The American Repossessor

Observations on the Repossession Industry, its Associations and Industry Challenges by Jack Tracey, President of the Automotive Association Services
By Susan Marston

On March 5^th I was a speaker on a panel at the North American Repossessors Summit.  This was the first time that I had attended one of these conferences. I was impressed with the level of professionalism in the group and how well run the conference was.

However, I left the conference with the feeling that most of the attendees were frustrated.  There are four national associations serving the industry (National Finance Adjusters, American Recovery Association, Allied Finance Adjusters and Time Finance Adjusters), plus several state associations.  The industry is dealing with several significant issues: (1) a negative marketplace perception of the repossession business, (2) the costly distribution channel for repossession assignments from banks and finance companies through “forwarders” and (3) pending federal regulation that could possibly hold catastrophic consequences for their industry.

Issues like this are usually successfully addressed by an association that represents the entire industry.  In the case of the repossession industry this does not seem to be happening. …more…

Industry Fuel Surcharge – A Potential Solution?
By Susan Marston

It was clear to us from the conversations at the North American Repossessors Summit (NARS) that this industry is being dragged to the alligator pits under the weight of the recent fuel price increases. Since mid-February, ARA has been researching various fuel surcharge formulas that could be applied to our business model. Although it may not be perfect, we have found one based on numbers that clearly demonstrate the added burden that recovery agents nationwide are currently enduring. It allows the flexibility to use regional cost differences in the equation and it is one that everyone in the industry can use. It also has an important facet we heard about from the stage at NARS ­– it needs to be able to reverse the surcharge as fuel prices begin to retreat. …more…

Forward(ing) Thinking
By Susan Marston

Forwarding….a hot, controversial topic for many repossession company owners but one that cannot be ignored.  This was the theme of the session that I co-presented at the NARS 2011 event in Irving, Texas last week.  And this article is my take on what forwarding means to our industry and how we should all work within it.

A  Forwarding Company is nothing more than another client.  Oh I know that many company owners detest who they are and what they think they are doing to the repossession industry but you should realize that the concept is nothing new.  The idea has been around for years and is recognized by many external to our industry as Vendor Management Companies – VMCs.  That is what forwarding companies are. …more…

NARS 2011 – Where were you? Weren’t you interested in the future of your industry?
By Susan Marston

Well, if you weren’t there, you missed a great event.  Yes I am talking about the North American Repossessors Summit (NARS) 2011 which took place in Irving, Texas yesterday.

Set at the Omni Mandalay Hotel in Las Colinas, their facilities naturally lent to the delivery of a successful occasion, with an impressive level of customer service to match, from all levels of their employee team.

They came from far and near – repossession company owners, vendors, client company representatives and indeed the array of speakers – a collection of people that provided NARS attendees with an action-packed day that looked to the improvement of our industry now and for the future.

If there was one message to take away from this event, is that there was unity within the audience and an understanding that there needs to be change to survive the future and all that that brings. …more…

Ally Financial Begins Repayment of U.S. Treasury Investment
By Susan Marston

DETROIT (March 2, 2011) – Ally Financial Inc. (Ally) today announced that the U.S. Department of the Treasury (Treasury) will be repaid $2.7 billion from the sale of all the Trust Preferred Securities that Treasury holds in Ally.  This represents the full value of Treasury’s investment in these securities.  The offering priced today at 8.125 percent and is expected to close on March 7, 2011.  In addition to the proceeds from this transaction, Ally has paid approximately $2.2 billion in dividends on the Treasury investment to date.

“This transaction marks a key step in the company’s plan to repay the U.S. taxpayer in full,” said Ally Chief Executive Officer Michael A. Carpenter.  ”We are grateful for the taxpayer’s investment in the company during the financial crisis, which enabled Ally to play an integral role in the U.S. auto recovery and ensure that thousands of automotive dealers and millions of consumers had access to credit.” …more…

FORD Credit Earns $2 Billion in 2010*
By Susan Marston

Fourth Quarter 2010 Earnings of $367 Million Reported
DEARBORN, Mich., January 28, 2011 – Ford Motor Credit Company reported net income of $2 billion in
2010, an improvement of $0.7 billion from earnings of $1.3 billion a year earlier. On a pre-tax basis, Ford
Credit earned $3.1 billion in 2010, compared with $2 billion in the previous year. The full year increase in pretax
earnings is primarily explained by a lower provision for credit losses and lower depreciation expense for
leased vehicles related to higher auction values, offset partially by lower volume and the non-recurrence of net
gains related to unhedged currency exposure primarily from cross-border intercompany lending. …more…

The 2010 North American Repossessors Summit – What You Missed!
By Susan Marston

Having sat on the Planning Committee of the 2010 North American Repossessors Summit, as a totally independent participant, representing the everyday repossession company via www.theamericanrepossessor.com and ConnecTGo, Inc.,  I am very pleased and proud to say, that it was a pleasure to see the hard work of all those concerned come to fruition.
A great deal of hard work took place by Les Cook, Executive Director of ARA, Board Member Art Christensen, Dawn Wellington and Allison Bonlander of the PR company Wellington Group, Tricia Cockern of ARA and the admin team there, plus myself, spent many hours pulling this whole thing together.

For my input, I was able to draw from my experience of working with many repossession companies and experiencing their needs, plus my experience of having developed, planned and implemented numerous conference events, in other industry sectors.  We didn’t get everything right, but we went a long way to perfecting the event by learning from the feedback we gained from those that attended previously and with that from this event too.  With this information, we will strive to continually improve the Summit for next year and the years beyond that.

For many of you that did not attend last week, you missed a great event.   Over 300 people attended. In fact, it was a ‘sell-out’ event! …more…

Do we really understand our clients? Could we step into their shoes and see things from their perspective?
By Susan Marston

“It is not the employer who pays the wages.  Employers only handle the money.  It is the CUSTOMER who pays the wages”.  HENRY FORD (1863-1947), FORD MOTORS

“Every day were saying, “How can we keep this CUSTOMER happy?  How can we get ahead in innovation by doing this, because if we don’t, somebody else will”. Bill Gates, MICROSOFT

“There is only one boss – THE CUSTOMER.  And he can fire everybody in the company from the Chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else”.  SAM WALTON, WAL-MART

There is no doubt, that running a business subsumes most of our time and because it does, sometimes we forget that our whole existence is predominantly due to our customers.  And if you think any different,  you are so wrong!

No-one is owed a living and by that I mean, just because we are in the repossession industry or any industry for that matter,  and we may do a good job at providing the services we do, that we should automatically be given more work.  That is not how business works.  We have to earn that work.

I have been in earshot, many times, of company owners comments, feeling that it is their right that clients give them work, just because they are there.  NO!  That philosophy is a dangerous one to have.  You have to compete for that work, and even more so today, as there are so many repossession companies in the market place that are more than ready to step in and take your business, because you are not providing the client with what they need.

Many companies see the customer as a ‘thing’ that buys our services and that ‘thing’ also as numbers that give us our income.  We are so busy making plans to keep our customers away from our competitors, that do we really invest enough time and effort in finding out  who is our customer, a fellow human being that also plans and has expectations and needs that need to be fulfilled. …more…