November’s Letter from the ARA President

It’s Daylight Savings Time! For those of us affected, we all gained another hour over the weekend. But now we have to get adjusted to how early the sun goes down. To the few of you who are lucky enough to live in areas that do not participate in daylight saving time — we are all jealous.

I would like to welcome your ARA Board of Directors for 2021-2022, Marcelle Egley, Jeremy Cross, Vaughn Clemmons, Bennett Deese, Burton Greenwood, Jr., Amy Bednar, and Patrick Altes. These are the individuals who are here to serve you! If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to reach out to any one of them for assistance.

Here we are, the toughest people in one of the toughest industries, being RESILIENT. Given the past two years, we are now qualified to do so much with very little. Some report an uptick in business, yet the volume is still down for most. Let us hope everyone can remain strong-willed, especially in times of adversity.

As we speak about volume increases, things will never be right if we don’t transition from charitable service organizations to professional and profitable businesses. Lenders are very aware of our position on fees and services yet fragmentation on our side enables prevailing fees that will not support a profitable repossession agency. There are so many new underlying issues that agency owners are dealing with. This is a crucial time for lenders and agents to communicate regarding viable fees that will support a sustainable business model that benefits all stakeholders. ARA believes the direct relationship lenders have with their vendor network is the most valuable model in today’s business environment and we must unite and make smart operational decisions for us to succeed in this industry.