Collecting debts has proved to be something of a growth business for Dunedin with Receivables Management (NZ) refurbishing and expanding its city office.
The business employs 30 people in Dunedin but managing director Bob Garters, of Christchurch, now has room for 65 people in the refurbished office and is planning to increase staff over the next two years.
Mr Garters and Otago-Southland manager Sue Corbett are excited about the opportunities they expect to come from the expansion of the Dunedin operation.
A new contract had been secured but details could not yet be released.
Receivables Management employed 60 people in Christchurch, eight in Auckland and two in Blenheim, as well as the 30 in Dunedin, Mr Garters said.
"We are a South Island company. It is better to employ people in Dunedin because they are loyal. Most other companies get to a certain size and shift. I think it's wrong. We are different. Dunedin is a stable environment and the staff we have - we couldn't ask for better. In Auckland, we take on staff, train them and two minutes later, they are gone.''
Ms Corbett had been manager of the Otago-South-land area for 15 years but that was typical of the way Dunedin people looked at their jobs, Mr Garters said.
When Ms Corbett started with the company, it employed six people in Dunedin and it now had 30.
Fifty people were employed in Auckland but that had been reduced now to eight.
He paid tribute to Marjory White, who managed the southern operations from establishment in 1969 until 1987.
Dunedin was the obvious choice for expansion.
There was no room for expansion in Christchurch and it was difficult to keep staff in Auckland.
Mr Garters had been coming to Dunedin for 47 years, building his business through constant contact with Dunedin businesspeople.
And his business was in the city to stay, he said.
The office would be officially opened later this month, with the board due to hold its meeting in the city, he said.
Otago businessman John Gilks was a board member.
Asked how business was now, Mr Garters said big crashes, like the 1987 sharemarket crash, were "horrendous'' and many businesses failed, although not many of them in Dunedin.
Dunedin had always provided the company with good clients.
The company ran its major retail collection business out of Dunedin and had a call centre based in the city.
Receivables Management acted for all major trading banks, large finance companies, large retailers and some government departments.
It was varied work, he said.
One major change had been the introduction of technology into debt collection, which made the world a smaller place.
Receivables Management was part of Global Credit Solutions, which had 100 members in 100 countries.
If someone left New Zealand owing money and went to somewhere like Turkey, Receivables Management would contact its Turkish GCS colleague and get the debt chased up, Mr Garters said.
It was the same for the New Zealand company, which had chased English student debts in this country as part of GCS.
It was also chasing many debtors in Australia.
Business remained "steady'' as people incurred credit finance.
Receivables Management had a big debt-purchase business, which was when people defaulted on personal loans or credit cards and their debts were put up for tender.
Selling debt was a huge industry worldwide and a major part of Receivables Management's business, he said.
"People today want to get rid of the debt.
"They want cash today, not drip-fed over 25 years.''
Much of the debt the company bought was from people with no forwarding address.
Receivables Management employed 10 people full-time tracing those defaulters.
