MRS BPO

Thirty years ago, when Saul and Jeff Freedman started MRS BPO, LLC, they didn’t foresee their company leading the collections industry in technological advancements and strategic innovation. In the beginning, they saw a business opportunity and started there.

Co-CEO Jeff Freedman said, “Starting MRS was a mix of emotions—exciting for sure but also a bit scary due to the risks involved. We were pretty young when we started and we were unaware at the time of the high failure rate among most start-up businesses. That said, we were confident in our business proposition. When we started, many lenders were not using agencies beyond their primary ones and there was no recall process. Our proposition was to go in after their primary agency and collect on the accounts that the primary agency said were uncollectable. We did this on contingency, of course, so the risk to the creditor was minimal. We were able to prove ourselves this way and often out-collected the agency that had the accounts first!”

Both Saul and Jeff emphasized how much the early days of MRS taught them about business and the industry.

Surely, but steadily, MRS grew and expanded, but always retained the family values at the heart of the Freedmans and their vision for the company. As MRS added secondary locations in Ohio and Alabama, the emphasis on family permeated the company at each site. From philanthropic drives, to spirit week, and everything in between, MRS family values radiated. But Saul and Jeff explain it was never a conscious decision to focus on these values. The company culture evolved simply from the way that the brothers prioritized integrity, treated customers, clients, and co-workers with respect, and led by example.
Jeff said, “We instill these values [empathy, respect, and kindness], and preach them, not because they are ‘family values’ but because we believe they are the right thing to do. If you treat everyone you interact with, be it a client, a co-worker, an employee, or someone past-due on a debt as a customer and with ‘good service,’ it builds a culture of trust, respect, mutual understanding and cooperation. I believe that is what we have done.”

Jeff explained how the collections industry is often misunderstood, but MRS operates counter to any of these preconceived notions. He said, “At MRS, we have tried to help foster more positive views of our industry by focusing on compliance, quality, and customer experience. We have also tried to do this through various outreach and philanthropic programs to improve the communities we live, work, and serve in. In this vein, we feel good about what we have been able to accomplish over the past 30 years.”

Over the three decades that MRS has been in business, the collections industry has morphed greatly. After the 2008 recession, the CFPB was formed, a watchdog agency with a special interest in collections. As legislation evolved, so did MRS, refusing to be stagnant in the ever-changing industry.

Technology has greatly improved over MRS’s lifespan, prompting innovation in the digital age. Phone calls are a less popular method of communication, a change which demands collections agencies to be nimble in the services that they offer.

Jeff said, “We are always looking for ways to improve. We recognized that customer behaviors were changing and people were seeking more ability to self-serve. It took months of work to complete our research and develop strategies, but in the end, we were able to successfully launch several new digital, self-service tools that have transformed how we interact with customers.”

More than anything, Saul and Jeff are proud of how MRS has shifted and transformed into the company it is now after thirty years in business.

It is lost on neither Saul nor Jeff that MRS has impacted so many lives. Through ups and downs, the brothers have worked to build a strong company that cares about its clients, customers, and employees. Thirty years is no small feat—it is a milestone and a testament to the hard work of the Freedmans and everyone who has ever been part of the MRS family. Here’s to the next thirty!

Picture a call center: a large open floor, desks in designated clusters, agents interacting with each other and customers alike. Prior to 2020, there would be nothing wrong with this image. But our newly minted pandemic sensibilities might sound alarm bells at the thought of a populated space.

MRS moved swiftly, prioritizing the health and safety of our employees and their families. By March 20th, 2020, MRS was able to integrate a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure to enable a work from home solution. In just two weeks, MRS achieved 100% deployment of eligible agents working productively and safely from their own homes. MRS’s decisive action came before ‘stay-at-home’ orders were issued, highlighting our trusted innovative drive.

Using Amazon Web Services to host our VDI, MRS created a secure and seamless transition from three premises based environments to a work from home solution. Additionally, our agents’ ability to adapt and settle into the new normal was laudable.

MRS employees went above and beyond during such unprecedented times. Chief Operating Officer Jim Beck said, “Our outbound calls, contact rate, and performance exceeded expectations and prior months. The flexibility, understanding, and hard work of our team continues to impress me. The hard work of our agents has been an enormous benefit and value for our clients.”

Though the pandemic has been incredibly traumatic, we have learned many things about work from home solutions. A study shows that employees are 35% to 40% more productive than when they are in the office. A survey reported that 94% of employers agreed that their company’s productivity was the same or higher since they implemented work from home solutions.

Within MRS, we saw work from home results including reduced breaktime and not ready time, increased right party contacts, and increased gross collections and payments across the board. MRS has also seen an increase in payment count, which indicates that agents are reaching customers effectively and their interactions are resulting in more regular payments. Additionally, as right party contacts have increased, so has talk time, signifying an enhanced quality of negotiation and conversation with customers. Due to the ease and comfort of working from home, absences have decreased by 30% and employee 6 month tenure has increased by 23%.

2020 has proved that working from home works. The practice will likely become commonplace, as many companies have seen their employees stay productive and diligent out of the office. While work from home is the only solution at the moment, it is not for everyone. We also predict more hybrid offerings, allowing employees to split time in the office and from their homes. Consequently, a number of state regulators—who also happen to be working from home—have become very receptive to allowing this solution to become an allowable option when the pandemic ends. Several states have already incorporated work from home language into their revised collections statutes.

MRS has seen the resilience of our employees and their dedication never ceases to impress us. While working from home posed some hurdles, MRS easily surmounted them due to management’s rapid action in the face of a global health crisis and the adaptability of our agents.

2020 has certainly been an unconventional year, and in the unprecedented times accompanying COVID-19, the need for empathy and philanthropy cannot be overstated. As such, MRS hasn’t wavered from our charitable commitments. Quite the opposite, this year, the MRS family devoted a great deal of time and effort to fundraise and give back to the community.

The Food Bank of South Jersey exists to provide an immediate solution to the urgent problem of hunger by providing food to people in need, teaching them to eat nutritiously, and helping them to find sustainable ways to improve their lives.

Partnering with The Food Bank of South Jersey throughout the year, MRS employees made monthly donations as part of our ongoing charitable giving initiatives. The hard work and overwhelming support from the MRS employees allowed us to raise funds specifically for FBSJ. In addition to that, we took the money budgeted for holiday gifts and cards and donated that to the food bank as well, bringing our fundraising donation to $10,000. On Wednesday, December 16, 2020, many MRS employees donated time to help distribute food in Camden, NJ.

MRS has always believed in giving back, hosting and participating in many charitable drives throughout the year. Philanthropy is central to the company’s family values and MRS is deeply moved by our employees’ dedication to lend a hand to those in need.

Chief Personnel Officer Regina Weir said, “The Chief Development Officer at the Food Bank called the MRS Team ‘hunger hero rock stars.’ It was our sincere pleasure to have partnered with this amazing group of volunteers and we look forward to continuing our work with them in 2021!”

On behalf of everyone at MRS, we’d like to wish you a happy and safe holiday season. 2020 brought many unexpected challenges, and MRS is glad to punctuate the year by giving back to the community. We are excited to welcome 2021 and everything that the new year will bring!