NCO Group

NCO Group, Inc., based in Horsham, PA,^[1] is a collection agency that manages customer service, outsourcing and accounts receivable for its clients. Its subsidiary, NCO Portfolio Management, handles delinquent accounts from credit card companies. NCO Group is currently the world's largest collection agency,^[2] owing to its acquisition of large U.S. competitor, Outsourcing Solutions, Inc. (OSI) ^[3] With that acquisition, several former OSI subsidiaries became NCO subsidiaries. The following subsidiaries continue to operate under their own brands: North Shore Agency, Inc. (NSA), Transworld Systems, Inc. (TSI), and University Accounting Service, LLC (UAS).

NCO Group was founded in 1926, and it was publicly traded on the NASDAQ stock exchange under the ticker symbol NCOG from 1996 until November 2006, when the company’s management team and private equity bought the company and took it private.^[4] The company’s Portfolio Management unit was separately traded under the ticker symbol NCPM until it merged with the parent company in March 2004.^[5] NCO still files with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission because it issues public corporate bonds and debt.

In mid-2009 NCO started operations as a contact center (call center) for T-Mobile activations in Guatemala City, Guatemala.

NCO Group has over 32,000 employees in over 100 locations in 11 different countries.^[6][7] In 2007, the company reported revenues of $1.2 billion, although the figure is expected to be significantly higher in 2008 due to the OSI and SST, Inc. acquisitions.^[8][9]

SST, Inc.

Systems & Services Technologies, Inc. (SST, Inc.) is located in St. Joseph, Missouri, and Joplin, Missouri, and is one of the largest consumer loan servicing companies in the United States. SST is a third-party servicer for originators and purchasers of consumer assets. They have boarded and serviced receivables with original balances of $22 billion. They provide customized servicing solutions across the credit spectrum (sub-prime, non/near prime and prime) for auto loans and leases, recreational vehicles, boats, motorcycles and power sports equipment, credit cards, signature loans, manufactured housing and other consumer receivables. SST is also the leading provider of back-up and data aggregation services on public and private securitizations and warehouse financings.^[10] After a few different rounds of layoffs, SST Joplin was finally closed and all remaining SST Joplin employees were laid off on November 27, 2009, but were given the option to transfer to NCO's new Best Buy call center in the same building. SST is no longer in Joplin. The St. Joseph facility remained open.

JPMorgan Chase acquisition

SST was purchased by JPMorgan Chase's Structured Finances Services group of the Treasury & Securities Services Division in 2002. The financial terms were not disclosed at the time.^[11]

One Equity Partners acquisition

SST was further purchased in January 2008 by ALW FINANCIAL, INC. a subsidiary of NCO group, a further subsidiary of One Equity Partners, the private equity investment arm of JPMorgan Chase.^[9] Upon the sale of SST to ALW the company was downsized by eighty employees.^[12]

References

1. ^ NCO Group > Contact > Feedback / Info
2. ^ BW Online | March 19, 2001|NCO Group Is All Set to Collect
3. ^ insideARM.com | March 3, 2008|NCO Group Completes Acquisition of OSI
4. ^ insideARM.com | Nov. 16, 2006|NCO Announces Completion of Merger; Company Now Private
5. ^ The Daily Record | Dec. 16, 2003|NCO Portfolio Management to be bought out
6. ^ NCO Group > About NCO > NCO Fact Sheet
7. ^ "NCO a major employer". Nation Newspaper. 2009-02-09. http://www.nationnews.com/story/330779842223534.php. "CLOSE TO 1 200 YOUNG BARBADIANS are now on the payroll of NCO Financial (Barbados) SRL and there is room for about 200 more." 
8. ^ "NCO Financial". Junk Debt Buyers. http://junkdebtbuyers.com/nco-financial. Retrieved 8 October 2011. 
9. ^ ^{a b} S-1 filing with SEC by ALW Financial, Inc., 5/13/2008
10. ^ Business Directory for SST, Inc.
11. ^ JPMorgan Chase Completes Acquisition of Systems & Services Technologies, Inc.
12. ^ SST lays off workers

External links

• Official NCO website
• North Shore Agency, Inc.
• Transworld Systems, Inc.
• University Accounting Service, LLC
• FTC ruling
• SEC Filings on EDGAR
• Transworld Client webpage