Background
Working with allpay, Wales’ largest social housing landlord, Trivallis (formerly RCT Homes), has enhanced its rent collection processes from a fragmented approach through the local authority, to offering a full range of payment options across cash, online, mobile and paperless direct debits.
The challenge
Based in South Wales, Trivallis provides housing services to more than 20,000 people of all ages in the Rhondda Cynon Taff region. Prior to allpay, Trivallis was challenged with the typically complex and fragmented nature of taking rent payments from its tenants, via the local authority. Reporting was often two to three days behind since cash payments came through slowly from the authority. In addition, direct debit take up was not as high as it was hoped, since many residents felt restricted by the limited number of payment dates available, and there was also an underlying pre-conception that setting them up was a long and complicated process.
The allpay solution – a single provider
Since late 2007, Trivallis has used allpay’s payment solutions.
“When we were looking for a trusted organisation to work as partners for cash collection, I was expecting to find someone who would provide card payments, someone who would provide telephone payments and someone else for direct debits; I did some research and one name came top all the time – and it was allpay. Now all of our payment collection channels come from a single provider who manage our direct debit payments – providing any day collections and full flexibility on frequencies – text, phone and online payments, in addition to cash payments at both the PayPoint and Post Office networks. The benefit from having a single supplier is that we receive all the information relating to the payments the following day, so we know by 10am what payments were taken the day before, whereas with the local authority it would take three to four days sometimes to come through.”
The results
Flexibility of use
“Having the flexibility of ‘any day’ direct debit payments through allpay has certainly helped us stay upper quartile in our rent arrears performance (1.2% of the annual rent debit in 2012/13 and 1.6% in 2013/14). We can use multiple payment dates, and the tenant has the option to pay any time they want. When we started with allpay, we were approximately 2.5% of the debit. It’s a far better system as it’s online, it’s much easier, it handles all the returns for us, it handles all the correspondence to tenants and any changes – it is a completely managed service, which is much better.”
Quick Direct Debit set-up
“The system has certainly helped increase direct debit take up. Once we’ve explained to the tenant how quick and simple the process is and that we don’t need a form to be completed as we can do it paperlessly for them in two to three minutes, they’re fine and it means we can set up the mandate there and then. They’re actually quite surprised how quick it is.”
Customer service
“The customer service provided by allpay is excellent. It’s refreshing to have an account manager who understands the pressures that we have and what’s happening in the environment and in the housing market.”
Innovation
We’ve recently gone live with allpay’s branded payment gateway allowing us to offer our own branded online payment pages, thereby improving customer service. The gateway allows us to accept all major credit and debit cards, offer a gateway for our customers that retains the look and feel of the organisation and which facilitates a payment in three simple steps, allowing the resident to opt in for an email receipt too.
