ALS Resolvion, a nationwide skip-trace and repossession management firm, has been selected as an honorable mention winner within Digital Defense’s 2018 Client Recognition Award Program, which recognizes organizations that display the highest level of network security.
This accolade arrived soon after ALS Resolvion was named the recipient of Digital Recognition Network’s 2019 Platinum Provider of the Year Award.
Out of 1,600 recurring vulnerability scanning and penetration testing clients, ALS Resolvion said in a news release that it was one of 48 presented with the honorable mention award.
“In this age of data breaches, it is encouraging to see our clients continuing to increase their focus on reducing risk by proactively mitigating network vulnerabilities,” Digital Defense president and chief executive officer Larry Hurtado said.
As one of the leading forwarding companies in the industry, ALS Resolvion works with sensitive information and utilizes a variety of data sources to secure more than 9,500 repossessions a month. This honor marks ALS Resolvion’s second overall Digital Defense award within the last three years.
“We take our data and network security very seriously and we invest a lot of resources in this area. The award from Digital Defense provides great validation of those efforts,” ALS Resolvion chief technology and compliance officer Keith Yarnell said.
Taking steps involving security likely was a part of ALS Resolvion collecting another award from DRN during the annual North American Repossessors Summit (NARS) held in Irving, Texas.
The award marks the third consecutive year that the forwarding company was honored by DRN for its role in the repossession industry. ALS Resolvion was the 2018 Gold Provider and is excited to be named the 2019 Platinum Provider for achieving the highest number of total repossession assignments and successful repossessions.
“We were excited to award ALS Resolvion with our 2019 Platinum Provider of the Year Award,” said Jeremiah Wheeler, executive vice president and general manager for fintech with DRN, which also is a member of the Auto Intel Council.
“DRN places tremendous value in our relationship with ALS Resolvion. Year after year, they continue to excel and set new standards for excellence. We are pleased to work with a company that is such a leader in the forwarding community,” Wheeler continued.
ALS Resolvion produced more than 92,000 successful repossessions last year. The award was accepted by ALS Resolvion president Jose Mendiola, who said, “We are honored to have received this prestigious award and it’s a testament to all of the hard work our team and network of agents have put in this past year. This is only the beginning for ALS Resolvion.”
Along with handing out five different awards and generating thousands of dollars for an industry-related charity, the American Recovery Association cheered the success of this year’s North American Repossessors Summit (NARS), sponsored by Harding Brooks Insurance.
ARA officials highlighted that the 11th annual event generated “staggering” attendance of more than 600 participants, including recovery and remarketing professionals as well as finance companies.
ARA president Dave Kennedy said that NARS cemented its place as a “must-attend” event for the recovery industry to benefit attendees and exhibitors alike, with sponsorships and exhibitor opportunities selling out months in advance.
“NARS 2019 set the tone for the future. It was amazing — the energy and feeling of unity was felt in every session and networking event,” Kennedy said. “Every year, I am floored by the event’s ability to bring together professionals from all sides of this industry, while also raising thousands to benefit recovery agents in need.”
NARS 2019 kicked off with workshop options and unique networking opportunities for attendees. During NARS’ Locksmithing Workshop, attendees learned a new vertical that could help add to their bottom line. The annual AT&T Stadium Tour led attendees through the facility to a private field-level dining experience, and even a little rain couldn’t keep golfers away from the annual NARS Golf Tournament.
Other networking opportunities at NARS 2019 included the Harding Brooks Insurance sponsored cocktail party and Digital Recognition Network (DRN) sponsored closing party.
Through a compelling line-up of speakers, NARS 2019 equipped attendees with the practical knowledge and inspiration based on the conference theme, “Adapt, Conquer and Overcome.”
