FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Dallas, Texas- January 14, 2014-Secure Collateral Management, the same company that shocked the recovery industry last year by announcing “SAME DAY PAY with NO FEE” for its nationwide network of recovery agents and then became the first forwarding company to pay Positive Resolution Fees, now announces a TWO HUNDRED DOLLAR ($200) INCENTIVE toward its contracted agent’s initial VTS Certification fee for contracted service providers that register with VTS prior to February 15th, 2014. ADDITIONALLY, once VTS Certified, SCM will add a FIVE DOLLAR ($5) VTS Certification bonus to its agent’s contracted recovery rate for EACH repossession performed for SCM. This bonus continues for the life of the agent’s VTS Certification.
“Everyone talks the talk about compliance these days but SCM takes it serious enough to incentivize it. This is because Secure Collateral Management is managed by retired bankers who approach compliance differently. SCM management understands that compliance isn’t a onetime thing, or a snap shot. Compliance is an ongoing process. Not only is Secure Collateral Management VTS Certified, but it is actively completing a SOC2 Type II Security and Confidentiality audit and certification. SCM will be the first company in the industry with this dual certification. With audited certified financial statements and third party network-website penetration and vulnerability testing, SCM walks the walk when it comes to CFPB compliance,” said Sarah Farley, Principal Secure Collateral Management.
“SCM feels like the VTS’s secure online portal allows unparalleled access to monitor our vendor network’s compliance. This enables SCM to assist our vendors in becoming and staying as compliant as SCM.” said Sandi Thompson, Secure Collateral Management, Operations Manager
For more information about Secure Collateral Management’s industry leading compliant skip tracing and collateral recovery visit our website at www.secure-cm.com or contact Sandi Thompson at (972) 226- 2440 ext 310
“Reaching the highest level of compliance and providing clients with a tool that provides daily monitoring of service providers is a top priority of SCM. We at VTS look forward to working with SCM and their network of asset recovery professionals and assisting them in understanding and implementing the highest standards of Compliance and Ethics.” Said, Max Pineiro, President of VTS
About Secure Collateral Management
Secure Collateral Management is woman owned and one of the nation’s largest skip tracing and collateral recovery companies. With over 50 of the nation’s most experienced full time in house skip tracers(no skip work is forwarded) SCM provides unparalleled collateral location results in a controlled, compliant environment. SCM’s nationwide network of repossession agents (that choose ACH) are paid the same day they repossess the vehicle with absolutely no fees deducted from their contracted rate. Secure Collateral Management believes recovery agents are our business partners not just third party vendors. This philosophy allows Secure Collateral Management to provide one of the nation’s highest recovery rates while simultaneously being one of the most compliant skip tracing and collateral recovery companies as SCM has never even been named in a lawsuit. To become a recovery agent partner or learn more about Secure Collateral Management’s services visit our website at www.secure-cm.com or call Sandi Thompson at (972) 226-2440- ext. 310
About Vendor Transparency Solutions, LLC.
VTS is the industry leader in Supplier Vetting and Compliance Monitoring. VTS provides a platform that allows for contracted service providers to track and monitor their level of compliance while providing a tool for automotive lending institutions and forwarding companies to also track and monitor their entire network in real time, as is required by federal regulators. For further information on VTS, visit our website at www.vtscheck.com or contact Jeff Koistinen at 520-468-3990 ext 100 or Max Pineiro at 520-468-3992 ext 101.
In a far away place in times past the industry of recovering mortgaged property was good. Individual men and women in this industry set their own prices on recovery services, storage, keys, delivery of vehicles to auction and any special requests that clients may have had based on what was deemed fair and reasonable for the recovery agent to make a fair profit. All was well and all prospered.
