Selection criteria updates in an asset recovery workflow

Abstract

Selection criteria updates are described in an asset recovery workflow. In one example, a description of a physical asset that is to be recovered for lack of payment is received. The description is applied to a pre-defined set of criteria to select a recovery agent to recover the physical asset. The candidate recovery agents have values assigned to the criteria, such as location, recovery rate, and time to recover. Recovery status information is received as to whether the asset has been recovered by the selected agent. A recovery rate value for the selected recovery agent is then updated using the recovery status information.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method comprising:
 receiving a description at a server system of a physical asset that is to be recovered for lack of payment, the description including a location of the physical asset and a type of the physical asset;   applying the description to a pre-defined set of criteria at the server system to select a recovery agent to recover the physical asset, each of a plurality of candidate recovery agents having values assigned to the criteria, the criteria including location of the respective agent, recovery rate of the respective agent, and time to recover by the respective agent;   receiving recovery status information at the server system as to whether the asset has been recovered by the selected agent; and   updating the recovery rate value of the selected recovery agent using the recovery status information.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising sending a request to recover the physical asset from the server system to the selected recovery agent 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the criteria includes capacity, the method further comprising:
 updating the capacity of the selected agent in response to sending the request; and   updating the capacity of the selected agent in response to the recovery status information.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the recovery agent is a forwarding agent that forwards the request to a repossession agent selected by the forwarding agent. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein applying the description comprises comparing the description to each pre-defined criterion for each candidate recovery agent to generate a score for each criterion for each candidate recovery agent, weighting each score, and adding the weighted scores for each candidate recovery agent and wherein selecting the recovery agent comprises selecting the candidate recovery agent with the best score. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein receiving a description comprises receiving the description from a requesting agent that seeks recovery of the physical asset, the method further comprising receiving weights for at least some of the scores from the requesting agent. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein receiving a description comprises receiving the description from a requesting agent that seeks recovery of the physical asset, the method further comprising receiving a preference factor for at least one of the candidate recovery agents from the requesting agent, and applying the preference factor to adjust the score of the corresponding recovery agent. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein applying the description further comprises first applying a constraint using the location of the physical asset to limit candidate recovery agents to those within the constraint. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the criteria include quality data from debtors regarding recovery agents. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising comparing the received recovery status information to a timer and if the physical asset is not recovered after expiration of the timer, then repeating applying the description to a pre-defined set of criteria and selecting a different recovery agent based on the comparison. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein receiving a description comprises receiving the description from a requesting agent that seeks recovery of the physical asset, the method further comprising sending an alert to the requesting agent. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the payment is against a loan and wherein the asset description further includes a type of the loan. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving a description of the physical asset after recovery, the description including location of the physical asset upon recovery and condition of the physical asset; and   applying the description to a pre-defined set of remarketing criteria to select a market, each of a plurality of markets having values assigned to the criteria the remarketing criteria including location of the market and sales performance of the respective market.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising applying an artificial intelligence engine to add a criterion to the pre-defined set of criteria using patterns in previous recoveries. 
     
     
         15 . A non-transitory machine-readable medium comprising a plurality of instructions, executed on a computing device, to facilitate the computing device to perform one or more operations comprising:
 receiving a description at the computing device of a physical asset that is to be recovered for lack of payment, the description including a location of the physical asset and a type of the physical asset;   applying the description to a pre-defined set of criteria at the computing device to select a recovery agent to recover the physical asset, each of a plurality of candidate recovery agents having values assigned to the criteria, the criteria including location of the respective agent, recovery rate of the respective agent, and time to recover by the respective agent;   receiving recovery status information at the computing device as to whether the asset has been recovered by the selected agent; and   updating the recovery rate value of the selected recovery agent using the recovery status information.   
     
     
         16 . The medium of  claim 15 , wherein applying the description comprises comparing the description to each pre-defined criterion for each candidate recovery agent to generate a score for each criterion for each candidate recovery agent, weighting each score, and adding the weighted scores for each candidate recovery agent and wherein selecting the recovery agent comprises selecting the candidate recovery agent with the best score 
     
     
         17 . The medium of  claim 16 , wherein receiving a description comprises receiving the description from a requesting agent that seeks recovery of the physical asset, the method further comprising receiving weights for at least some of the scores from the requesting agent. 
     
     
         18 . The medium of  claim 16 , wherein receiving a description comprises receiving the description from a requesting agent that seeks recovery of the physical asset, the method further comprising receiving a preference factor for at least one of the candidate recovery agents from the requesting agent, and applying the preference factor to adjust the score of the corresponding recovery agent. 
     
     
         19 . An apparatus comprising:
 a communications interface of a server system to receive a description of a physical asset that is to be recovered for lack of payment, the description including a location of the physical asset and a type of the physical asset and to receive recovery status information at the server system as to whether the asset has been recovered by a selected agent;   a memory to store values assigned to criteria for each of a plurality of candidate recovery agents, the criteria including a location of the respective agent, a recovery rate of the respective agent, and a time to recover by the respective agent;   a processing device to facilitate applying the description to a pre-defined set of the stored criteria at the server system to select a recovery agent to recover the physical asset, and to update the recovery rate value of the selected recovery agent using the recovery status information.   
     
     
         20 . The apparatus of  claim 19 , further comprising an artificial intelligence engine to add a criterion to the pre-defined set of criteria using patterns in previous recoveries.