UK Launches $35 billion Debt Collection Project Headed by Equifax's TDX Group

The government of the United Kingdom announced an initiative to recover some $35 billion in debt from back taxes, student loans, vehicle registrations, and other arrears. A new company will be formed to handle the contract, facilitated by the TDX Group, an Equifax company.

In a multi-year agreement, Integrated Debt Services, Ltd. will launch with six Government Departments as initial customers who have committed to using its capabilities as a single gateway to access the increased capacity and capability of the private sector. The initial departments named were HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), the Department for Work and Pensions, the Home Office, the Student Loans Company, the Legal Aid Agency, and the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA).

Integrated Debt Services is forming under the auspices of TDX Group, a leading debt placement services and debt management platform company in the UK. TDX Group was purchased by U.S.-based Equifax earlier this year.

The scope of debt services to be contracted through Integrated Debt Services will include:

• Provision of analytics (data cleansing and enrichment services) where required by departments
• Provision and management of collection activity by debt collection agencies
• Litigation and enforcement services

“This is a strategic opportunity that is well-aligned with the strength of our TDX debt management capabilities and is a great initial step which will be supported by a series of commercial agreements to be signed in early 2015,” said Equifax Chairman and CEO Rick Smith. “We are pleased with the UK Government’s recognition of the expertise we will bring as a partner, enabling them to facilitate fair and effective collection of over £22 billion in outstanding debt to that country’s government.”

The UK has recently leveraged the private sector for the collection of debts, most notably with the expansion of a program to use collection agencies to recover tax debt.