Then an ugly dragon raised its head and the dragon’s name was “FORWARDING COMPANY”. This dragon combed the land and persuaded lending institutions that it was the great solution to uniform prices and less work on the lenders part throughout the land and through this smoke and mirror process which allowed the dragon to add on fees for tracing, auction prep, batteries and tires the dragon sucked up a large portion of the business which had once gone to the independent recovery agents. More dragons appeared and soon the competition between the dragons drove the recovery service fees down lower and lower. Items which had once created revenue now became large money pits which sucked the profits out of many recovery agencies. The dragons maintained their army of agents through the promise of increased income through higher volume and soon their army of agents became slaves to every demand the dragons made. FREE storage, FREE keys, FREE delivery, FREE photographs, the cries of the legitimate agents went unheeded as the slowly descended into the doldrums of financial ruin.
Then there appeared upon the landscape an armored knight known as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and it was the hope of the land that through this knight’s demand for strict and individual compliance by each and every agent the head of the dragon could be severed and profit and peace once again restored to a once prosperous industry.
To assist the CFPB knight with his task there appeared upon the scene a white knight and he also promised fairness and prosperity for members of the recovery industry through a program to verify each recovery agent’s compliance process and thus shut down the unscrupulous and non compliant agents working for the Dragons.
Many flocked to the white knight, sang his praise and ministered to his needs and his reputation grew as a knight of integrity, honor and unbiased actions.
Then one day the white knight drank of the magic potion and a change came about. The white knight had entered into an alliance with the Dragon and boasted of the power the relationship would bring to the countryside.
The white knight turned away from the consequences of his action, to the fact that there would be the possibility that the dragon would now venture from his cave to tell the lenders who were using the agents who followed the white knight that his army was verified compliant by the white knight and the Dragon would get the work done for less money. The agents who were working for the dragon but had not joined the white knights group would now be told to join the white knight, pay the cost or the Dragon would take the work he had been providing away from their agencies and cast them into the pit of failure.
The men and women cried out that by this action the white knight had betrayed them, that the knight had promised he would never sell out to the legion of dragons, that he would work with the CFPB knight to ferret out the non compliant and non professionals who comprised the dragon’s legion of agents but instead provided the dragon with a way to legitimatize his forces and convince the lenders that his army of darkness was comparable to all other compliant forces.
The men and women cried out to the white knight, “WHY, WHY, WHY?” and awaited his reply of betrayal.
I did not wright this but it needs to be said.
Positive resolution fee’s? When will one of these forwarding companies sell service at a fair price that does not endanger the public with contingency contracts? Being certified by VTS does not mean that an agency hasn’t hired Huck and Buck to do their field work. It doesn’t mean that the agency is anything other than compliant with certain aspects of CFPB and there is a fence around the location storing the collateral. Lenders beware, you are responsible for those that act as your agent, even if you trust a contingent forwarding company to pick them. Forwarding companies are a convenience, not another layer of insulation from lawsuits. Using a contingent forwarder could be the costliest mistake you ever make. Enough complaints about the rising violence and you will be headed to court to get your collateral back as self help can be legislated away. You cannot hire professional people at sub-par pricing and set yourself up as a consumer advocate. In my opinion, no professional agency can make the numbers work without cutting our number one expense. Our employees wages and benefits. If you tell a man, You will only be paid if you get the collateral, bad things can and do happen. Now it seems like a daily occurrence.
It would be quite a feat and accomplishment for any “vetting group”, with proven knowledge that “contingency assignments are UNFAIR to the adjuster by asking them to drive miles and invest time with no compensation for their efforts, DANGEROUS to both the adjuster and the consumer which has been the case on every act of violence in every case I have examined as an expert witness and lends itself to POOR SERVICE with a DECREASE IN RECOVERY PERCENTAGES to refuse to vet any agency or forwarder who demands “CONTINGENT RECOVERY” and any payment less than $!50.00 for a “CLOSE” is considered “Contingent” in my opinion. If you need the money that bad that you cannot afford to refuse to vet these agencies and forwarders then at the least add a section in the vetting process which asks “Do you require yor agents/employees/contractors to work contingent?
This would allow the lenders to know they are using a forwarder who, in most cases do not work contingent, but is forwarding accounts out on a contingent basis. I also think it could be taken a step farther when vetting a recovery agency by asking if they require their field agents to work contingent. Maybe this does not make sense to some of the readers but you have to consider the source…An old cowboy who still lives by “THE CODE”