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How to Become a Credit and Collections Director

Career News May 27, 2014

Are you interested in assuming more responsibility and training others? Do you work well with people while still maintaining profitability and productivity in everything you do? Then use your natural gifts to pursue a higher paying career!

A credit and collections director works in a managerial role as director of the collections department, answering to either upper management or the branch manager. This is the person in charge of providing leadership to the team and a direction to proceed in terms of strategy and guidelines.

If you accept this part then you assume responsibility for the implementation of financial policies, procedures, and other systems. Your ultimate goal is to reduce credit losses, but negotiating with debtors is a challenge.

Credit and Collections Director Job Description

Your agents do most of the tracking and conversation, but you develop the methods and come up with strategies that are going to increase revenue. You have to avoid doing anything illegal, including abuse or harassment, all the while taking seriously the obligation to produce cash flow—something borrowers are going to withhold, unless you provide the motivation to act. This is a challenging field but if you have communication skills, creative thinking capacity, and are dedicated when it comes to teamwork, you can excel.

You will be head over a set of diverse functions and will be directly involved in business strategy. You interpret corporate strategy and figure out how best to implement the system that will produce desired results. You may actually manage multiple teams, going beyond a manager’s role and taking on many collections teams, with managers or supervisors working under you.

Experience and Education

Work experience is highly desirable, as the company wants to see your proven results before taking a chance. Since you will have high responsibility and report to the CFO directly, you are advised to earn a college degree early on. A bachelor’s degree may suffice, and a higher education will certainly help you reach higher goals. Still, a director over the department or several departments will also require work experience.

Companies are looking to hire either experienced managers or experienced collections agents or supervisors who specialize in the field of credit (or in whatever field you work in; i.e. mortgages, business loans, credit cards, and so on). Part of your job is training others to work efficiently and providing critical but productive feedback to employees.

Some managers turn in applications with seven years of experience behind them. Some may only have a few years. What matters is that you have institutional training as well as on-the-job work experience where you exercise street smarts and practical people skills beyond textbook questions and answers.

This is a career position that pays well, sometimes over $100,000 a year, particularly if you oversee multiple credit departments. It will not be a fast process, but it will be a long-term career move that will pay off, as you prove your value to the company. Don’t hesitate to start building your resume now!

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