Retired U.S. Navy Seal Mike Sarraille inspired the crowd to practice extreme ownership and have moral courage. Scott Jackson shared his story of having it all, losing it all, and how learning to first adapt and conquer helped him eventually overcome obstacles at every turn in his life. Brandon Gray shared his candid financial expertise on exit-planning during his strategic planning session. The NARS 2019 Keynote speaker, best-selling author Bob Burg, brought the house down with his philosophy on how living life the “go giver way” leads to both professional and personal success.
NARS 2019 also introduced the first-ever NARS Industry Awards, which honored exemplary industry professionals.
The inaugural honorees included:
— Agent of the Year: Michael Simpson
— Service Representative of the Year: Jon Jendral
— Humanitarian of the Year: Ray Franklin
— Agency Owner of the Year: Richard Grosvenor
Additionally, the prestigious Art Christensen Award was given to Mike Reiter for his outstanding contributions and service to the recovery industry.
In addition, fund-raising efforts contributed more than $20,000 to the Recovery Agents Benefit Fund (RABF), thanks to DRN, Reiter and silent auction sponsors, which included:
— Anthony Gentile of Dynamic Wrecker Sales
— David Kennedy of First Credit Resources
— Fidel Sanchez of Midwest Keyless
— Emily Massey of SCAR
— Mike Sarraille of Echelon Front
— Steve Simons of Paramount Recovery Service
NARS 2020 will be held next April. More details about the 12th annual event will be announced soon. Visit reposummit.com for more information.
Along with sharing details about a new affiliate benefit program, Digital Recognition Network (DRN) handed out its annual awards to companies that have demonstrated excellence in the repossession industry.
During an appreciation dinner in conjunction with the 2019 North American Repossessors Summit, DRN highlighted that two affiliates tied for the National Affiliate of the Year Award, which recognizes excellence in repossession operations and performance throughout the prior year. The accolade went to Associates Asset Recovery and Specialized Towing and Transportation.
“We are honored and humbled to recognize this year’s affiliate award winners,” said Andy Cameron, senior vice president of fintech at DRN, which also is a member of the Auto Intel Council.
“Our affiliates serve as profiles in excellence within the repossession industry, and our award winners literally go the ‘extra mile’ to provide the license plate scans that serve as the backbone of our organization,” Cameron continued.
DRN also honored eight affiliates with Top Gun awards — regional honors that recognize the companies for their innovation and leadership within the repossession industry in their regions. Those honorees included:
Western Region Top Gun Award
Coastline Recovery Services
South West Recovery
Eastern Region Top Gun Award
Dezba Asset Recovery
Thomas Recovery
Southern Region Top Gun Award
Hide and Seek Recovery
Oklahoma Repossessors
Midwest Region Top Gun Award
Relentless Recovery
Connect 1 Recovery
Additionally, DRN launched what it’s calling the Elevate the Agent member benefit program. This program rewards affiliates who record at least 250,000 license plate scans per month with incentives to elevate their role in the DRN Recovery Circle and receive better benefits by scanning more license plates.
The company explained the Recovery Circle consists of multiple member tiers offering benefits ranging from hardware credits and discounts to free license plate recognition camera systems.
“We are excited to share the Elevate the Agent’ program with our affiliates,” said Jeremiah Wheeler, executive vice president and general manager of fintech at DRN. “It is important that our affiliates know how much we value our relationship with them and the work they do for us.
“This program is designed to demonstrate just that — and to provide key benefits that make their jobs — and hopefully, their lives easier,” Wheeler went on to say.
For more details about the Elevate the Agent program, visit https://drndata.com/drn_elevate_the_agent/.
Toyota Financial Services evidently really likes the results the captive receives from Millennium Capital and Recovery Corp., since the auto-finance provider gave another honor to the forwarding company.
TFS recently handed its Recovery Services Excellence Award to Millennium Capital and Recovery as part of Toyota’s ongoing performance award program that is intended to drive performance results and a competitive spirit among the captive’s recovery service vendors.
Millennium Capital and Recovery added that the award recognizes a vendor’s recovery performance results and compliance and includes a “traveling trophy” that resides in the home office of the current champion for the quarter.
