From the AFA President – Your Own Best Interests

From the AFA President - Your Own Best Interests

Do we continue to suffer unreasonable demands and cripplingly low fees that have been held flat by forwarding companies? Or do we put our feet down and say that we have had enough?

GUEST EDITORIAL

Can you believe it? Convention time is rapidly upon us. And with it: decisions that have to be made. I want to encourage you to focus on the best interest of your recovery agency and your family’s future. Let’s not forget keeping the repossession industry’s best interest at heart, as well.

This year, some unique scheduling conflicts have come up since the Allied Convention was announced. So, you have a choice to join with like-minded repossession professionals that are looking to better their current situations at the AFA Convention in Florida, or you can spend more time and money with the middlemen who for nearly twenty years have been taking part of the industry that once belonged to the repossessors alone.

With ever-rising fuel prices and the high costs of insurance and equipment, not to mention the everyday costs of doing business, as owners we find ourselves at a crossroad. Do we continue to suffer unreasonable demands and cripplingly low fees that have been held flat by forwarding companies? Or do we put our feet down and say that we have had enough?

You have probably read about, or currently know of, several agency owners who are finally standing up to the repossession forwarding industry. Proudly enough, these agency owners are making a stand for what they believe to be right. While not all agencies are shutting down all forwarding assignments, most are opening communication with the forwarders and advising them that they can no longer afford to operate at a loss. The unsustainable fees and unreasonable demands made by legislators and forwarders threatens the very survival of their companies and the entire industry.

Just recently Digital Recognition Network recognized the immense damage that low fees and unreasonable compliance demands are doing to the industry and their agent network. They have terminated their contracts with four forwarding companies. Why did DRN make this bold and decisive move? One can assume that they recognized the need for a healthy repossession network, and they felt that their move was in the best interest of their lenders, vendors, and everyone involved in the industry.

The repossession forwarding concept has been around for a long time, but it was never intended to be used as a middle management tool designed to suppress fees or to make untenable demands upon agency owners. The damage these forwarding companies are doing to the industry is forcing long standing companies to close their doors. When it is the agencies that risk the lives of our agents and put our business at risk, I find it perplexing that any forwarding company would be allowed to hold membership in any repossession association. As I said before, their objectives are often a contradiction to the best interest of the repossession agencies that an association is supposed to represent. They threaten the livelihood of hard-working company owners. I simply don’t understand the idea of a repossession conference or “Summit” that allows forwarding companies to engage in conversations with the lenders upon whom every agency owner depends on to survive, and with whom the agency owners are there to meet.

The sponsor list of any conference will tell you whether the conference is about the repossessors or whether it’s about furthering the forwarding companies’ agenda. With glaring contradictions in purpose and the obvious pandering towards the repossession forwarding industry, why would any repossession agency owner pay to attend an event that is designed to fill the association’s pockets with forwarding companies sponsor dollars?

As president of Allied Finance Adjusters, I am proud to represent an association that since 1936 has represented repossession agency owners. We still have and always will be focused on the best interest of the repossession industry, the agency owners, their staff and families. This has never changed and never will. We are on the side of the repossession professionals and support the continued growth of the industry. As an agency owner I ask you to clearly question the purpose of each association’s event. Which event is actually in your best interest?

Repo2022 will be held this year at the Omni Orlando Resort at the ChampionsGate in sunny Orlando, Florida. June 20-23 will be very educational and informative for the professional repo company owner and employees. Families will enjoy the surrounding amenities as well as the mini golf and wave pool on-site. I look forward to visiting with everyone in attendance and together we can work toward restoring this industry.

Wade S. Argo