Do Unto Others So They Pay Up

Yes, there are family companies in the collections business, too. And one of the most prominent in the Far West is Washington Credit Inc. Started by C. Dan Hunter in 1950, WCI was a small collections agency in the town of Redmond, Washington, until the credit boom gathered steam some 20 years ago. Now WCI, with 90 employees and 1991 earnings of $3.5 million, is the second largest collections firm in the state of Washington and counts among its clients such giants as Nordstrom, J.C. Penney, U.S. West Communications, and Puget Power.

Hunter, 68, built the business with his wife, Irene, who supervises payroll, personnel, and accounts payable, but it is now run largely by their son, Steven J. Hunter, 44, who surprised everybody when he agreed to come to WCI five years ago. Steven is a CPA who spent six years with Ernst and Whinney in Seattle and 13 years as a financial officer in other companies before joining the family business. His father soon discovered that Steven had his own ideas about the future of WCL As CEO, he has doubled the number of accounts taken on by the firm as well as the size of the staff; to enhance the collectors' telephone efficiency, he has ushered in new shift hours and new automated dialing systems.

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