A missed credit-card payment, an overdue personal-loan instalment and a late vehicle-finance payment may enter the same collections operation. But the conversations behind them can be very different.
A cardholder may be unsure which amount needs paying. A personal-loan customer may be waiting for their salary. A vehicle-finance customer may be worried about keeping the car they depend on for work.
In the first half of 2025, more than €20 billion in consumer credit entered non-performing status across EU/EEA banks, according to the European Banking Authority's December 2025 Risk Assessment Report. Meanwhile, AI is changing how lenders handle collections, from routine customer enquiries to repayment arrangements. McKinsey research suggests that advanced generative AI in credit customer assistance and collections can reduce operational expenses by up to 40% and improve recoveries by approximately 10%.
Agenly, Qualco Technology’s cloud-native SaaS platform powered by Agentic AI, connects customer conversations with repayment actions. Through messaging channels such as SMS, WhatsApp and Viber, customers can check account information, explore approved options and make payments within a guided digital journey.
Let’s see how this works across three use cases:
Consider a cardholder who has missed a payment and asks: “Do I need to pay the full balance, or just what is overdue?”
For a revolving credit product, the distinction between total balance, minimum payment and the amount needed to address arrears matters. A generic demand for payment can leave the customer uncertain about what to do. The lender needs to explain the amount due and what the customer can do next. Disputed transactions or continuing difficulty meeting minimum payments require a different response.
Trigger: An eligible overdue card account enters the digital journey.
Clarify: The journey uses lender-supplied balances and provides approved explanations based on the lender’s business policies to address the customer’s question.
Act: The customer pays, commits to an acceptable payment date or requests help.
Refer: A disputed amount or a statement that payments are becoming unaffordable prompts the appropriate path to a human specialist.
A personal-loan customer says: “I can pay when my salary gets paid next week.” Another says: “My income has decreased and I cannot make the monthly payment.” Both have an overdue instalment, but their needs are different.
The first situation may be a short-lived cash-flow mismatch. The second calls for a closer review of financial circumstances. Treating both through repeated reminders risks missing the information that should shape the response.
Agenly’s hardship-handling approach supports guided information gathering, recognition of potential vulnerability signals and escalation under lender-defined instructions. Sensitive cases can be escalated to human specialists along with conversation context.
Engage: Prompt the customer to explain the missed instalment.
Differentiate: Use targeted questions and intent detection to establish whether the customer describes a temporary delay or continuing difficulty.
Route: Offer a permitted commitment date or arrangement where eligible; refer affordability concerns for review.
Record: Register the option selected by the customer and agreed next step, so subsequent treatment reflects the customer’s response.
A customer misses a vehicle-finance instalment after an unexpected household expense. They rely on the car to commute and worry about what the missed payment means. Their immediate question may be about the vehicle rather than the balance.
Agenly combines a lender-approved explanation with a route to payment, an eligible commitment or human assistance. Its role here is early customer resolution, while decisions about contract changes, vehicle return or recovery remain with the lender’s authorised teams.
Trigger: A missed instalment starts the lender’s configured digital outreach.
Listen: Capture whether the customer describes a temporary difficulty, ongoing hardship or has a question about the agreement.
Guide: Use approved information and treatment options appropriate to the contract.
Escalate: Refer requests involving vehicle return, termination, disputes or complex hardship to the relevant teams and systems.
A common technology foundation can support different collections journeys, provided each retains its own treatment rules.
Agenly combines configurable workflows, conversation records and integration with operational systems. Lender-defined rules govern repayment eligibility, treatment options and escalation. The platform integrates with existing servicing and collections environments - a Qualco Collections & Recoveries installation is not a prerequisite.
Implementation requires accurate product data: balance and payment information for cards, instalment details for unsecured loans, and contract-specific guidance and referral rules for automotive finance.
A consumer-finance pilot should measure more than engagement. Alongside self-service and AI containment rates, lenders should track payments, recoveries and cost-to-collect, as well as successful access to human support and the quality of hardship referrals. Assessing these outcomes against existing treatment approaches for each credit product can reveal where digital resolution delivers value and where adjustments are needed.
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