Housing Association Eigen Haard and Ultimoo Incasso

Housing association Eigen Haard, based in Amsterdam, is one of the largest in the Netherlands, managing 62,000 properties. Over the past decade, they have gained extensive experience in early intervention and chain collaboration. Eigen Haard considers rental collection a core activity and maintains full control over its own collection process. Arrears are handled through the amicable phase as much as possible. In November 2017, Eigen Haard partnered with Ultimoo. In this interview, I speak with Henk Heinhuis, Manager of Collections and Accounts Receivable at Eigen Haard, about rental collection, the importance of the amicable phase, chain collaboration, and the partnership with Ultimoo.

What were the most significant decisions you made over the past year regarding the organization and improvement of the rental collection process?

Henk: "The biggest and most important step was taken in June 2017 when we went live with Creditmanager 3 (credit management software by Onguard). This led to a substantial increase in contact moments, allowing us to better tailor our tone of voice to the individual needs and preferences of our tenants. By structuring our processes through software workflows, the system takes over many administrative tasks, giving our rental collection team more time for personal customer contact. This has demonstrably had a positive impact on our results."

Can you tell us more about customer contact and the difference in working methods before and after implementing credit management software?

Henk: "Previously, we outsourced all phone calls to a call center. Now, we manage conversations with vulnerable tenants in-house again. We believe it is essential to have direct contact with them. In the past, we had to retrieve information from multiple systems; now, thanks to the software, we have all customer information organized in one place. The entire project also made us reflect on what defines an optimal collection process, how we want to organize it, and what fits the identity of Eigen Haard. I am pleased to see that this has been successful."

Looking back, do you regret any decisions? With today's knowledge, what would you have done differently?

Henk: "We don't regret our decisions, but we learned a lot along the way. Four or five years ago, there was less focus within housing associations on the importance of collection management. We eventually decided to manage our accounts receivable entirely in-house. Fully co-sourcing processes—such as commercial real estate or former tenants—did not deliver the results we expected. The lesson learned is that you must maintain control yourself. In practice, we found ourselves spending significant time managing and auditing our co-sourcing partners."

What has been decisive for the further development of accounts receivable management at Eigen Haard?

Henk: "I have been involved in accounts receivable at Eigen Haard for four years now. The first two years were primarily focused on internal improvements. What gave me a lot of inspiration and ideas for process improvement was the moment I decided to look more 'outside the box.' For instance, by attending the Rental Collection Platform, Credit Expo, and the Rental Collection Congress, as well as joining networks like the Creditors' Coalition (Schuldeiserscoalitie). This allowed me to exchange knowledge and experiences, which accelerated our developments."

How do you get accounts receivable management on the agenda of a housing association?

Henk: "It is crucial that debt management is seen as 'top of mind' within the organization. Scale can play a role here. For a large association like Eigen Haard, it is a core activity, whereas at a smaller association, it might be a side task for a financial manager. In the latter case, there is a real risk that it remains in the background, leading to sub-optimal results."

What is your view on chain collaboration? What does it mean specifically for Eigen Haard, and what are your experiences and expectations?

Henk: "Over ten years ago, Eigen Haard started collaborating with 'Vroeg Eropaf' (Early Intervention). So we have quite some experience in chain collaboration. We work closely with parties like Doras and the City of Amsterdam. Collaboration works, but you have to invest in it purposefully. It is vital to bring as many 'fixed-cost' creditors together as possible, which is why we joined the Creditors' Coalition three years ago.

I would tell other housing associations: don't wait for the legislator. You can perfectly shape collaborations with chain partners on your own initiative. If you look beyond just the municipality, you will almost always find national players like energy companies and health insurers. These parties strive for standardized data exchange. Eigen Haard wants that too, as we are active in multiple municipalities. Government plans in this area are hopeful, but the practical implementation still needs work. Chain collaboration is definitely the path forward."

What can still be improved in the area of chain collaboration?

Henk: "Currently, through 'Vroeg Eropaf,' we reach half of the most vulnerable tenants. But we don't reach the other half yet. To do so, we must work closely with debt relief services and social services, as well as other creditors. This allows for overarching payment arrangements and limits collection costs for the client. Furthermore, there needs to be more impact reporting in debt relief: what works, what doesn't, and what can we learn? You must realize that people often struggle with financial problems for years before seeking help. You want to be ahead of that. Ultimately, it’s about prevention. If people have arrears of two months or more, there is usually a deeper issue, as rent is often the last thing people stop paying. That is why collaboration with other creditors is so vital."

What is your vision regarding debt prevention?

