Before the federal government shutdown took hold, the Federal Communications Commission adopted new rules that can impact phone numbers auto finance company collection departments might be trying to regain contact with delinquent contract holders.
The new FCC rules are designed to establish a reassigned numbers database that the regulator said will reduce the number of unwanted phone calls Americans receive.
The new rules establish a single, comprehensive database with information provided by phone companies that callers will be able to use to avoid calling reassigned numbers. Callers using the database will be able to find out if telephone numbers assigned to consumers who want their calls have been disconnected and made eligible for reassignment. Any such numbers can then be purged from their call lists, thereby decreasing the number of unwanted calls to consumers.
To further encourage callers to use the database, the FCC is providing callers a safe harbor from liability for any calls to reassigned numbers caused by database error.
“The problem is a simple one,” FCC chairman Ajit Pai said. “A doctor’s office is trying to reach a patient and calls what it thinks is the patient’s phone number. But the patient has changed numbers, and her old number has been reassigned to someone else. So someone with no relationship to the doctor’s office or the patient receives the call.
“This isn’t good for anyone,” Pai continued. “The new holder of the number is annoyed by a call meant for someone else. The patient misses out on what could be an important call from her doctor’s office. And the doctor’s office is unable to reach the patient and could face a lawsuit under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) for unknowingly placing the call in question.
Of course, this scenario applies to a wide range of businesses and customers beyond doctors’ offices and patients. And avoiding it benefits everybody. It’s good for individuals who receive a new phone number. It’s good for individuals changing phone numbers. And it’s good for businesses,” Pai went on to say.
The FCC insisted the rules respond to consumer groups, trade associations and state and federal authorities that asked the commission to establish a single, comprehensive database as the best solution to reducing calls to reassigned numbers while minimizing burdens on both callers and providers.
“This database will be managed by an independent third-party administrator selected through a competitive bidding process, and that administrator will receive information about permanently disconnected numbers from reporting providers,” Pai said.
“To ease the burden on small providers, we allow them an additional six months to begin reporting to the database administrator,” he continued. “Finally, we adopt a safe harbor from TCPA liability for those callers that rely on the database to learn if a number has been reassigned. This will ensure that a responsible caller who uses this database will not be held liable for accidentally making a call to a reassigned number because of a database error.”
FCC commissioner Michael O’Rielly expressed concerns about what the FCC’s moves still lack. O’Rielly framed his assessment in light of decisions by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit aimed at offering clarity about the TCPA.
“While our action helps in addressing abusive and predatory TCPA litigation, I do remain concerned about the costs of the database for service providers and users,” O’Rielly said. “Lessons from the private sector have taught us that requisite database dips to verify reassignment can become cost-prohibitive for businesses.
“Moreover, as structured in the order, data dips are likely to surge at certain times and will require additional investments by the administrator in server capacity to handle peak traffic days — the costs of which will ultimately be borne by users,” he continued.
“I urge the North American Numbering Council (NANC) — to whom we have delegated substantial discretion to develop a database administration plan — to focus on minimizing costs and burdens for users and service providers and ensuring that it is reasonably affordable for all to use.
“Today’s action is a positive development in reversing the previous FCC’s deeply-flawed 2015 TCPA Order,” O’Rielly went on to say. “However, much more work remains, particularly on narrowing the prior commission’s ludicrous definition of ‘autodialer,’ and eliminating the lawless revocation of consent rule. I am optimistic that our next steps will go a long way in reading the TCPA in a logical way and limiting wasteful and frivolous TCPA litigation that does nothing to protect consumers or stop illegal robocalls.”
Just like some of its auto finance company clients, CalAmp is diversifying its portfolio beyond its GPS solution division that can help with recoveries and mitigate risk.
On Tuesday, CalAmp announced a strategic partnership with Pioneer Electronics to expand connected vehicle services through Pioneer’s aftermarket and installation specialist channels in the United States.
Technavio market research analysts project the global automotive aftermarket telematics market to grow at a compound annual growth rate close to 29 percent during the period between 2018 and 2022, according to their 2018-2022 Global Automotive Aftermarket Telematics report. CalAmp believes the rise in in-vehicle communication options is one of the key factors triggering the growth of the market.
