This likely won’t be the last case study completed in connection with the Chapter 7 bankruptcy of Tricolor Holdings, which triggered federal charges against the company’s CEO and a rippling throughout subprime auto finance.

This week, Vervent released its own case study that documented how the company mobilized within 48 hours of Tricolor’s September bankruptcy filing, assumed servicing for approximately 100,000 subprime auto loans, and maintained zero borrower payment disruption.

Vervent’s actions helped it stabilize servicing operations after Tricolor’s abrupt shutdown tied to allegations of executive fraud left borrowers, investors, and stakeholders without a functioning servicer.

Perhaps many observers and fellow operators would agree with Vervent that the Tricolor collapse represents one of the most operationally complex successor servicing activations in the subprime auto finance market in years.

Unlike a standard servicing transfer, Vervent pointed out that the Tricolor transition involved a Department of Justice investigation that sealed the company’s offices, vendors that had gone unpaid for more than 90 days, a predominantly Spanish-speaking borrower base requiring bilingual operations from day one, and court-supervised proceedings that added layers of legal complexity to every operational decision.

“The Tricolor successor servicing transition was not a test of readiness. It was a test of primary servicing expertise and execution,” Vervent CEO David Johnson said in a news release. “A Chapter 7 bankruptcy, fraud allegations, 100,000 borrowers, four consumer brands, offices sealed by federal investigators, and a portfolio that could not afford a single day without active servicing.

“Our team mobilized, executed, and delivered continuity because backup servicing readiness is built on the foundation of primary servicing expertise and established operational infrastructure, not something assembled in response to a crisis,” Johnson continued.

Vervent highlighted its case study documents the speed and operational depth brought to the Tricolor transition across three phases: immediate mobilization, operational stabilization, and long-term control. The company recapped the specific timeline:

— On Sept. 3, JPMorgan contacted Vervent regarding escalating concerns with Tricolor.

— Vervent deployed an operational task force to Tricolor’s Texas headquarters within 48 hours, just days before Tricolor laid off its remaining employees and filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy on Sept. 10.

— Vervent was activated by the warehouse lender to assume successor servicing responsibilities and approved to perform services through bankruptcy court ruling on Sept. 19.

— Within eight business days of the bankruptcy filing and one business day after receiving court authorization to perform servicer responsibilities, Vervent was actively operating within Tricolor’s legacy servicing system and managing borrower communications, and payments.

— Within 14 business days, Vervent onboarded more than 70,000 active accounts into its system of record, establishing system-level control of the portfolio.

— Borrowers maintained uninterrupted access to payment channels throughout the transition, ensuring no disruption to payment activity.

— On Dec. 18, court approval was secured enabling inventory vehicle auction activity and initial asset resolution process.

The case study further details how Vervent’s role extended well beyond a standard successor servicing engagement.

Vervent said it deployed enterprise-wide expertise across legal coordination, crisis communications, vendor restoration, bilingual recruiting, collateral management, title and tax remediation, and asset resolution.

Vervent also said it advanced more than $5 million of its own funds to restore critical vendor relationships that had deteriorated under Tricolor’s nonpayment, while legal teams structured reimbursement mechanisms through the bankruptcy process.

Furthermore, Vervent said it launched a borrower-facing loan modification program called Fresh Start, which was designed to help delinquent Tricolor borrowers retain their vehicles.

The company said it also executed active scam-awareness campaigns after fraudulent third parties began targeting borrowers through social media and unauthorized legal services.

Vervent’s consumer communications program, which included bilingual outreach across email, text, IVR, and customer portal updates, was featured in a Telemundo segment to reach impacted borrowers in the Dallas area.

“Backup servicers are only as strong as the primary servicing infrastructure behind them,” Johnson said. “We were able to execute at this speed, and scale is because of our portfolio servicing expertise across consumer auto, RV, equipment finance, credit card, and specialty finance everyday. That operational depth is not something you can replicate from a standing start.

“The Tricolor collapse raised the standard for what the market should expect from a backup servicer, a primary servicer with the infrastructure and expertise to execute and deliver under extraordinary circumstances,” Johnson went on to say.

The full case study is available here.