Henk: "We are going to focus even more on preventing debt and payment problems. 'Life events' like divorce, unemployment, or the death of a partner often cause people to struggle. One often overlooked event is moving house itself, which has a measurable impact on income and expenses. Tenants must be well aware of the financial consequences of a lease. As a housing association, we play a key role by addressing this during the intake interview. We looked at a pilot by Rochdale and the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences regarding budget interviews. It showed that over 40% of new tenants in the control group fell into arrears within six months—many of them young starters aged 18 to 27. For the second group, where financial matters like budgeting were discussed during intake, the number of tenants with payment problems was reduced from 40% to 25%. People are open to these topics during the acceptance phase, so the timing is perfect. We are going to implement this further within Eigen Haard; prevention clearly works."

What threats or challenges do you see regarding chain collaboration?

Henk: "Privacy remains a sensitive theme. On the other hand, society no longer accepts a collection industry that runs at the expense of people with little financial resilience. Legislation regarding privacy will eventually have to follow social developments. The documentary 'Schuldig' acted as a catalyst, accelerating the public debate. Now it’s a matter of doing, collaborating, and finding solutions.

Additionally, there are barriers like significantly increased court fees and hurdles created by some municipalities. Some are much more willing to set up early intervention policies than others. In Amsterdam and other municipalities where we operate, we fortunately have active councils that invest in these covenants, resulting in the lowest number of evictions ever. Nationally, however, we are not there yet."

Why is collaboration with municipalities not always easy?

Henk: "Chain collaboration requires patience. It takes a year before you can truly measure results. Building mutual trust also takes time. In Amsterdam, we are now developing a dashboard with social services to transparently determine which measures were taken and what they delivered. Naturally, there are tensions, as social services have their own responsibilities. Nevertheless, after ten years of working together, we are taking a big step forward. These experiences are very useful for explaining to other municipalities how to set up effective collaboration."

You manage your rental collection entirely in-house. What can external collection service providers add to Eigen Haard's process?

Henk: "In the past, we worked with five different bailiffs, but that was nearly impossible to manage. We eventually went back to two. The problem lay in the bailiffs' revenue model. In the legal phase, this brings high costs for the tenant, while vulnerable tenants only have an average repayment capacity of 50 to 80 euros. A bailiff does not solve the problem; not for the tenant, and not for Eigen Haard. We want to prevent tenants from entering the expensive legal phase. That’s why in 2014, I strategically chose to work with a debt collection agency, focusing on the (cheaper) amicable phase. That choice was a turning point for Eigen Haard, resulting in declining arrears and fewer evictions to this day."

Can you tell us more about the collaboration with Ultimoo?

Henk: "We have been working with Ultimoo since November 2017. When Vesting Finance announced it was ending its collection activities, we looked for a new partner. We value Corporate Social Responsibility, and a partner must align with that. Another aspect was that the entire team from Vesting Finance moved to Ultimoo. This had the major practical advantage that they were already familiar with our procedures and software. Ultimately, people determine the quality of an agency. That’s why we chose Ultimoo."

How is the collaboration with Ultimoo going?

Henk: "I am very satisfied. Their specialization in the amicable phase aligns perfectly with our expectations. I see our tenants being encouraged by Ultimoo in a fair and positive way to settle arrears and continue doing so in the future. We expect to continue on this course."

What improvements are still possible?

Henk: "Benchmarks show we still have a relatively high number of eviction notices compared to actual evictions. This means that after incurring all legal costs, a payment arrangement was still reached. We want to reduce that number by finding solutions earlier. We need to investigate the bottlenecks in the period before an eviction notice is served. Ultimoo can help us with that.

We also see that our number of payment arrangements is relatively low compared to other associations. The challenge we are taking on with Ultimoo is how to close more tailored and realistic arrangements in the amicable phase to avoid the escalation of costs. This leads to more sustainable solutions for our tenants."

What role does personal contact play in the collection process?

Henk: "Personal contact is vital. That’s why we have our own field service. In consultation, Ultimoo can also perform a home visit if necessary. Meanwhile, we digitize and automate where possible to create space for personal attention where it's needed most. We want to know which of our 62,000 tenants are in vulnerable situations so we can help them. Onguard's software helps us segment these tenants. If Ultimoo cannot reach a solution, the file returns to our field service for one last check before we hand it over to a bailiff. We want to be certain we have done everything possible to avoid legal action."

What would you recommend to other housing associations?

Henk: "My advice is to look closely at current developments and how to use them. Be open to new concepts, even from other industries. It takes time, but it provides inspiration. Furthermore, benchmarking is a very useful tool. How do you perform compared to the sector? Which associations do it better, and what can you learn? And importantly: reach out to each other. Pick up the phone and talk. Use your time to attend meetings like the Rental Collection Platform. It’s the easiest way to exchange knowledge and experience."

Author: Marcel Wiedenbrugge