The combination of Pioneer’s aftermarket automotive hardware design and software development legacy, and LoJack’s vehicle theft recovery technology, led to the development of rDrive, a new connected car solution that can allow consumers to upgrade their existing vehicles with advanced connectivity, safety, Wi-Fi and location-based services.
With the latest in LoJack Stolen Vehicle Location Assist and CrashBoxx crash detection, driver assistance, arrival notifications and vehicle health alerts, CalAmp believes drivers will have peace of mind on the roadways.
The company rolled out rDrive this week and it is planned to be available at authorized Pioneer rDrive retailers in the U.S. starting in the spring.
“The exceptional quality, safety and security solutions offered by CalAmp highlight this partnership,” said Ted Cardenas, vice president of marketing for Pioneer Electronics. “Our mutual goal is to give consumers access to best-in-class connected vehicle services, and we believe we’ve created a solution unique in the market today by partnering with CalAmp.
“We are excited to be underway with development on advanced telematics solutions that expand the portfolio of products we are able to offer, helping consumers add new features and technology to the vehicle they already own,” Cardenas continued.
CalAmp president and chief executive officer Michael Burdiek added, “We are thrilled to partner with a trusted consumer brand and leader in electronics products for the U.S. automotive aftermarket.
“Both companies focus on producing quality products that are developed with the end-user in mind. By partnering with Pioneer to create more intelligent and insight-driven products, we’re using what we’ve learned from our customers, to deliver the best possible product for Pioneer customers across multiple vertical markets,” Burdiek went on to say.
Traditionally, the 10th anniversary is celebrated with gifts of tin or aluminum. Well, Digital Recognition Network (DRN) closed 2018 with a series of critical milestones, representing all kinds of metal found during its 10-year history.
The artificial intelligence and data analytics company that provides vehicle location data and analytics to auto finance companies highlighted its live hotlist exceeded 410,000 license plate recognition (LPR) assignments in 2018. That figure represented an increase of 33 percent year-over-year.
Additionally, DRN — also a member of the Automotive Intelligence Council — reported that its affiliates attained more than 204,000 live vehicle recoveries by late December on behalf of their clients. The company computed that amount equates to more than $2.5 billion in recovered vehicles for 2018, contributing to a total of $10.5 billion in recovered assets since the company’s inception.
“We are extremely proud of the growth of our hotlist and the value that recovered assets provide to our lender clients,” said Todd Hodnett, executive chairman and founder of DRN.
“With that said, it is critical to note that our hotlist success simply would not be possible without our forwarder partners and our affiliates,” Hodnett continued. “They are the driving force behind its success and are the heart of the recovery industry.
“We are grateful for their hard work and honored that DRN’s revenue share program helped affiliates to generate $6.2 million in 2018,” Hodnett went on to say.
Back in August, DRN announced that it hit a new record of more than 20,000 live vehicle recoveries in one month. That momentum continued with each month setting new vehicle recovery records.
And now with 2019 in motion, Hodnett sees DRN generating even more sterling numbers.
“While we are extremely pleased with our hotlist numbers for 2018, we expect that this is just a preview of even greater benefits for our DRN affiliates to come in 2019,” Hodnett said. “We anticipate continued hotlist growth, which translates to increased growth in affiliate repossession revenue from their clients and increased revenue share that is paid by DRN.
“DRN is so committed to ensuring that our affiliate network reaps the benefit of their work that we have committed to a goal of $10 million for revenue share payments to our affiliate network,” he continued.
“We know that when affiliates win, everybody wins: lenders are able to better mitigate risk, providers make more assignments and affiliates pick up more cars and achieve greater revenue share. We look forward to working with our providers and affiliates to continue to achieve success for all,” Hodnett went on to say.
Two recovery industry providers aligned before 2018 to benefit their finance company clients.
MBSi Corp., a member of the Automotive Intelligence Council and provider of repossession assignment software and vendor compliance solutions, and Servicing Solutions, an organization specializing in primary and back-up servicing, announced a partnership to provide a seamless asset recovery process for auto finance companies.
“Partnering with MBSi will enhance our ability to recover our clients’ assets,” said Cesar Guzman, vice president of operations at Servicing Solutions. “Their compliance-enabled assignment management platform is an example of the type of cutting-edge technologies we are always on the lookout for, so we are very excited about how this partnership will benefit our clients.”