“Millennium is proud to be a long-term partner with Toyota. Our focus is always on providing best in class performance, industry-leading compliance, and world class service. Toyota’s standards of excellence have contributed toward our achieving the highest level of standard for both performance and compliance,” Millennium Capital and Recovery president Jayne Bronchetti said.
“We are honored to receive the recognition from Toyota Financial Services,” Bronchetti continued. “This Recovery Services Excellence Award is truly a team effort encompassing all areas of our business and embodying our teams’ commitments to leveraging technology to drive recovery performance, and to delivering excellence in compliance.”
Back in 2017, Millennium Capital and Recovery became the only recovery management and skip-tracing firm ever to receive the Kaizen Award from Toyota Financial Services.
“Millennium is dedicated to providing value enhancement, process improvement, and successful partnership strategies to our customers. It is a privilege to be a partner with such an outstanding organization as Toyota Financial Services,” Millennium’s chief managing officer Jeffrey Marsh said.
Millennium chief operating officer Scott Wilson added, “We are experiencing industry-changing improvements in recovery performance through the use of technology that is turning high volume transactional data into actionable information and business intelligence that drive our recovery decisioning, and it’s paying off for Millennium’s customers by raising the bar on attainable results.”
Vice president of business operations Diana Moeglin also reacted to the honor from TFS.
“We are proud of our team’s ability to deliver consistent and reliable compliance month after month to meet Toyota’s high standards for all providers. Our performance has been made possible by our recently completed technology platform designed to manage both the placement of assignments as well as our post-recovery performance,” Moeglin said.
“We fully expect our performance in these areas to continue to excel as our dedicated staff becomes more knowledgeable in the use of this technology and the related exception reporting,” she went on to say.
For the second time leading into this week’s North American Repossessors Summit (NARS), Recovery Industry Services Co. (RISC) is bolstering its offerings.
Through its relationship with Hudson Cook, RISC announced it has completed a significant update to the Certified Asset Recovery Specialist (CARS) National Certification program. Improvements include detailed information about repossession insurance, relevant case studies and updates to the laws that govern the self-help repossession process.
“The updates include a comprehensive review of repossession laws to ensure recovery agents are getting the most relevant and recent compliance education,” said Hudson Cook partner Eric Johnson, who will continue to oversee annual updates to the CARS and CARS Continuing Education courses.
RISC president and chief operating officer Holly Balogh added, “We are excited to continue to foster our relationship with Hudson Cook to provide the most thorough, up-to-date educational material to repossession agents.
RISC chief executive officer Stamatis Ferarolis emphasized the relationship with Hudson Cook, as well.
“Our partnership with Hudson Cook means agents who invest in the CARS program are receiving the most recent and relevant training for collateral recovery,” Ferarolis said. “Anyone who becomes certified on the CARS program can be confident that the material is widely accepted and sought after by creditors in the repossession industry.”
This announcement arrived on the heels of RISC being set to release an updated version of the Skip-Tracing Certification authored by Alex Price, who is the director of risk solutions at Digital Recognition Network (DRN), and also known as “The Skip Guru.”
To sign up for the CARS program or a new CE course, visit www.riscus.com/Education/. RISC offers a subscription monthly payment option for all education purchases.
For questions about RISC and the CARS program, contact Balogh at [email protected].
Repossession agents and other recovery industry professionals looking to sharpen their skip-training efforts have another resource on the horizon.
Recovery Industry Services Co. (RISC), a provider of compliance education and training services, announced on Tuesday that it will be releasing an updated version of the Skip-Tracing Certification Course at the North American Repossessors Summit (NARS). The event is set begin next Thursday in Irving, Texas.
The new course is authored by Alex Price, who is the director of risk solutions at Digital Recognition Network (DRN) and also known as “The Skip Guru.” Price delves into the methodologies and practices of skip-tracing to teach the student how to effectively locate skips while staying in compliance with state and federal regulations.
