Customer Support Advisor - Collections

Coventry Building Society; Leek; Hybrid; GBP 24,000 - 32,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Discretionary bonus

Culture of reward & recognition

Wellbeing support

Job summary

Coventry Building Society is seeking a Collections Support Advisor in Leek to support customers in financial difficulty, provide appropriate forbearance options, and help them achieve the best outcomes. The role focuses on arrears management for mortgages and unsecured loans and involves working to help customers stay in their homes where possible.

The position is full-time, 37.5 hours per week, with hybrid working (at least 1–2 days in the Leek office) and a rotating Saturday rota.

Qualifications

• Experience in a customer service environment.
• Experience handling complaints and complex queries.
• Ability to gather information and make balanced decisions.
• Strong communication and empathetic interpersonal skills.
• Ability to manage workload and diary.
• Attention to detail and accurate record-keeping.

Responsibilities

• Manage mortgage and unsecured loan arrears and support clients.
• Help customers remain in their homes where possible.
• Progress litigation cases when necessary.
• Oversee sale of repossessed properties and shortfall balances.

Skills

Customer service

Complaint handling

Communication

Empathy

Conflict resolution

Record keeping

Job description

The Collections Support Advisor supports customers who are experiencing financial difficulty or have fallen behind on their payments. The role focuses on understanding individual circumstances, providing appropriate support and forbearance options, and helping customers achieve the best possible outcome.

Responsibilities include managing mortgage and unsecured loan arrears, helping customers remain in their homes where possible, progressing litigation cases when necessary, and overseeing the sale of repossessed properties, including managing any remaining shortfall balances.

We operate on a team-led hybrid approach with at least 1-2 days a week in the Leek office.

This is a full-time role working 37.5 hours per week. Operating hours are Monday to Friday, 8:00am to 6:00pm, with shifts typically between 8:00am to 4:00pm or 10:00am to 6:00pm. The role also includes a 1 in 4 Saturday rota (8:00am to 1:00pm), with a day off in lieu provided for any Saturday worked.

About you

We have a reputation for excellent customer service and we really want to meet people who care about customers as much as we do.

You’ll need recent high level customer service experience to be successful, ideally from a retail financial services environment but this isn't essential. Being a resilient, empathetic communicator with the confidence to hold constructive and beneficial conversations that are tailored to our customers’ individual circumstances is important.

You’ll have experience of handling challenging conversations, dealing with sensitive, complex customer enquiries, have a positive attitude and are able to manage your own workload and diary.

For this role you’ll need to have:

• Experience working in a customer service environment.
• Experience handling customer complaints and complex queries, with the ability to investigate issues and achieve positive outcomes.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills, with the confidence to support customers through a range of situations in a professional and empathetic manner.
• The ability to gather information, understand individual circumstances, and make balanced decisions in line with policies and procedures.
• Strong problem-solving skills and the resilience to manage challenging conversations and sensitive situations.
• Good attention to detail, with the ability to maintain accurate records and work across multiple systems.
• A customer-focused approach and a genuine commitment to delivering fair customer outcomes.

About us

In 2025, Coventry Building Society purchased The Co-operative Bank. Bringing together our purpose-led building society with the UK’s original ethical bank was the start of an exciting journey.

Trusted by over four million people, we’re a mutually owned business free from shareholders, and with our combined experience of almost 300 years, our ethics and dedication will continue to guide us. Together, we have shared values and an ethical approach towards our members, customers and colleagues.

We’re officially recognised as a ‘Great Place to Work’ and our benefits go beyond basic pay, with a discretionary bonus scheme, a culture of reward and recognition and comprehensive support for wellbeing.

• discretionary bonus scheme
• culture of reward and recognition
• comprehensive support for wellbeing

We’re serious about equality, of race, age, faith, disability, and sexual orientation and we celebrate diversity.

Flexibility and why it matters

We understand the need for flexibility, so wherever possible, we’ll consider alternative working patterns. Have a chat with us before you apply to see what the possibilities are for this role.

Proud to be a Disability Confident Committed Employer

We’re proud to offer an interview or assessment to every disabled applicant who meet the minimum criteria for our vacancies. As part of the application process, disabled applicants can opt in for the Disability Confident Interview Scheme. If there are ever occasions where it is not practicable to interview all candidates that meet the essential criteria, such as when we receive a high number of applications, we commit to interviewing disabled candidates who best meet the minimum essential and desirable criteria.