A Letter from the AFA President – Moving Forward

Another year of conventions, zoom meetings and get-togethers has quickly come to an end for the Repossession industry. 2021, just like 2020, has proven to be a challenge for the repossession company owners that have fought valiantly to overcome the challenges that COVID-19 threw at them.

Sadly, many companies who struggled were forced to close their doors due to lack of work as well as the onslaught of legislative actions forced upon them. The lenders that all of us as owners count on to keep the doors open and the bills paid also threw caution to the wind and stopped sending repossession orders over cutting off the life blood to agencies and speeding up their demise.

Unfortunately, we all have lost friends and colleagues who have closed their doors due to COVID and the increased pressures placed on them by the political wrangling taking place within our government.

For this reason, I believe that the new crop of rumors that have suddenly developed within our industry is disgraceful and disrespectful. This is a time when, as owners, we should be looking for common ground and set aside the petty bickering and work as a team to keep this industry alive.

I have visited with individuals that will look you in the eye and agree with a concept to overcome a problem, whether it be declining fees due to middlemen taking their portion of your livelihood, or any one of the many other issues plaguing this industry. We sit in round-table sessions, attend zoom meetings, and go to conventions where we listen to experts explain the problems as well as the solutions. We all sit there and nod our heads in agreement, yet we go home and return to our set ways with the attitude that someone else will deal with it or the problems will simply go away. And when the issues don’t go away, and they escalate into a nonstop train wreck, we start pointing fingers at each other and the animosity grows.

It seems the latest trend is to form a little group and use one of the trade associations as a foundation to push an agenda. I also heard the other day that company owners that are in their thirties are the foundation of the repo industry. This may be true, however there are still hundreds of veteran owners who have an equal amount of drive to keep this industry alive and many years of knowledge that, combined with fresh new ideas, would be an unstoppable force to get our industry back on track. If all of us would come together, and set the animosity aside – can you imagine the team that could be formed as an undivided front?

Respect each other, listen to new ideas from the younger generation, and talk to the veterans. You might be surprised to find out that you are both on the same page, just with different ways and ideas to get to the same goal.

It’s time to stop the petty arguing, get over the hurt feelings, forget about the past, and use the tools we all have before us to start rebuilding the industry. It’s time to work as a team and find solutions to the many issues that have infected this industry.

We don’t need to agree with everyone’s methods; however, we need to applaud and support their efforts in the same way we would expect them to support the efforts of others.

Once upon a time, there were four industry associations, each with its own path and personality and agency owners were frequently members of two or more. Minor criticisms between each other was occasional, but because of the multiple membership crossover of owners, there was a greater mutual respect and camaraderie within the industry. With diminishing membership counts, there were mergers and this crossover between associations came to an end and the divisions grew to the point that we were weakened and became easy prey for those wishing to take advantage of us. This same mutual respect and camaraderie must be reclaimed by all in this industry if we are to survive and prosper beyond these difficult times.

As the result of the pandemic and sluggish repossession assignment volumes, Allied Finance Adjusters, like our other peer associations, have experienced the same struggles in membership growth and event attendance. As proud stewards of our now 85-year-old association, we continue to hold watching our operating expenses as a paramount strategy in assuring that we will continue to be there to celebrate our one-hundredth. Remember, our association was founded in the aftermath of the Great Depression, survived the four-year halt of auto production and lending during World War II and only grew stronger in the aftermath. I firmly believe that our best years are yet to come.

As President of Allied I have dedicated myself to building new relationships, cultivating current relationships and rebuilding old relationships. It’s important to realize that Allied members are my family and I take being president very seriously. Being President is an honor to me, but I am nothing without my Allied family. And please note, I will do anything needed to help with their growth.

Let’s move forward people! Let’s show lenders and anyone else that asks that this industry is strong. We may not always agree on the methods used, but We must come together as a United Front, or this industry is going to continue down a very rocky road.