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A Response to: “From the TFA: A Response to the ARA’s “Industry Merger Update”
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Forwarders have to prove they add value to the process and bill lenders for it separately and not expect for the agent to pay them from their profits just for the privilege of doing their jobs. Forwarders should not dictate price, rather the market and competition sets the price. Forwarders should acknowledge that contingency based compensation limits the effort that can be applied to the assignment and negatively effects repossession recovery rates. Forwarders should have the same high standard for business ethics and performance as the trade associations.
Read More!
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by Terry Groves, Vice President World-Wide Sales,
Consolidated Asset Recovery Systems (CARS) |
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So if you are sitting there still resigned to using your recovery tactics of yesteryear and resistant to adapt to the changing tides, the only thing I have to say is to take a look around you and ask yourself where any industry would be today without changing and adapting. If you are sitting there and wondering if the “build it and they will come” mentality will actually be a profitable business model, you are already too late.
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by Maria Olson, AZ Asset Recovery |
Open Letter to the Recovery Industry
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Many things have changed within the industry since the Allied Finance Adjusters Conference was established in 1936 as the first national repossession industry trade association. Many great men and women have come and gone, each has left their own mark on our industry and our association. Our predecessors became successful through honest negotiation, education and with the support of those that stood shoulder to shoulder with them in an effort to work toward a common goal. That goal, was to enhance and promote the recovery industry.
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by George Badeen, AFA President |
Industry Merger Update
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Unfortunately, the era of negotiations, meetings, and discussions on mergers between the three national repossession associations has ended. There are no further meetings planned, and there are no further negotiations anticipated. If you are not yet a member of ARA, there may never be a better opportunity to become a member and to help unite our industry.
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by Joe McOwen, ARA President |
How Does Your Business Rank Against Your Peers?
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One of my favorite quotes is from a former CEO of Coca Cola who said, “The best thing that ever happened to Coca Cola was Pepsi.” The CEO went on to explain the competition forced Coca Cola to benchmark all facets of their business (volume, efficiency, logistics, distribution, production, etc.) against Pepsi. Even with the cut throat competition, both company’s profitability grew.
The repossession industry is more fragmented than the soft drink industry, which would appear to be a barrier for individual companies to gather and benchmark their performance.
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by Mike Plue, Owner and President of Premier Recovery Service |
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On November 11th, my husband walked out the door laughing, joking, and teasing me about the holidays. The next time I would see him… over 56 hours later he was cold, lifeless, and lying in a casket. There was a “mix-up” with the detectives and Fulton County Police and no one ever even came to notify me. The news traveled from person to person within the company and finally found it’s way to my brother who came to tell me. I REFUSED to believe that this was happening, surely to God if Brandon where shot and killed someone would have come and told me, right?
 Brandy Thomas |
Brandon Thomas and Family |
If you watch Walmart’s TV ads, they often focus on something they refer to as their “rollbacks". What they are hyping is their willingness to consistently “roll back” the price of items like underarm deodorant and Toy Story 3 DVDs. The idea is pretty clever.
But, if you’re observant, you will see an entirely different kind of rollback at Walmart this Christmas season...rollback tow trucks cruising up and down Walmart’s jammed parking lots. And what is bringing them there might surprise you. Read More!
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Patrick Altes,
Owner, Falcon International |
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There are many ways to get into the repo industry. Yet, once you get there, how do you succeed? My first piece of advice is, go work for another company. Find one in your area, use their truck, experience, insurance, bond, and their teaching. Learn how to go without sleep and how to work for 14-16 hours straight. The job is a fun one at times, while at other times you'll want to shoot yourself for getting involved. Why, keep reading you'll soon see. It's not a job that you can do half way... Read More!
 Dane Dino Petrovic Dino DT Recovery, LLC
410-676-3331
Joppa, MD |
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Do you know who is repossessing your collateral?
You interview prospective employees, checking their references and appearance to be sure they convey a professional image to your customers. You spend your company’s hard-earned money to provide a clean, modern office environment. You spend to provide your customers with a user-friendly interactive web site. You make customer service your number one priority, sparing no expense to take better care of your clients. Then, to save a few dollars, you hire an inexperienced, ill-equipped repo company to pick up your delinquent cars. Make sense? Of course not. Read More!
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Thomas J. Prenovost, Jr. Karel Rocha
Managing Principal Associate
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Prenovost, Normandin, Bergh and Dawe A.P.C.