MBSi president Cort DeHart added, “We are excited to integrate with an industry-leading service provider like Servicing Solutions who delivers efficiencies for lenders,” said, of.
“Servicing Solutions has been easy to work with and we look forward to providing a seamless process to the collections and recovery industry by delivering assignments to qualified asset recovery professionals in MBSi’s assignment management ecosystem,” DeHart went on to say.
DeHart and MBSi will be part of the Automotive Intelligence Council hosting its first press conference during this month’s convention orchestrated by the National Automobile Dealers Association. MBSi will be joined by KAR Auction Services and Maryann Keller and Advisors.
More details about the Automotive Intelligence Council can be found here.
Members of the American Recovery Association (ARA) can leverage a new opportunity in 2019.
ARA, in partnership with Harding Brooks Insurance Agency, announced the newest benefit of the ARA membership and what the association believes is the first of its kind: a guaranteed $10,000 ($20,000 accidental death, no questions asked) life insurance policy that covers every executive member. Coverage is available for all employees at cost.
“We want to thank ARA immediate past president Jerry Wilson and Mike Peplinski at Harding Brooks Insurance Agency for putting this plan together,” ARA president Dave Kennedy said.
“This is just one example of the benefits that are possible by becoming a unified national trade association that large companies want to do business with,” Kennedy continued.
As a result of its recent unity initiative, which included a merger with Time Finance Adjusters, ARA unveiled a new membership structure set to take affect beginning this month. The deadline to sign up for ARA membership to be included in the 2019 directory is Jan. 15.
“We want to thank our new ARA members, and we invite all others to join us as one voice united for the good of the entire industry,” ARA executive director Les McCook said.
“We are embracing every stakeholder in the industry, and we’re excited about the opportunities to work together to reduce the operational costs to all sides of the recovery equation,” McCook went on to say.
There are several classes of membership available, including executive member, associate member, affiliated member and supplier associate member. Dues structures vary significantly depending on class of membership.
To learn more about membership options and to apply, go to this website.
For further questions about becoming an ARA member, send a message to ARA at homeoffice@americanrecoveryassn.org.
The senior vice president of operations at Primeritus Financial Services now is the forwarding company’s first chief operating officer.
The company announced on Friday that Chris McGinness has been appointed as COO effective immediately. As chief operating officer, Primeritus highlighted that McGinness’ responsibilities will be expanded to include all of the company’s operating businesses. McGinness will continue to report to Mike Thomas, Primeritus Financial Services chief executive officer, who succeeded Scott Peters in that role as Used Car Week 2018 began.
McGinness has more than 20 years combined leadership experience in business operations and has served in numerous senior management roles across the automotive services industry. This promotion is part of the company’s commitment to ensure continuous improvement and acceleration of operational excellence.
As chief operating officer, McGinness will have the responsibility to lead in the development and execution of a consolidated operations strategy across all of the Primeritus entities.
“We are very pleased to announce Chris’ promotion to the position of chief operating officer at Primeritus,” Thomas said. “The Primeritus family now encompasses five different companies, with over 1,500 clients and 750-plus agency partners. The demand for our services has grown significantly over the last few years, and this role was created to help support our continued growth.
“As COO, Chris will oversee operations throughout the company and draw upon his more 20 years of operational and financial experience to drive performance,” Thomas continued. “We are fortunate to have Chris on our team, and his promotion to COO recognizes the many contributions he has made to our company.”
McGinness began his management career at ADESA where he served as the controller prior to taking on the role of general manager of its auction in Sacramento, Calif. His management experience spans a variety of operational functions including remarketing, transportation and repossessions.
Prior to entering automotive industry, McGinness was a senior accountant with Perry-Smith, a large regional accounting firm in Sacramento.
The relentless drive to reduce repossession related costs while, at the same time meeting the demands/expectations of regulators, may be catching up with us. As one of the largest repossession management firms, we stay very close to the dynamics of the marketplace and we have become concerned about the current situation and even more concerned about the potential impact in the future.
