Collections Officer

Metropolitan Thames Valley; Beeston; Hybrid; GBP 28,000 - 30,000; Full time

Job summary

A housing association is seeking a Collections Officer (Customer Accounts Advisor) in Beeston to manage accounts in arrears. The role involves negotiating with customers and providing support for welfare benefits. Strong communication and collections experience are essential. The offer includes hybrid working options and a focus on delivering excellent customer experiences. With competitive benefits, this is an opportunity to contribute to community support initiatives.

Benefits

Free on-site parking

Health and wellbeing support

Competitive benefit packages

Qualifications

• Collections experience is essential.
• Knowledge of Homeownership tenure is essential.
• Prior knowledge of the welfare benefits system is desirable.

Responsibilities

• Engage with customers by phone and through emails.
• Prevent and reduce arrears with information and support.
• Assist with welfare benefits related issues.

Skills

Excellent communication skills

Negotiation skills

Collections experience

Empathy

Attention to detail

Job description

The vacancy

This Role

Collections Officer known internally as a "Customer Accounts Advisor"

Location

Beeston, Nottingham, NG9 1LA - Free on-site parking subject to availability

Salary Banding

£28,044 - £29,519

Full Time Permanent Post based on a 37.5hr working week.

Due to an internal promotion, we are looking for an individual who is passionate about providing an exceptional customer experience and looking for a new role in collections. Do you enjoy speaking with customers and solving their problems with empathy and understanding? If so, we want to hear from you, as here at MTVH we are looking for a Customer Accounts Advisor based within our Income Collections Team to join our established Customer Service Department.

This role

As a Customer Accounts Advisor your role will be to proactively review and manage Home Ownership accounts that are in static or increasing arrears, and sometimes at risk of legal action or eviction. Empathy and a desire to help others is vital to understand each customers situation and look for possible avenues of income recovery, while also being firm and clear with outcomes and expectations.

Key responsibilities

• Engage with our customers by phone, usually through outbound contact and less frequently through inbound, also via email and letters where required.
• Prevent and reduce arrears by providing information and support, negotiate and implement payment arrangements, and signpost for external funding where applicable.
• Assist with welfare benefits related issues and queries, using knowledge of this area to help residents maximise potential income.
• Consult with internal teams and external agencies in order to reach resolutions and maximise the support our residents receive.
• Follow the debt recovery process, taking cases through the legal process until concluded where necessary.

What you'll need to succeed

• Excellent communication skills and the ability to negotiate and deliver clear messages.
• Collections experience is essential.
• Knowledge of the Homeownership tenure is essential and a good understanding of the Social Housing section is desirable.
• Be able to work and manage your caseload independently, as well as working within the team to achieve shared targets.
• Great attention to detail and be process driven.
• Empathy combined with judgement and facts established to assess and decide on the best course of action for each case.
• Prior knowledge of the welfare benefits system, and a background in collections or within social housing would be desirable.

In line with our smarter working approach, hybrid working is available for this post to be discussed at interview. Office days will be an alternate basis, with shifts ranging between 8am 6pm, Monday to Friday. You will have access to your rota and shift pattern at least 4 weeks in advance.

The company

Metropolitan Thames Valley provides affordable housing for people living in London, the South East, East Midlands and East of England.

We also offer a range of care and support services. Our specialist areas include older people, mental health and transitional services which provide intensive support to marginalised or vulnerable people.

We deliver training programmes, events and activities for our residents, designed to boost employment opportunities and foster stronger communities.

A member of the National Housing Federation the G15 which represents Londons largest housing associations we influence policy for the benefits of our residents and the wider sector.

In October 2018 like minded housing associations Metropolitan and Thames Valley Housing formally completed a partnership to form Metropolitan Thames Valley. We came together because we want to improve the services we provide and do more in our communities. Well do this by listening to our customers and working alongside them.

Benefits

People are at the heart of what we do, so we have carefully selected our rewards and benefits with our colleagues in mind.

Our benefits are designed to support your health and wellbeing, help with the cost of living, and enhance your working environment, making MTVH your employer of choice.

We regularly benchmark our benefit packages against industry standards to ensure we remain competitive, innovative, and responsive to the evolving needs of all our colleagues.

While some of our benefits are automatically applied, most are optional. We encourage you to explore what we offer and see if theres something that fits your needs.

For further information on our full list of benefits, please see our

Colleague Rewards and Benefits Digital Book

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