The course will be available in RISC’s online learning management system and covers all aspects of modern skip-tracing, communication tactics, human nature insights, applicable federal law, data security and the “big three” of skip-tracing.
“On the vast majority of repossession accounts, some level of skip-tracing is needed to locate assets that are difficult to contact or find,” said Stamatis Ferarolis, chief executive officer and founder of RISC.
“Alex Price shares his unique methodologies that he honed over the past 30 years to teach students how to deploy effective communication and cyber techniques to locate the consumer who does not want to be found,” Ferarolis continued.
The updated course will be available as a standalone certification program for skip-tracers and to recovery agents as part of continuing education for the CARS program.
Price participated in an episode of the Auto Remarketing Podcast during last year’s North American Repossessors Summit to discuss how robust technology and data availability work nicely with skip-tracing methods honed early in his career.
The full conversation can be found below.
ACA International questioned a proposal to regulate telephone communications from the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee chairman based on the assertion it could do more harm than good.
The organization that brings together third-party collection agencies, law firms, asset buying companies, creditors and vendor affiliates explained the potential House legislation would sweep illegal robocalls and legitimate non-telemarketing business calls into one category.
The Stopping Bad Robocalls Act (HR 946) was reintroduced back in February by Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., a Democrat from New Jersey.
According to a news release from the lawmaker, Pallone’s bill would direct the Federal Communications Commission to enact “strong” consumer protections for authorized calls and empower the FCC with strong enforcement tools to reign in robocallers.
The committee chairman said the legislation would also ensure that consumers have the ability to stop calls they’d previously authorized and require incoming calls to have authentic caller identification information before they are delivered to customers.
“Americans are fed up with robocalls. It is incredibly annoying to repeatedly get unwanted calls from people you don’t know and don’t want to talk to,” Pallone said. “Despite previous efforts like the Do Not Call Registry, robocalls are still on the rise. The Stopping Bad Robocalls Act will equip consumer protection agencies with innovative, new tools designed to stop the abusive practices by robocallers and better restrict unauthorized robocalls.”
ACA International insisted the measure would harm consumers by stymieing the free flow of information between thousands of legitimate businesses and consumers, emphasizing concerns that Pallone’s legislation presents an overly broad characterization of what is considered a robocall including a problematic expanded definition of what is considered an autodialer.
“If the Stopping Bad Robocalls Act was appropriately tailored to focus on bad actors that are making abusive and illegal robocalls, we would be in staunch support of such efforts,” ACA International chief executive officer Mark Neeb said in a news release.
“ACA members strongly agree that consumers deserve to be treated fairly and respectfully,” Neeb said. “However, the Stopping Bad Robocalls Act is not tailored to that goal and it instead does more harm than good by creating additional confusion, in an already confusing marketplace for determining how to comply with the severely outdated Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) of 1991.”
The latest online information available from the House’s official website indicated HR 946 remains within the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
“When Congress enacted the TCPA, it was for the purpose of limiting abusive telemarketing calls, yet Rep. Pallone’s legislation would mark an even further departure from that original laudable goal of stopping sales calls that consumers have not consented to receive, while doing nothing to deter illegal robocallers who have no interest in following the law,” Neeb said.
“Consumers often need the communications that legitimate businesses provide them and creating new onerous requirements for communicating with them is harmful,” he said.
The Stopping Bad Robocalls Act includes these potential actions:
— Amending the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) to ensure that the FCC has the authority and the tools to take strong, quick action when they track down robocallers
— Allowing consumers to revoke consent they had previously given to receive calls at any time and in any reasonable manner
— Codifying a reassigned number database to put robocallers on notice when a telephone number they may have previously been authorized to call has been given to a new customer who has not authorized their call
— Limiting the number of robocalls exempted from the TCPA under the FCC’s rules
— Requiring calls to have verified caller identification information associated with a call before the call can be put through
— Extending the statute of limitations from one year to four years for callers violating robocall prohibitions
Pallone said an estimated 26.3 billion unwanted calls were placed in the U.S. last year, representing a 46-percent increase in unwanted calls over the previous year. What the lawmaker called a “staggering number of unwanted calls” are returning huge profit margins for robocallers, according to the House member, with every dollar spent by robocallers returning as much as $20 profit — a 2,000 percent profit margin.
