The American Repossessor

We have a diverse coverage of topics this month from several new writers, all of which their  subject areas are significantly important to the success of educating us and helping you to run professional repossession companies.

This industry has to professionalize to gain the respect it so rightfully deserves and it needs to overcome the negativity of the ‘ball and chain’ that it has been given by these idiotic people  that continue to represent us in a very unprofessional and foolish way.  Of course, we may not be able to rid the TV channels of the rogue repossession company owners that choose to portray us in this way, but at least we can look to work together to minimize this array of harmful media coverage.

How you may ask?

Every repossession company owner in the United States needs to attend a unique event that will take place on 13 March 2010.   It’s diary time, in other words you need to mark your calendars to ensure that you have time available to be present at  the 2010 North American Repossessors Summit, which is hosted by American Recovery Association (ARA), in Irving Texas.

This event is about ‘the coming together’ of our industry, to unite and speak as one voice.  You have to put your personal issues aside and look to concentrate what is good for the industry and not just your company.

…”United we stand, divided we fall”… and never a truer word spoken -  (see www.encyclopaedia.com for more details).

“UNITED WE STAND, DIVIDED WE FALL,” a favorite toast, in varying forms, of political orators from Benjamin Franklin to Abraham Lincoln. It gained currency after John Dickinson’s “Liberty Song” was published on 18 July 1768, in the Boston Gazette. The work contained the lines:

Then join in hand, brave Americans all—

By uniting we stand, by dividing we fall!

The slogan regained widespread usage three-quarters of a century later when the popular writer George Pope Morris’s “The Flag of the Union” appeared. The poem quoted the sentiment as given above, from the motto of Kentucky, which had been adopted in 1792. Gaining new currency during times of national crisis, the phrase was most recently a popular slogan after the attacks upon the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on 11 September 2001.

Territorialism has never been a good ploy to improve anything – it’s selfish, it’s defensive for the wrong reasons and only protects the minority.  WE are looking to ALL the industry and not just the few.

The repossession industry is not an island and cannot cut itself off from those outside of it, including new people that want to join it, be they a ‘want-to-be’ company owner, Field Agent etc.  Everyone is entitled to achieve their aspirations and their goals.  Being protective of our knowledge may help us to stave off our competitors, but it can hinder those that may want to join our industry.  Every business sector needs ‘new blood’ and the repossession sector is no different!

It is the ethics and integrity  of everyone, that will uphold the professionalism that our industry craves for and by knowing the repossession laws, this will help us to reach our goals.  Michael Howk as provided us with a great example of how NOT to do business…please be sure to read this.

Also, we have Michele Stuart, a long-standing professional associated to our industry that gives us an insight into the basics of skip-tracing and many avenues which are free, or at little cost.  She too gives us an insight into an area of the repossession world that costs repossession companies a great deal of money seeking out the debtors.

You should heed what Scott Deckling has to say too with regard to the knowledge that debtors have.  One should never be arrogant enough to under-estimate anyone and this experience is highlighted within his column.

Enjoy the information and learn from those that do have a great deal of expertise to share with you.

Happy November and be safe!

Susan Marston