There are several dynamics that are affecting the current agent environment. First and foremost, the cost of operating has increased significantly in recent years. The investment that agencies have had to make in technology and compliance are really significant. Unfortunately, there has been little opportunity to pass on those costs. Some have managed to adapt well. Many others are just barely hanging on. Rarely does a week go by where an established agency somewhere does not close its doors. That trend is likely to continue.
The result is that the agent ranks have thinned and the high cost of entry/compliance makes it very difficult for new companies to enter. Add to that the emerging trend of agency consolidation (i.e. Location Services) and increases in cases emanating from the huge origination volume in recent years and you get the picture. Beyond the short-term operational impact, the situation may also leave the industry unprepared for the likely growth in repossession cases that will come from the inevitable slowing of the economy.
So, what does this mean to the lenders and their forwarding/skip partners? First, we may not have the density of agent network that is really needed to optimize recovery performance. Without going into a long explanation, suffice it to say that fielding a large enough agent network to have at least three agency options for any given assignment is important to performance management. A potentially bigger impact, which we are already starting to see, is that the better agents are choosing the business that they accept and, even within the business they accept, very conscious decisions regarding resource allocation are being made.
Who is grading who?
As a forwarding company serving many large lenders, we are used to getting score carded by our clients and we are used to score carding the performance of our agents. These scorecards are used to determine business flow to us and the agent. What we are not used to is getting a scorecard from our agents with guidance on which client portfolios are meeting profitability requirements and which are not. Granted, this trend is in its early stages but we see it growing and industry leaders, trade associations, etc. are actively educating their brethren on the merits.
The bottom line, repossession agencies have the data and volume of business to determine where it makes sense to deploy their resources and where it does not.
Understanding their metric
It is important to understand how the savvier agents are evaluating our portfolios because it gives important insights into how certain decisions we are all making may affect the success of our repossession efforts.
While there are a variety of different approaches, the metric that seems to be getting the most traction (and frankly makes the most sense) is “revenue per assignment.” This simple but elegant metric takes into consideration all of the key drivers including recovery rates as well as all ancillary revenue such as key cutting, storage, personal property handling, redemption related fees, etc. All of these elements work together to give the agent a true view of the client's business. It is not all about the repo fee.
For example, the issue of personal property and redemption related fees has been a very hot topic over the past year because of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau scrutiny. There is no question that the issue needed to be standardized by the lenders. Some lenders have understood the implication of setting costs and have set parameters that pretty clearly meet the “reasonableness” standard required under most state laws while, at the same, time providing reasonable compensation to the agent for the services. However, others have taken the position that “less is better” in the eyes of the regulator and they have mandated very little or no fees are allowed. For agents that use the revenue per assignment metric, this position is penalized heavily in the metric and you can bet that recovery rates are also impacted as a result.
The table below illustrates the issue across four different scenarios. Clearly, under the revenue per case metric, the most profitable client can be the one with the lowest fee, if the recovery rate is good and the other parts of the equation are reasonable. However, combine a low fee with a low recovery rate and the business just won’t make sense for the agent to put much effort into.
Note: Revenue per case of $125 per case is required to meet margin objectives
| |
Monthly |
Recovery |
Repo |
Average Storage |
Average PP/Redem |
Revenue Per |
| |
Cases |
Rate |
Fee |
Per Repo |
Per Repo |
Case |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| A |
10 |
15% |
$350 |
$10 |
$30 |
$93 |
| B |
10 |
40% |
$300 |
$10 |
$30 |
$160 |
| C |
10 |
50% |
$275 |
$10 |
$60 |
$208 |
| D |
10 |
30% |
$300 |
$10 |
– |
$100 |
The implication is pretty clear. Portfolios that offer the agent the opportunity to earn a reasonable margin will get the attention and resources. The ones that don’t … won’t.
Mike Levison is the chief executive officer of ALS Resolvion. More details about the company can be found at www.alsresolvion.com.
The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act prohibits debt collectors from engaging in abusive debt collection practices. To be liable under the Act, however, the defendant must be a debt collector. And there are two ways that a defendant can qualify as a debt collector under the act — the defendant’s “principal (business) purpose” is debt collection or the defendant regularly attempts to collect debts “owed or due another.” 15 U.S.C. § 1692.
