The American Repossessor

What a start to the new year!  A busy one thankfully, but one that already has many of us in the industry, holding our heads in our hands and thinking/saying, what is going on?

I am referring to Friday’s article in the Associated Press relating to the violence within our industry and headlined “Violence between repo men, car owners on the rise”…..

So dismayed I was when I read this, that I have dedicated my column to the CHANGES that are needed in to professionalize this industry, calling for regulation and licensing laws.

And we question why our clients lead this industry and not us!

Equally, I wonder just how many repossession companies have even bothered to meet the laws laid down by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) with regard to the ‘Red Flags Rule’ in the war against Identity Theft.

The FTC have made it mandatory for the financial institutions and creditors to develop and implement written identity theft prevention programs as part of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions (FACT) Act of 2003.

The deadline was 1 November 2008.  Lucky for most of you, the FTC have extended the deadline to 1 May 2009 but there are many client companies out there that are already requiring their suppliers, of course, the repossession companies being in that category, to have a Red Flag Policy in place, if they are to do business with them.

Yet another CHANGE and one I welcome.  So perhaps, you might want to check your field agent’s trucks and/or how they store the clients and debtor’s  information and how they discard completed repossession assignment documents – or even your office!

The fines associated to not meeting the FTC’s requirements run into the thousands of dollars, and I am sure you can think of better ways to spend your money than paying those fines.

Food for thought and action.

Wishing you a professional and successful month of business…