The American Repossessor

by Les McCook, Executive Director of American Recovery Association (ARA)

Without a doubt, the Internet has elevated our productivity – both in business and our day-to-day activities – beyond imaginable means.  Instantaneous communication, a world of information at our fingertips – all of which would not be possible without today’s technology.  As with many societal advancements, as mass adoption is reached, nefarious individuals find ways to leverage those advancements for their own benefit, often at our expense.  Of course, recovery agents like to think we can’t be fooled.  After all, we’ve seen every trick in the book and we all have our legendary stories.   But we, and our clients, are being targeted and taken advantage of and it needs to stop.

Speedy-Repo, www.speedy-repo.com, is leveraging the Internet to target buy-here, pay-here dealers, small credit unions and individuals and bilking them out of tens of thousands of dollars.   When the owner tries to obtain the vehicle – it’s no longer there.

Richard’s Story…

One recent story involves a gentleman, Richard, who went online searching for someone who could recover his Acura from a person that had taken over payments. He called Speedy-Repo and agreed to a reasonable fee but, unfortunately, failed to understand the language that allowed an unspecified amount for any “necessary investigation”.   This oversight proved to be a major mistake. When the car was recovered from the given address the first night out, Richard was told his bill was $17,000.  Upon questioning this unbelievable charge, Richard was told the fee was due to the investigation undertaken to locate the vehicle.

After some investigation of his own, Richard was able to find the sub-contractor that actually recovered the car and started to inquire about the charges. Needless to say, the agent knew nothing about the charges or “investigation fees”.  Once Speedy-Repo realized they were under scrutiny, they immediately removed the car from the agent’s lot and it has never been seen again.

Similar stories have been reported to me at least six times in the last five months, always with the final bill being approximately the value of the car. The agents working these assignments are convinced they are recovering the units for a legitimate forwarder. As professionals, we need to be sure who we are doing business with and that we are not used as a tool to perpetrate this fraud on the innocent.

It’s true there’s a “bad apple in every bunch.”  Educating our clients and our colleagues about issues like this will only improve our industry.   As repossession service providers, it is incumbent upon us to deal with the activities that threaten our credibility, relationships and livelihood.