Last summer, the Supreme Court examined what it means to regularly collect a debt “owed or due another,” holding that defendants who seek to collect debts that they own (even if the debt is in default when purchased) are not subject to liability under the act. See Henson v. Santander Consumer USA Inc., 137 S. Ct. 1718 (2017). The Court declined to discuss when a defendant’s principal business purpose amounts to debt collection making it subject to the Act.
That issue, however, recently confronted the Third Circuit, which had to decide how to apply the “principal purpose” definition of debt collector — the first federal court of appeals to do so since the Supreme Court’s ruling last summer in Henson.
The Third Circuit addressed the issue in Tepper v. Amos Fin., LLC, 898 F.3d 364, 368 (3d Cir. 2018). There, the plaintiffs (the Teppers) received a home equity loan from NOVA Bank. The FDIC closed NOVA Bank, took over as receiver, and sold the Teppers’ defaulted loan to Amos Financial. After purchasing the Teppers’ loan, Amos attempted to collect the debt and ultimately foreclosed. The Teppers then sued, claiming that Amos violated the Act by attempting to collect more than they owed and making false representations about the foreclosure sale, among other things. Amos, relying on the Supreme Court’s decision in Henson, argued that it was not a debt collector because it owned the Teppers’ loan.
The district court rejected the argument, holding that even though Amos was collecting a debt it owned, Amos was still a debt collector because its “principal [business] purpose” was debt collection. Amos admitted to the district court that it was “(n)ot a financial institution or lender, (and) its sole business (wa)s purchasing debts entered into by third parties and attempting to collect them.” Id. at 369. After a one-day bench trial, the district court found that Amos had violated the Act and awarded the Teppers statutory damages and attorneys’ fees.
Amos appealed, arguing again that, under the Supreme Court’s decision in Henson, it was not a debt collector subject to the Act because it owned the Teppers’ loan. The Third Circuit rejected Amos’s argument, reasoning that because Amos’s sole business was collecting debts that it had purchased, it was a debt collector. And, said the Third Circuit, “[a]sking if Amos is a debt collector is thus akin to asking if Popeye is a sailor. He’s no cowboy.” Id. at 370-71.
According to the Third Circuit, “an entity whose principal purpose of business is the collection of any debts is a debt collector regardless whether the entity owns the debts it collects.” Id. (emphasis added). In other words, simply owning the debt will not protect a defendant from liability under the Act if the defendant’s principal business purpose is debt collection.
So, if a plaintiff can sufficiently plead in her complaint that a defendant’s principal business purpose is debt collection, whether that is actually so is a fact question that will need to be fleshed out in discovery. See, e.g., Hordge v. First Nat’l Collection Bureau, Inc., No. 4:15-CV-1695, 2018 WL 3741979, at *5 (S.D. Tex. Aug. 7, 2018) (holding that whether the defendant’s principal purpose is debt collection is a “disputed fact question” notwithstanding that the defendant argued that its business was “holding debts, not collecting debts”); Yarid v. Ocwen Loan Serv., LLC, No. 3:17-CV-484, 2018 WL 3631883, at *5 (E.D. Va. July 31, 2018) (“[D]eciding whether an entity qualifies as a debt collector involves a fact-intensive process.”).
As a result, consumer plaintiffs are likely to seize on the Third Circuit’s reasoning in Tepper to avoid a summary disposal of their cases when the defendant owns the subject debt. And courts will likely soon be faced with having to decide exactly when some debt collection by a defendant is enough to qualify as a defendant’s principal purpose. Indeed, the Third Circuit already has before it a case raising this very issue where the plaintiff argued at oral argument that the defendant’s principal business purpose is debt collection because at least 50 percent of its business involves debt collection. See Barbato v. Greystone Alliance, LLC, 2017 WL 5496047, No. 3:13-2748 (M.D. Penn. Nov. 16, 2017) (holding that the defendant is a debt collector under the “principal purpose” definition because it purchased charged-off receivables and 90-95 percent of its accounts were such receivables).
Jade Sipes is a litigation associate in the Birmingham, Ala., office of Baker Donelson. Sipes helps defend banks and other lenders, servicers and title insurers against charges of liability and fraud, wrongful foreclosure claims and other matters. She can be reached at jsipes@bakerdonelson.com.
