Picture of Amir Tajkarimi

Amir Tajkarimi

Head, Collections Business Unit

Quick Overview

Here’s the thing about your quarterly 5300 Call Report: it’s not just paperwork. It’s how examiners, auditors, and your board judge whether you’re running a tight ship or heading for trouble.

The problem? Most collection programs are stuck in the past – manual processes, generic outreach, and expensive third-party vendors. Meanwhile, your delinquency numbers continue to rise, and your loan servicing costs are eroding profits.

Collections 2.0 changes that. 

It’s built specifically to hit the metrics that matter most on your 5300, while actually making things easier for your members. Think of it as collections that work smarter, not harder.

Key Items That Make or Break Your Report

Every quarter, when you file your NCUA 5300 Call Report, the examiners dig into it to gauge asset quality, capital adequacy, profitability, and operating efficiency. However, here are the top four areas that tell the story of whether your collections operation is helping or hurting your credit union.

Which Section & Line? What Does It Measure? Why Regulators Care?

Schedule A-2 

Delinquent Loans & Leases (Items 1-21)

Dollar & count of loans 30-59, 60-179, and ≥180 days past due, by product Early indicator of credit-risk trends and CECL reserve sufficiency ncua.gov

Statement of Income

Account 300 / 550 / 551

Provision, year-to-date charge-offs, and recoveries Directly affects net income and net worth ratio ncua.gov

Statement of Income

Account 280 – Loan Servicing Expense

Collection costs: letter & text fees, skip-tracing, outsourcing, etc.  Efficiency ratio driver; draws examiner’s attention when trending up ncua.gov

Derived ratios 

(NCUA FPR)

– Delinquent Loans / Total Loans

– Net Charge-Offs / Avg Loans

– Operating Expense / Avg Assets

Core PEER comparison metrics: deteriorating trends trigger supervisory follow-up

How Collections 2.0 Makes A Difference?

Most collection systems just help you make more calls or send more letters. Eltropy Collections 2.0 is smarter than that.

  • AI Picks The Best Approach For Each Member

Instead of blasting everyone with the same generic message, Eltropy AI figures out the optimal channel, timing, and even language for each person. Some members respond better to email at 10 AM. Others need a text at 6 PM. The AI learns and adapts.

  • Campaigns That Escalate Intelligently

Start with a friendly email reminder. If that doesn’t work, try texting. Still nothing? Then – and only then – does a live agent get involved. No more wasting staff time on members who would have paid with a simple reminder.

  • White-Label & Self-Service That Works

Your members get a white-label portal where they can set up payment plans, pay in full, or make partial payments using ACH, cards, or digital wallets. 

  • Everything Gets Tracked In Real-Time

Every message sent, every click, every promise-to-pay, every transaction. You’ll know exactly what’s working and what isn’t, with dashboards that show results as they happen.

How Does This Translate To Better 5300 Numbers?

Here’s where it gets interesting. Each Collections 2.0 feature directly improves specific lines on your call report:

  1. Day-zero reminders with AI timing hit Schedule A-2 hard. When members get the right reminder at the right time, fewer loans hit that 30-59 day bucket. Credit unions typically see a 30-50 basis point drop in early-stage delinquency ratios within two quarters.
  2. Escalating SMS and email workflows keep loans from rolling into the 60-179 day buckets (Schedule A-2, items 11-20). Peer pilots show a 5-10% reduction in roll-rates to 60+ days. That’s real money staying out of your problem loan categories.
  3. The self-service portal boosts your recoveries and cuts net charge-offs (Accounts 550/551). When members can pay instantly instead of waiting for your office hours, recovery rates improve. We’ve seen 15-30 basis point improvements in Net Charge-Offs as a percentage of Average Loans.
  4. AI Collector Assistant helps with Account 300 by making your provision calculations more predictable. When you have better data on payment patterns and member behavior, your CECL modeling gets more accurate. Credit unions report up to 5% less volatility in required reserves.
  5. End-to-end digital records slash Account 280 expenses. Fewer third-party letters, less postage, less overtime for your staff. Most credit unions see a 20-40% drop in Loan Servicing Expense year-to-date.
  6. Consolidated dashboards and SFTP/API feeds make examiner review packages & FPR narrative a breeze. Instead of scrambling to pull reports from five different systems, everything’s in one place. Examiners see “effective risk-mitigation controls,” which makes exam cycles smoother.