BP# 714-547-2444
FX# 714-835-2889
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Timo Saarela
Vice President -
Servicing Westlake Financial Services |
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When is a good time to repossess that car, boat or RV? Never really, but under the current circumstances we need to take all the variables under careful consideration before we take action. In the first place this should always be a business decision and never based on your personal feelings regardless of your relationship with your customer or member. Often times our feelings and frustration get the best of us and we end up making impulse decisions which end up costing unnecessary losses on the bottom line. Let’s examine this little further.
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Due Diligence and Analytics Professionals |
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Many of us are well aware of the value of performing due diligence on companies that we are considering doing business with. We are also comfortable with performing due diligence on loan portfolios that we are looking to acquire. These actions make perfect sense to us because we are actively seeking a relationship with a new counterparty and we want to ensure that we have all of our facts in order. Frankly, we want to cover our collective butts. Read More!
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Mary Jane Hogan
President,
National Locating
and Recovery Inc.
Director,
American Recovery
Association |
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Most people think the recovery industry is booming. We receive calls weekly from the media wanting to cover industries, like ours, that are “thriving” during these tough economic times. Unfortunately, they are completely wrong. There are many reasons our industry isn’t doing well – some related to the economy and others related to how other recovery agents and lending institutions are influencing how we conduct businesses. Regardless, it’s a fast-paced and changing industry and we’re working hard to ensure we survive and prosper. Here are some reasons, beyond the economy, the recovery industry is challenged and reasons it continues to survive.
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Michelle Dunn,
Collections Columnist and Author |
An internationally-known expert on the topic of credit and collections Michelle Dunn is a leading authority on starting a collection agency, she is a columnist and the author of an award winning book on the topic as well as 12 other books on credit and debt collection. She has been featured on CNN, Forbes, Smart Money magazine and is often quoted in the Wall Street Journal. Michelle has been named one of the Top 5 Women in Collections twice as well as being named one of the Top 50 most influential collection professionals in the industry. Learn more at her websites www.MichelleDunn.com and
www.Credit-and-Collections.com
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It happens to all of us. We know our customers, and they would never stiff us. Until….it happens to you. A customer that has always paid on time is paying slower than in the past and is becoming increasingly past due.
Most business owners don’t even realize a customer is getting more and more behind until they owe a large sum of money and it is over 60 days past due. What do you do now?
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Patrick Altes,
Owner, Falcon International |
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To the professionals in the repossession industry — and yes there are hundreds of them in this business — there's nothing funny or entertaining about Operation Repo, so-called "reality TV." Although it slips by pretty quickly in the credits, it has a disclaimer up front that the scenes are staged, coyly referring to them as "reenactments."
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John Pearson
Executive Vice President
and National Sales Manager
State National Companies |
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Lenders may fear that adding the cost of forced-place, collateral protection insurance (CPI) to loan balances will increase loan delinquency. However, experience shows that most repossessions covered are already delinquent before payments are ever adjusted. Read More!
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Jay Loeb Vice President and principal owner,
National Creditors Connection Inc. |
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Member contact also can produce unexpected findings, many of which would very likely irk the general public if they could see what we do: someone opting to strategically default on a mortgage obligation, driving away in a late-model luxury car, towing a fancy boat en route to a vacation resort. Read More!
Drew A. Callahan
Attorney at Law
Pite Duncan, LLP
Recent Decisions Regarding the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act
The recent decisions by the United States Supreme Court and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal in Jerman and Rouse, respectively, demonstrate the substantial burden placed on debt collectors by the FDCPA as well as the risks involved in engaging debt collection today.
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Credit Unions See Success With Online Reminder Strategy
Email program from DigitalMailer generates time- and cost-saving results
At companies where collections are standard business practice, there’s a simple, cost-effective way to collect on past-due accounts, and according to Northwest Federal Credit Union (NWFCU) in Herndon, Va., it’s as easy as hitting “send.”
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Jay Kister
President
Infinity National Management Services
Most people don’t enjoy reading all the legislation verbatim, but if you do, you can’t help but observe the huge discrepancy between the intended purpose of the legislation and its effectiveness in real life. What causes the discrepancy? The answer is Emotion. By understanding human psychology and emotion, we can bridge the gap between the borrowers and the collector.
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 Confluent Resources Group
G. Don Gross
President/CEO
Confluent Resources Group
10 Components of a Quality Collection CallWhile the quantity of collection calls made is certainly an important ingredient to a successful collection operation, more is not always better and twice as much does not mean twice as good. The quality of a collection call is even more important than the number of calls a collector makes on any given day. The same is true for a dialer or any automated calling program. A collection department can make all the calls they want but, once contact is made with the member, then the quality of the call is what cures delinquent loans.
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