What Locations Services believes is the recipe for success in the repossession and recovery industries includes taking executives from an array of well-known companies such as Ally Financial, PAR North America and Remarketing of America and fueling them with the funding resources from Delaware Street Capital.
The result has been a busy year that’s included acquisitions and blending together a leadership team with its sights set on broad-based coverage across all 50 states, with repossession trucks owned and operated by Location Services.
Former Ally Financial executive Lee McCarty was named chief executive officer one year ago. A few months later, another former Ally executive joined McCarty. Eric Gerdes came aboard and was recently named Location Services president and chief operating officer.
Between McCarty and Gerdes, they possess nearly 60 years of auto finance experience.
With, Delaware Street Capital backing them, McCarty, Gerdes and members of the Location Services team have embarked upon an aggressive strategy to transform the auto finance loss mitigation outsource industry.
Along with trucks ready to be deployed nationwide, another company goal is to become the industry’s first vertically integrated, national direct, loss mitigation outsource provider.
“While Eric and I were at Ally, we often talked about how nice it would be if we could leverage one provider for our loss mitigation outsource strategy and partner with a company that truly had a national presence. We are on our way to making that a reality,” McCarty said.
Gerdes added, “I have always had great empathy for the repossession agent in the truck. The increased demands placed on the repossession agents and the critical role they play in the recovery process is really quite daunting. We want to make life easier on ‘Chuck in the Truck,’ by allowing them to have the best pay, training, safety, security, career path, benefits and overall support possible.”
The strategy of Location Services and Delaware Street Capital ended up on the radar of industry veteran Chad Latvaaho, owner of Repossessors Inc., out of Maple Grove, Minn.
“Our company has had long-term relationships with several major banks, credit unions and finance companies. When Eric and Lee approached us about their vision, it made a lot of sense as I had familiarity with them and knew what they stood for,” Latvaaho continued.
“It also made sense for Location Services as we cover 12 states, and we fit nicely into their nationwide coverage objective,” Latvaaho continued. “Delaware Street Capital and Location Services were genuine from the beginning with their commitment to the repossession industry, and that sold us.”
As a result of becoming part of the company portfolio, Latvaaho will stay on with Location Services as co-owner and regional vice president.
Latvaaho was also a co-owner of Auto Approve, an auto refinance company, that was also acquired by Location Services. Latvaaho’s Auto Approve business partner and co-founder is former PAR North America president and chief executive officer Jerry Kroshus.
Kroshus and Latvaaho started Auto Approve less than two years ago and experienced great momentum out of the gate.
“We are thrilled to be a part of the Location Services team and overall game plan,” Kroshus said. “I started my career with GMAC 30 years ago just like Lee and Eric, so we have a common bond.
“I have been very impressed with the entire Delaware Street Capital/Location Services organization and am excited about the future,” Kroshus added.
Kroshus is also a co-owner and was named chief client relations officer for Location Services. He will be intimately involved in the strategic growth and development of Location Services client relationships.
“Adding Chad and Jerry to our organization is a real positive for us,” McCarty said. “Chad is very well respected in the recovery world and has that entrepreneurial spirit. Like all of our agencies, Chad recovers high volumes in a highly compliant manner and has a massive coverage area.
“Jerry has an incredible reputation,” McCarty continued. “He possesses strong industry relationships and has a terrific track record. He has been very successful throughout his career and we look for to continued success in his new role in Location Services.”
Rounding out the recent acquisitions for Location Services include
— Ron Keys of ARS from Florida
— Chuck Palazzolo of CARS from southern California
— Michael Eusebio of Digital Dog Recovery from northern California
— Emory White of Moxkor, formerly Remarketing of America
Similar to Kroshus and Latvaaho, all four of those individuals will remain with Location Services as owner operators and regional executives.
“I can’t say enough about the experience, dedication and genuine commitment each of our regional executives bring to the table,” McCarty said.
“Each of these individuals are passionate about remaining the very best in the industry, and they are committed to our vision to become the premier national direct loss mitigation outsource provider,” he continued.
“We are definitely raising the bar in this industry, which will drive unparalleled efficiency, effectiveness and compliance rigor for our auto finance clients and their customers,” McCarty went on to say.
