As part of its plans to improve and strengthen its income collection processes, North Lincolnshire Homes has just signed a three-year contract with Allpay for its paperless Direct Debit service. The web-based service is expected to go live early in 2014 and will allow the housing provider to set up new Direct Debit instructions over the phone and give residents complete flexibility on payment dates and frequencies.
NLH previously managed its Direct Debits in-house but wanted to provide further flexibility with its arrangements to increase take-up among residents in advance of the introduction of universal credit. The Allpay service is costing around £20,000 per year.
Holly Wilson, VFM & procurement manager, North Lincolnshire Homes, said, “Having researched the options available, Allpay’s web-based system was the easiest and most straightforward to administer whereas other suppliers wanted to implement software on our servers.
“We already use Allpay’s payment collection technology and find it integrates well with our systems. The costs of its Direct Debit service were also competitive and the system will help us increase take-up among residents through Universal Credit.”
At the same time, Genesis has found that Allpay’s paperless Direct Debits are speeding up the way it collects rent from residents.
Akeem Abiola, collections manager, Genesis Housing, said, “We can set new customers up on the system straight away and it takes less than five minutes to sort out Direct Debit payments over the phone.”