Though Pallone acknowledged some robocalls are initiated by legitimate companies, the lawmaker added robocalls are also used by scammers to steal from consumers, with more than 22 million Americans losing a total of $9.5 billion in robocall scams in 2016 alone, according to his office.
Pallone’s proposal also was applauded by various consumer groups.
“The Stopping Bad Robocalls Act will apply essential and meaningful consumer protections from unwanted robocalls if the FCC should fail to rein in robocalls from telemarketers and debt collectors, student loan servicers and others,” said Margot Saunders, senior counsel at the National Consumer Law Center.
Consumer Reports policy analyst Maureen Mahoney added, “The robocalls problem is out of control and, without action from Congress, will only get worse. This legislation would tackle the growing problem of ‘spoofed’ calls that trick consumers into answering, by ensuring phone companies implement technology to stop these unwanted calls before they reach the consumer at no additional cost.
“Consumer Reports applauds Congressman Pallone for his leadership in addressing this growing problem,” Mahoney said.
Taylor Thurman is back with National Creditors Connection Inc. (NCCI).
The loss-reduction outsourcing (LRO) company recently announced Thurman returned to be its director of sales in the auto-finance market. NCCI indicated Thurman will be leading all market development and sales initiatives for the auto-finance segment.
“We are excited and humbled to have our superstar back home at NCCI,” NCCI president Rick Rodriguez said.
“NCCI is known for helping clients reduce losses, and Taylor’s knowledge and relentless drive will enable NCCI to continue to deliver our absolute best to our auto-finance partners,” Rodriguez continued.
Thurman spent three years with NCCI before serving as client development director of auto claims at DIMONT. She led the market development and sales expansion of that specialty insurance and loan administration company into the auto-finance space, delivering 15 new logo clients in a little more than year.
During her first stint with NCCI, Thurman ran sales and market development for the company where she delivered more than $4 million in new sales, bringing on more than 40 new clients including captives and large banks.
Thurman's professional career also includes a stint with Consolidated Asset Recovery Systems.
In addition to her impressive track record in auto finance, Thurman is a level I certified Crossfit coach/trainer, and she is equally as active in giving back to the community as a teen mentor and a volunteer with those struggling with addiction.
“Taylor will be helping NCCI to make sure that the reach and positive impact of their loss reduction solutions are delivering results in the auto-finance segment,” NCCI said.
Paramount Recovery Service, a leading Southern California-based automotive repossession company, recently announced the expansion of its locations and services as well as the hiring of two industry experts.
Company leaders highlighted the physical expansion includes the acquisition of PRS’ largest location to date — an indoor and outdoor facility consisting of 88,000 square feet that’s situated in downtown Los Angeles’ Huntington Park district. The company now services 15 counties with brick and mortar repossession storage facilities, including a location in San Diego, a one-acre facility in Perris, and others in Ontario, East Los Angeles, Burbank, Oxnard, Lancaster, Bakersfield and Fresno.
PRS also maintains an office and auto storage facility in Phoenix.
The company noted a portion of this growth follows PRS’ acquisition of three other automotive repossession companies during the past two quarters. Additional acquisitions are underway with plans to expand to Palm Springs, Santa Maria and throughout California by the end of 2019.
PRS also added two new employees to its management team.
Industry veteran Kevin Morgan joined as vice president with an extensive background in auto and repossession services, credit union experience and remarketing. Morgan previously worked for Simons Services and Recovery (SSR) and Cinema Vehicle Services.
Morgan will assist PRS founder and president Steve Simons in company oversight and daily operations.