Eusebio, Palazzolo and Keys, all seasoned operators in the repossession industry added, “The opportunity to join the Location Services team could not have come at a better time. We were already in the mode of building a large direct agency after announcing RedLine Adjusters at NARS, bringing CARS, ARS and DigitalDog together as one company.
“After listening to Lee and Eric explain their vision and meeting the Delaware Street Capital team, it was an easy decision to join the national team,” Eusebio, Palazzolo and Keys went on to say. “With the leadership team pulled together by Location Services, we are refueled to meet the challenges presented to the loss mitigation industry.”
Additional senior leaders at Location Services include:
— Jeremiah Worthington as chief transformation officer
— Jim Smith as chief risk, data and analytics officer
— Shawn White as chief compliance officer
— Jose Esparza as operational vice president
— Jay Lowy as operational vice president
— Dan Johnson as operational vice president
“We have assembled a dream-team of talented and experienced auto finance executives, which definitely differentiates Location Services in this industry,” McCarty said. “We are positioned well for future growth and remain focused on driving value to our clients, through our consistent and compliant national footprint.
“As we push forward with our national strategy, it is critical that we have the right leaders, consistent and compliant processes, and we remain true to our clients,” he continued.
“Based on the steps taken thus far, the leadership team we have assembled and our near-term plans, I couldn’t be more excited about the future of the auto finance outsource industry,” McCarty went on to say.
On Tuesday, Location Services will be hosting two 30-minute meet-and-greet sessions at Used Car Week 2018 at the Westin Kierland Resort and Spa in Scottsdale, Ariz. One session begins at 10:45 a.m. and the other at 11:45 p.m.
McCarty and Gerdes will introduce the Location Services senior leadership team, and they will also provide a high-level overview of Location Services national strategy and product offerings, which include auto loan refinance, skip-tracing, license plate recognition, recovery, locksmith services, transportation, remarketing, account administration, title processing and product cancellations.
Andy Bluhm and David Heller from Delaware Street Capital also will attend and be present to answer questions.
Two prominent industry names — Consolidated Asset Recovery Systems and Digital Recognition Network (DRN) — now are working even closer together.
The two companies that will each have prominent appearances during Repo Con at Used Car Week 2018 announced on Wednesday that they have entered into an agreement to provide license plate recognition (LPR)-enabled repossession management services to the auto-finance industry.
Company leaders explained the agreement combines the power of DRN’s LPR data and analytics with the strength of Consolidated’s network of repossession agencies, enabling the companies to provide finance companies more efficient recoveries.
Consolidated’s managed service offering is used by many of the largest financial organizations throughout the U.S. DRN, through its providers and affiliates, maintains one the nation’s largest database of license plate data. By joining forces, Consolidated can now offer LPR staging through its network of more than 600 repossession agencies for clients looking to augment other servicing strategies, while DRN expands the breadth of its affiliate network, improving the forwarding strategy for both existing and future clients.
The agreement expands the scope of an existing relationship between Consolidated and DRN, in which Consolidated made DRN’s historical LPR data available to finance companies that employ DRNsights through the IBEAM platform.
“DRN has made a substantial impact in the way repossession agents process assignments,” said Steve Norwood, president and chief executive officer of Consolidated Asset Recovery Systems.
“As a technology company that provides services, we recognize the benefits and efficiencies that can be gained by deploying technology to streamline processes. We are excited to add this beneficial service as we continue to evolve our relationship with DRN,” Norwood continued.
Consolidated’s technology platform for repossession management — Internet Based Electronic Asset Management (IBEAM) — will continue to provide DRN historical data to lenders with DRNsights subscriptions, as well as provide simplified single mouse click assignment features for live LPR and LPR staging.
In addition, Consolidated noted that IBEAM will provide automated assignment processing for Live LPR assignments without the need for a 24-hour call center expediting asset recovery, removing potential delays in response time.
“We are thrilled to build upon our existing relationship with Consolidated, supporting its forwarding service solution,” said Jeremiah Wheeler, executive vice president and general manager of DRN’s fintech division.
“We look forward to working with Consolidated and our affiliates to drive recovery rates higher for the auto-lending market,” Wheeler went on to say.
There is still time to join the industry for Repo Con and Used Car Week 2018. Go to www.usedcarweek.biz for the complete agenda and registration details.
