Romania Debt Collecting Cos Recovered 24% Of Receivables In 2009

The amount of receivables collecting companies must recover was up 71% in 2009 compared to 2008, while the number of debt cases increased by 76%, to 3.7 million.

In 2009, debt collecting companies recovered from individuals EUR218 million out of a total of EUR950 million, and managed to collect EUR45.5 million out of EUR150 million owed by companies.

Half of the receivables that must to be recovered belong to banks, 22.9% to telecom companies, 7% to non-bank financial institutions, 3.9% to other services.

AMCC president Cristian Ionescu said only 3% or 5% of bank receivables represent overdue real estate loans. He added that selling this type of receivables would affect the real estate market and banks prefer to keep them in their portfolio.

AMCC members said the debt collecting market registered a 70% increase but debt recovery operations were not necessarily successful which affected debt collecting companies’ profit.

Sold receivables reached 300,000 cases and were worth EUR227 million in 2009.

AMCC also said the number of debt cases sent to court increased last year and foreclosures were initiated. Foreclosure cases accounted for 10% of the total debts collected in 2009.

AMCC member companies register an 80% debt collecting market share. Coface Romania, Eos, Creditreform, Cycle, Creditexpress, Kruk International are one of the AMCC members.