Note: These projections assume a $500 million credit union with 1.2% baseline delinquency and 60 basis point charge-off rate. Your results will vary based on portfolio mix.

Turning Improvements Into Your NCUA Narrative

Here’s how to make sure your Collections 2.0 success shows up where it counts – your 5300 report!

  • Start with your baseline. Pull the last eight quarters of Schedule A-2 and Income Statement data. Call out seasonality so improvements don’t get lost in the noise. 
  • Define your campaign cohorts. Use Collections 2.0’s decision engine to segment by product, vintage, and behavioral score. A used-auto borrower with two late payments behaves differently than a first-time HELOC customer. Treat them accordingly. 
  • Set KPIs that tie directly to 5300 lines. Example: “Reduce 60–179 DPD auto loans (DL0078 series) by 25% in six months.” 
  • Tag it like the NCUA does. Collections 2.0 exports every payment with the right NCUA product/type code, so you can reconcile to Schedule A and charge-off schedules without manual work. 
  • Close the loop with Finance. Feed delinquency and roll-rate data straight into CECL models, tightening the connection between Collections and Finance. 
  • Show the savings. Each quarter, highlight:
    • Loan Servicing Expense (Acct 280) vs. pre-go-live. 
    • Net Charge-Offs (550/551) and related Provision (300). 
    • Ratios like Delinquent Loans / Total Loans and Expense / Assets. 

Those trendlines become the story you tell in the Management’s Discussion & Analysis (MD&A) that accompanies the 5300.

Compliance & Examiner Optics

Examiners don’t just want to see results – they want proof that you’re running a tight, compliant operation. Collections 2.0 delivers that out of the box:

  • Built-in Audit Trail: Every message, consent flag, and payment is time-stamped – exactly what examiners request when validating Account 280 entries or verifying charge-off recoveries. 
  • Built-in Compliance Guardrails: White-label portals display required disclosures automatically, while the AI Assistant feeds collectors the right policy script in real time. [Reg E & UDAAP alignment] 
  • NCUA CECL Readiness: Real-time delinquency stratifications accelerate loss-rate studies, keeping you in step with Schedule A-6 and ASC 326 guidance.

Translation? When examiners ask, you don’t scramble – you click.

Implementation Blueprint

Rolling out Collections 2.0 is structured, fast, and collaborative. Here’s a proven roadmap:

Week Milestone Owners
1 Core extract via SFTP; map to loan-type codes (DLxxxx, 025A/B, etc.) IT & Finance
2–3 Campaign templates loaded; compliance review completed Collections & Legal
4 Staff training; AI Assistant knowledge-base import HR & Ops
5 Soft launch: 50% of portfolio; capture KPI baseline on dashboards PMO
8 Full rollout; first KPI review against 5300 draft Exec Sponsor

In just eight weeks, you’re not just live – you’re already measuring the impact on your 5300.

The Bottom Line

Eltropy Collections 2.0 isn’t a bolt-on communications tool – it’s a 5300 optimization engine

By attacking the very line items examiners care most about – delinquencies, charge-offs, servicing expenses, and more – Eltropy transforms smarter member outreach into regulator-ready performance gains.

Want to see what your delinquency and charge-off ratios could look like on your next 5300 filing? Let’s schedule a walkthrough.

About the Author

Amir Tajkarimi is Head of the Collections Business Unit at Eltropy, shaping digital-first, member-centric collections for hundreds of credit unions and community banks. As Lexop’s founder and former CEO, Amir transformed debt repayment with member-focused technology. Widely regarded as a thought leader, he continues to champion empathetic innovation and drive industry conversations on the future of collections.