Darren joined the Debt Advice service in August and has already been making a positive impact across the company. He has a core belief of treating the customer fairly and is a strong ambassador for vulnerable customers and is bringing his ethos into the already customer focused ethos of ‘The Debt Advice Service’
Darren has been in the financial services sector for about 18 years, starting off at a bank and then working his way through various companies that offered secured and unsecured loans, home credit, debt collection, debt management and insolvency before joining the Debt Advice Service. This is what Darren had to say about his journey:
“I initially started in a lending role, to then working in lending/collections which involved knocking on people’s doors, asking them if they were able to pay their debts. This gave me the understanding that not everyone could afford to do that, which prompted me to look at other ways we could help them. I then moved into insolvency and debt management which demonstrated that there were different ways we could help people in this situation.”
Darren’s belief is that we can better help our customers through getting a good understanding of their situation while at the same time showing our customers empathy. Darren’s customer driven approach comes from his own experience after having a period in his own life where he was in financial difficulties and needing help to get himself out of the situation.
Darren believes:
“Our job is about assessing our customer’s situation and then seeing how we can help them, particularly those who are vulnerable, as these customers may need extra support. By understanding how their debts are affecting them and their families we are best placed to give them some peace of mind and hopefully a fresh start.”
With the career that Darren has enjoyed any move needs to be made with careful thought and consideration. It was the ethos of treating the customer fairly and putting the customer first that drew Darren to the Debt Advice Service. At the Debt Advice Service, we will look at the requirements of our customers and then give them information of several debt support services that we can assist with. However, if this is not appropriate The Debt Advice Service will point customers towards the free sector and charities that might be able to help them with their needs.
Darren’s journey with the Debt Advice Service is only just beginning but we can already see the positive changes that he is making and while that is a positive for us, it is also a big positive for our customers.