Federal Update From the Repo Alliance

The Repo Alliance founding members and members of ARA, Eagle 20 and AFA had a fly in to meet with members of the Senate and The House Of Representatives in Washington D.C.

Information from those meetings have led the Repo Alliance and their lobbyist Van Scoyoc to develop a “Four Pillars” approach to industry Representation benefiting the entire collateral recovery industry. Having this Four Pillar approach will allow our outreach to pursue visibility, partnerships and policy success. This approach will continue some of our work to date, but also branch out into new areas that will position us for further work in Washington, DC, regardless of which candidate wins the presidency and regardless of which party controls Congress. The elements of the Four Pillars are outlined below.

Small Business Outreach: (Pillar One)

One of the key messages we have used as a theme in our discussions is our frustration caused by The small business man being pushed around and dictated to by the Corporate Giants the lenders and their counterparts. We are going to expand our outreach from Banking and Financial committees to Small business committee’s in both the Senate and the House. The inherent nature of this dynamic has shown to resonate loudly with committees that have jurisdiction over policy to protect small businesses, in particular small businesses who are victim of unfair business practices and abuse. Many industries comprised of small businesses who are often pushed around by multi-national lenders and corporations may support our efforts opening a new universe of support on the Hill from which we can draw on.

Nongovernmental Advocacy: (Pillar Two)

Another part of the Repo Alliance advocacy has been to bring real world data to federal agencies in the legislative and the executive branch. We have been able to do this using data derived from the ARA’s member survey as well as data provided by Harding Brooks and industry wide companies in the collateral recovery world. This data has been used to reinforce and validate our message to federal officials. We have come to understand that nongovernmental entities are interested in our plight and want to meet with us in the future.

Further, this new outreach will help develop partnerships with demographics most at risk from bad lender behavior in the auto finance industry. Groups dealing with senior citizens, the Congressional Black Caucus, Veteran groups and others are likely partners. We will use facts to develop these partnerships and move our industry voice forward.

Banking Regulator Outreach: (Pillar Three)

Recently Van Scoyoc and Associates has had informal meetings with credit union regulators and is scheduling talks in banking regulator circles gaining insight into the inner workings of these regulators. We hope to demonstrate that poor oversight of the repossession process by lenders is a systematic problem effecting consumers every day.

The Repo Alliance, ARA and industry members will be reaching out to regulators at all levels to discuss education and new policies to alleviate safety concerns to both the recovery agent and the consumer. We will request regulators to increase oversight of violations, consumer rights and lack of accountability from lenders. Finally, we will urge regulators to require lenders to use agents who have been certified through one of the industry education programs such as the CCRS.

In addition, The Repo Alliance, ARA and members from Eagle group and AFA want to meet with the Federal Trade Commission to address a number of problems that warrant FTC education.

Continued Congressional Outreach: (Pillar Four)

The fourth pillar in our plan is continued congressional outreach along the lines of what we have been doing to this point, given the progress we are making. Senators have indicated they will soon express to the CFPB their belief that the Bureau must take significant measures to crack down on reverse indemnification that threatens consumers. We eagerly await information about the conversation which is forthcoming.

In addition, we will be redoubling our efforts to meet with other senators and representatives. Who have expressed concern when we met with them since the inception of the Repo Alliance. Reengaging them will help use advance ideas at CFPB and in Congress.

Finally, some Republicans who had previously been skeptical to meet with ARA because the CFPB was being challenged in court are free to meet now that the case has been resolved.

Beyond the four pillars there are other topics the Repo Alliance and their major supporter ARA will be moving forward on, look forward to further updates on new directions and projects under taken by your Repo Alliance.