary algorithm to add structure and intelligence to every piece of data received. “Many companies still rely on intuition instead of analytics to organize this data. With 35 years of experience in skip tracing, we complement intuition with data science, which ensures increased revenue and artificial intuition,” says John Lewis, President and CEO. After automating, consolidating, and validating the data including addresses and phone numbers, masterQueue provides a ‘findability score’ called FINDEX. The score represents the best choice to a resolution based on the quality and quantity of data that masterQueue has gathered. The higher the score, the more chances of finding a person. To top it all, masterQueue has direct and real-time interfaces with every major data provider in the industry. Data providers such as Equifax, TransUnion, LexisNexis, Carfax and others enable lenders to reach and find delinquent customers in a compliant, efficient, and automated manner when a customer is not cooperative, or worse, hiding.
Today, the delinquency rates and the level of dollars delinquent for U.S. banks are at a record high. A recent study by the Federal Reserve Bank reveals that the outstanding household debt in the third quarter of 2017 totaled $13 trillion. However, complex regulations implemented by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) that vary by state, impose several restrictions on financial institutions on how frequently a customer can be contacted and the mode of contact. For example, in Oregon, a lender is permitted to call a customer’s place of employment once a week, while in Massachusetts you can only contact a customer once or twice a week, each based on specific rules that can be difficult to track outside of systems like masterQueue.
We typically observe a 25 percent improvement in Right Party Contact (RPC) the minute organizations start using masterQueue
In such a scenario, masterQueue offers a vigorous security structure along with built-in CFPB and Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) compliance that protects lenders from millions of dollars in fines for inappropriately contacting debtors. Since there are special laws for contacting individuals with an active military status, the company has also built an interface to the Department of Defense to protect lenders from regulatory landmines. “We typically observe a 25 percent improvement in right party contact (RPC) the minute organizations start using masterQueue,” states Lewis. Since a CFPB mandate holds financial institutions solely responsible for all legal violations related to wrongfully contacting people, even when it is committed by third-party data aggregators, masterQueue is the ultimate tool for all lenders as it leaves no room for false automation.
An End to Evasion
Taking data management and analytics a notch further, Intellaegis has partnered with many companies including RepoRoute, a platform built by Intellaegis and now owned by Steve Schroeder, the co-founder of CoreLogic (CLGX). Schroeder, also an investor in masterQueue states that “success results from delivering technology solutions that simplify existing business processes or add much- needed capabilities.” Through RepoRoute’s unique scoring model, lenders are able to predict repossession success using a variety of attributes. When combined with mainstream integrated repossession assignment software platforms like iRepo repossession losses are reduced significantly. This is not unlike prior products Schroeder has developed, similar to risk-based solutions he built at CoreLogic. Prior to selling CoreLogic to First American in 2007, these products were used on 70 percent of all U.S mortgages.
Another value proposition masterQueue delivers to its clients is the amount of manual processes it eliminates with the full automation of the skip tracing process through its partnerships with dozens of data providers and its automated workflow. As documented in their Finovate demo at product launch, one client now saves an hour per employee every day in a 600-person call center, which is the equivalent to a 77 person reduction in FTE.
http://finovate.com/videos/finovatespring-2011-intellaegis/
Although primarily built for lending management in the auto finance industry, masterQueue has witnessed immense success in the public sector and law enforcement, where the solution is used to track down fugitives and lost assets in minutes. In an instance, the company’s high-tech tracking technology received much recognition when it was used to nab a most wanted who was on the run, as described in this CBS/ABC compilation news story video:
https://intellaegis.wistia.com/ medias/cr3wjf4wfg
With masterQueue, the convict’s data footprint was tracked from four different U.S. states. While the district attorney was on the lookout for the criminal for three years, by using masterQueue, the chase was brought to an end in five minutes.
