The Direction of the Industry – 2018

GUEST EDITORIAL

First of all, I would like to congratulate the forwarding company Primeritus, on its 2017 Supplier Of The Year Award from Ally Financial. Even though my company has not been a vendor for Primeritus since 2013, and has never been a direct vendor for Ally Financial, it is still nice to see positive news in this industry. To Scott Peters; thank you for recognizing that your agent partners share in that achievement with you.

Since NARS is just around the corner, this is the perfect opportunity to bring about an open line of communication between all of us involved in the asset recovery industry; agents, lenders, skip tracers, forwarders, and associations alike.

I, just as many of you have as well, received numerous contracts this 1st quarter of 2018 to review and sign to continue doing business. Some of these I have responded to, with no reply back. Some, I have annotated and showed discrepancies and one-sided language to be corrected. Sometimes, these one-sided issues are corrected, sometimes they are not. Other contracts, I have just not responded to because unfortunately, if the contract is that badly worded, are they a business you want to be associated with anyway?

I received a phone call today from one client asking if I was going to sign and send it back. I informed them of one correction (reverse indemnity clause specifically) and said that I would finish reviewing the rest and get back to them this week. Unfortunately, I was told that 80% of agents already signed and sent back the contract as it was written. I was also told that “this is just how the industry is” right now.

That way of thinking is going to spark the next recession and economic downturn. That way of thinking is going to get agents killed. That way of thinking is going to cause every honorable and compliant agency to fold. When only non-compliant agents are left, the consumers will hurt. Wait, aren’t we all consumers?

It is up to EVERY ONE OF US to make a stand for what we believe in. All of us have different backgrounds. We all come from all walks of life. Some young. Some old. Some rich. Some poor. From urban cities. From rural towns. Most of us know the automotive side better than most. But fewer of us know the legal side. If you don’t understand a contract as it is presented, ask. But don’t ask who sent it to you. Ask your trade association you pay dues to. Ask a fellow repossession agency. Ask your lawyer if you have one. Hell, ask me if you have to.

If you give an inch, someone else will take a mile.

Right now, I cannot thank my mother enough for helping force me to go to college. Because at least if my clients run my company out of business, I will have an education to fall back on and a different direction and industry to pursue (and probably be happier for it).

To reference back to my very first point of this editorial, while I can appreciate what Primeritus does for Ally, I also cannot forget that without us, the repossession agencies, the forwarding companies would not exist. What most everyone in their nice corner office cubicles, at all companies, seem to forget, is that these vehicles do not recover themselves, no matter how much money Google, or Uber, or whoever else that is trying to test self-driving cars wants to throw into R&D, there is no substitute for the human element in collections. The human element is the compassion and care for talking with a debtor who just lost their spouse to cancer and medical bills forced the repossession. The human element is the ability to verify that a child is not in the backseat while their mother ran inside to pay her last $20 for gas to get away from an abusive relative. These are situations that happen each and every day, and situations that we, as an industry, encounter each and every day.

But guess what? Bank earnings are on the rise. <http://www.wsj.com/graphics/bank-earnings/>.

But who’s pay is down? The repossession agency’s. Who’s pay is up? The banks CEO’s. <https://www.wsj.com/articles/wall-streets-top-ceos-take-home-126-million-for-2017-1518807014>.

Yet for some reason, most of these forwarding companies, who came in around 2007-2008 initially, and took the work from us, and gave it back at half price, won’t go to bat for the agencies that allow them to exist. (I can think of one who actually sets a very level playing field for all involved.) But when we disagree with terms of the agreement, we are cut off, and the business is given to another local agency who doesn’t give $0.02 about compliance and doesn’t have insurance. (Yes it does happen, no matter how much everyone wants to turn a blind eye to it).

So I don’t take up any more of your time, and I greatly appreciate you reading this far, I will end this with a quote that best summarizes the message I want to convey:

“We’re all sinking in the same boat here. We’re all bored and desperate and waiting for something to happen. Waiting for life to get better. Waiting for things to change. Waiting for that one person to finally notice us. We’re all waiting. But we also need to realize that we all have the power to make those changes for ourselves.” – Susane Colasanti

-Danny Redding, CEO

Recovery Columbus, Inc.

danny@rcihq.com

(I am always happy to assist if I can. Agency or Lender included. Feel free to email. We are all in this together!)

Danny Redding is a second generation repossession agency owner and a member of the American Recovery Association (ARA) and Time Finance Adjusters (TFA).

Recovery Columbus, Inc. is in its 3rd decade of service to lenders and financial institutions and covers all of West Central Georgia and East Central Alabama.