Prodigy Finance - who are we?

Prodigy Finance is a platform that delivers socially responsible financial services; making it possible for students from more than 130 countries to fulfill their dream of studying at the world’s top universities and schools by financing their international postgraduate studies. Our purpose is to democratise access to life changing education, whilst delivering competitive financial and social returns to alumni, institutional and private investors.

Our borderless and innovative model enables education loan financing to students from across the globe, whilst using predicted post-degree affordability rather than present-day salary in assessing creditworthiness. Since 2007, Prodigy Finance has extended over US$1.4 billion through the platform to fund over 28,000 students.

We are funded by some of the most highly regarded and pre-eminent financial institutions in the world, including Index Ventures, Balderton Capital, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, and more recently the US DFC and CPPIB.

What will you do in the role?

We are looking for an experienced servicing, collections and licensing specialist to join our US repayments team based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. This person will be fully accountable for managing customer interactions, processes and systems around loan servicing and collections in the US as well as be a critical member of our US licensing and compliance team providing on the ground support.

What are some of the roles and responsibilities of this role?

• Managing a portfolio of borrowers in our “red states” who are on schedule and/or past due.
• Assisting the team by being their subject matter expert. This may include advanced tasks like calculating simple and compound interest. Must have the ability to answer complex servicing questions.
• Work directly with our team leads on overflow of servicing and collections queues.
• As part of our US licensing team, you will be responsible for applying, maintaining and servicing our state licenses. Assist with Ad hoc projects, exams and annual reports.
• Mailing checks and documents to state regulators
• Managing your attendance, time keeping and personal effectiveness to maintain required SLA’s and/or turnaround times on borrower communication/queries
• Providing professional, warm clear customer service to assist and educate borrowers (our customers) on:
  • How to use our customer app and portal and how to access self-service features
  • All queries relating to their loan, loan statement and managing the repayment and final settlement of their loan.
  • Cure delinquent accounts by working with the borrower to bring arrears up to schedule
  • Repayment options, how to make a payment and the consequences of non-payment
• Understand and advise borrowers on the best solutions and processes that would assist them in their current situation
• Work with other teams and customers i.e. inter-functional assistance and feedback
• Having deep subject matter expertise development over the course of time
• Hit targets in a fast paced, high volume and high quality customer services environment
• Ensure weekly tasks are completed

What would the ideal candidate be great at?

• Self starter - does well in a small team or remote environment
• Have an empathetic yet firm approach to dealing with high net worth individuals
• Proven people management skills, preferably with people from different cultures and countries
• Strong attention to detail and administrative discipline; able to identify, escalate and correct any errors when made by any part of the team or business
• Ability to listen well and show empathy
• Proven ability to remain calm under immense pressure
• Ability and willingness to deal directly with specific tasks and enquiries where required
• Advanced troubleshooting and multi-tasking skills
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, both verbal and written
• Ability to assess complex situations and use creativity to solve problems
• Established negotiation skills
• Proven ability to operate independently
• Self-assurance and a confident manner
• Have the ability to debate in a constructive manner and to challenge conventional wisdom
• Process control and process thinking – understanding the impact of how changes upstream affect customers and stakeholders in all parts of the value chain
• Accountable, being comfortable with being the first point of contact by internal and external stakeholders
• Great financial acumen, understand the functional and operational elements of a financial business and products
• Expert level in Excel and/or google sheets is a must.
• Ability to compile complex reports - Experience in Zendesk, Tableau is a huge plus.
• Strong knowledge of FDCPA, TCPA and other federal and state laws related to student loan servicing and collections.

Qualifications and experience

• Bachelor's degree
• 5+ years’ experience in financial services
• Experience working in collections, servicing and call center environments.
• Experience in managing processes from beginning to execution and resolution
• Experience in dealing with recovery processes under TCF principles
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal
• The ability to communicate and negotiate with a variety of internal and external customers
• Thrives in a busy environment and handles stressful situations calmly and professionally
• Team player, willing to help other areas to work as one team

Experience that would be nice to have

• Ideally you will have experience with US based consumer protection law and TCF principles.
• Lending – ideally you would have worked for a lending business
• Fintech experience – hopefully you would have experienced the excitement and challenges of working at the bleeding edge of disruptive technology within financial services
• Experience with FCA or have worked in a business that is FCA regulated before
• Paralegal experience
• Working with state and federal regulators
• Growth Company experience – you may have experienced rapid growth in your current role or company, knowing how to keep pace with changing processes and dependencies