Another interesting story was where masterQueue was used to locate a person who left a message in a bottle 27 years earlier. All Intellaegis had to go off on was a first name and a phone number almost three decades old:
http://www.insideedition.com/ headlines/13933-mystery-solved-meet-the-woman-who-wrote-27-year-old-message-in-bottle-found-on
Further strengthening masterQueue’s unmatched ability to locate lost customers, the company continues to build new tools and partnerships. The first industry veteran after Schroeder to join their board was Brad Jenkins, a local Sacramento entrepreneur who founded JPSnet and o1 communications. Following shortly thereafter was Mark Floyd, who resigned his spot on the board at Exeter Finance, a large subprime auto finance company, to become the Chairman at Intellaegis. Their new mQShuffle tool launched in 2017 automates the gathering of phone numbers and insertion of compliance rules to streamline contact in the early stages of the collection process where automated dialing systems are used to streamline contact management and reminder calls.
"We combine intuition with data science to create Artificial Intuition, which ensures increased revenue and top performance"
Dedicated to Innovation
With a beta test lab in place for skip tracing and investigations, the company launches at least two new products each year. The latest addition to masterQueue is callQueue, a click to dial and a push to record feature that doubles the number of RPCs a collector makes. This product is integrated with a VOIP system built by BellesLink. The company also recently partnered with FactorTrust, an alternative credit bureau acquired by TransUnion last month. At the core of FactorTrust is clean credit information that financial companies failed to glean from traditional credit sources. “Layering FactorTrust’s unique data on top of masterQueue enhances Intellaegis’ contact management process with regard to high-risk customers,” explains Lewis.
Currently, Intellaegis is focusing on leveraging alternative data sources such as social media data, live feeds, and license plate recognition data (LPR) to track lost customers. The company recently integrated with Digital Recognition Network (DRN), a provider of vehicle location data and analytics, to drive actionable insights for auto lenders. This data will be added and compared to other public records information inside the masterQueue platform, helping lenders better determine the chance for a positive collection or recovery resolution. Since each successive past-due payment exponentially increases the probability of loss for financial institutions, implementing a foolproof collections strategy is an absolute necessity to win the “Race against time in collections,” states industry expert Bill Ploog in his blog on the masterQueue website:
http://intellaegis.com/collections-is-a-race-against-time/
In the days to come, the company is looking to foster more meaningful partnerships that will further enhance masterQueue’s automation capabilities. “With a strong product and research and development practice in place, it is time to reset the existing and antiquated standards of debt collection and recovery management with our state-of-the-art software. The goal of every company is to work in just one system, and we help our clients work toward that goal with more integrations than anyone in our industry,” ends Lewis.
A transition of leadership began with the hiring of Lance Suder as the company's Chief Operating Officer in 2018. Suder has been instrumental in guiding the Company forward as a member of the management team as well as ensuring a smooth leadership transition through this period of change.
In addition, Steve Schroeder, the first investor in Intellaegis and founder of CoreLogic, has taken a more active role in the Company over the past year. He will assume the role of CEO upon John Lewis' departure in addition to his current role of Chief Strategy Officer. Schroeder is recognized for his pivotal role in creating the vision and transforming CoreLogic into the leading data and risk analysis company within the real estate industry.
John and Perla Lewis have a long history of innovation in the auto finance industry. They formed the first dedicated Skip Tracing company in 1988 and the first repossession assignment forwarding company, ARS, in 1994. Both pioneering companies transformed the assignment process of high-risk auto loans to third-party vendors, allowing lenders to work with a single large vendor versus directly managing several hundred smaller vendors. This "Forwarding" model has since evolved into a billion-dollar industry within the auto finance sector. Their latest creation, masterQueue, streamlines multiple processes related to customer contact and its core functionality is its ability to locate and contact individuals using data aggregation, automation and analytics.
"We are immensely proud of the journey we've taken with Intellaegis and we are confident that the company's future is bright with Steve Schroeder at the helm," said John Lewis. "Steve's unparalleled expertise in building and scaling data-driven companies makes him the ideal leader to continue the evolution of masterQueue."
Schroeder's leadership at CoreLogic, where he established the company as a dominant force in real estate data and risk management, is a testament to his capability. His background in creating innovative solutions and risk models that drive industry standards will be instrumental as he leads the Company forward.
"I am honored to take on the role of CEO at Intellaegis," said Schroeder. "Having been involved with Intellaegis since its inception, I have always believed in its potential. I look forward to building on the strong foundation laid by John and Perla and leading the company to new heights."
Suder added, "We have an excellent, dedicated team, which is well-positioned for continued success. I am excited to work closely with Steve and the entire Intellaegis team to take our product and Company to the next level."