Daisy Duarte came aboard as director of operations in PRS’ pre-recovery unit, bringing years of industry knowledge and expertise from Westlake Financial Services. Duarte now is part of the operations team led by PRS chief operating officer Roger Gilden.
“The addition of Kevin and Daisy allows us to continue to grow and operate the best professional one-stop-shop for all Southern California recovery,” Simons said.
“Despite our rapid growth, we remain dedicated to being the family-oriented, professional organization that has always set us apart in the industry,” Simons continued. “We are also upgrading the technology in all of our state-of-the-art facilities, saving money and time for our clients. We are changing the way repossession companies operate through compliance, technology and automation.”
PRS’ fleet of vehicles now scans more than 10 million license plates per month via its strategic partnership with on-demand data solutions company, MVTRAC. Using the newest license plate recognition (LPR) technology and employing a round-the-clock administration team and dispatch for all field staff, clients can contact PRS for expedited auto recovery 24 hours per day, seven days a week.
The company also offers complete in-house automotive locksmith services, auto transport services and will soon be offering vehicle remarketing, as well as a statewide impound retrieval division.
Due to PRS’ rapid growth, the company is hiring in all locations. PRS offers comprehensive health benefits and competitive wages to its employees. Qualified applicants are encouraged to send their resumes to [email protected].
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Center for Microeconomic Data recently released its quarterly report on household debt and credit. While some pundits initially rushed to point to a negative theme — 7 million people had an auto finance contract at least 90 days delinquent in 2018 — the Fed was quick to reign these pundits in with context supporting the overall health of the auto lending industry.
A look at the numbers supports the Fed’s optimism. More than 89 million Americans currently have some sort of auto financing, representing the highest figure ever reported by the Fed (using data provided by Equifax that goes back to 1999). Furthermore, there were $584 billion in new auto loans and leases appearing on credit reports in 2018. When all was said and done, auto financing increased by $53 billion to $1.27 trillion in 2018.
As the Fed pointed out, auto loans are certainly in “high gear.” And while this increased volume is a positive indicator for the industry, lenders must consider the significantly increased need for resources dedicated to servicing and collecting on these loans.
We’ve all heard about a wave of emerging technologies that fall under the artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning umbrellas, and smart lenders and servicers are turning to them to help meet this need for increased resources. It’s something that my company has embraced and invested in heavily, and we’ve seen great results from these amazing technologies.
From the use of intelligent virtual assistants to handle more simple customer interactions or utilizing sophisticated conversation analytics software to gain actionable business intelligence, to implementing custom SaaS collection software to predict when and how much delinquent accounts will pay, lenders and servicers have more at their disposal than ever before.
Through use of predictive modeling, I have seen a decrease in attempts to contact customers of up to 65 percent, all while maintaining right party contacts and successes. This, coupled with virtual assistants handling of payment and general customer service requests, allows an increase of live agent availability to handle more complex servicing requests.
AI is now a necessity in auto finance loan servicing due to the industry’s heightened focus on customer satisfaction. These tools make it possible to hone in on a customer’s individual financial situation and present the easiest path forward, one that is realistic to the customer and acceptable to the lender. This will boost repeat business and I see no reason that AI will not continue to play a major role.
So yes, the deployment of the right emerging technologies makes absolute sense for lenders and servicers looking to meet the demand of the booming auto lending industry.
However, the industry should resist the urge to become overly reliant on these technologies, and use them with a goal of providing ease-of-use and convenience to customers with more routine issues or inquiries. There will always be the need for a human touch for more complex or challenging issues, something that only a skilled customer service rep or collector can provide.
In my view, the right mix of technology and traditional customer service is the recipe for meeting continued demand — and keeping the industry in high gear.
Sean Bennett is director of business technology at Servicing Solutions, a full-service, beginning-to-end loan servicing solution powered by compliance, technology, analytics and a management team of experienced industry leaders.
