Senior editor Nick Zulovich spent part of his time in Denver for the North American Repossessors Summit sharing another conversation for the Auto Remarketing Podcast with Jeremiah Wheeler, who is president of DRN and MVTRAC.
In light of inflation pushing up the costs of gas and other life necessities, Wheeler offered insight stemming from company data about how much consumers are looking to relocate.
To listen to the conversation, click on the link available below, or visit the Auto Remarketing Podcast page.
Download and subscribe to the Auto Remarketing Podcast on iTunes or on Google Play.
The American Recovery Association’s relationship with its newest industry partner recently produced more fruit to help members.
Through its latest industry whitepaper, ARA highlighted that Bassford Remele takes a closer look at problematic provisions in a boilerplate clause, including:
• Indemnification clauses
• Limitation-of-liability clauses
• Dispute resolution clauses, including fee-shifting provisions, choice-of-law- provisions, choice-of-venue provisions and arbitration or mediation provisions.
“We are honored to present our latest industry White Paper addressing contracts that are being presented to our industry for our consideration,” ARA officials said. “While these points are not specific to any one contract, they address the terms that are in most of them.
“As noted in the whitepaper, these points or comments are not legal advice for your company but guidance for you to consider and consult with your attorney,” officials went on to say.
The whitepaper can be downloaded on this website.
LocateSmarter’s Alex “SkipGuru” Price and RISC are joining forces not just to help professionals sharpen their skip-tracing skills, but also to generate financial resources for a cause connected to something more valuable than vehicles.
To support the Innocent Lives Foundation (ILF), RISC and Price said they will donate 100% of the sales proceeds of the Skip-Tracing Certification Program to ILF during February and March.
Price highlighted in a news release that ILF is a nonprofit organization that utilizes the unique skillset of computer security and open-source intelligence (OSINT) professionals to unmask child predators on the internet and help bring them to justice.
According to Price and ILF, one in 10 children will be a victim of sexual abuse before their 18th birthday. ILF is committed to protecting children’s innocence as the organization’s experts hunt down who they deem to be the “worst of the worst” — pedophiles, sexual predators and human traffickers — while also providing critical evidence to U.S. and international law enforcement agencies.
Since its inception, the ILF has had more than 239 cases accepted by law enforcement. Price said the impact the case support has had on children’s lives is immeasurable.
“Working with the ILF is a great passion of mine, and I intend to put all my resources and contacts into helping their mission,” Price said. “As parents of two great kids, my wife and I have been blessed never to have had the experience of any violent crime in our family. It is hard for us even to imagine the torture these poor children have endured, so if one dime of my certification program sales or one friend volunteers to help the ILF to save children, then my entire career will be worth it.”
Price is the creator of RISC’s Skip-Tracer Certification Program that is widely used by the collateral recovery industry as well as private investigators, bounty hunters, news reporters and others.
Price has been skip-tracing and advising the auto-finance industry for more than 30 years on tracing individuals who are no longer making timely installment payments for their vehicles.
Now professionals involved in collections and recoveries can obtain the education, become a certified skip-tracer and support ILF, too.
“Partnerships with individuals like Alex Price and companies such as RISC are vital to our mission for many reasons," ILF chief operating officer Scott McCombs said in the news release. “First off, it can cost up to $10,000 for the ILF to create and deliver a case to law enforcement. And, as a 501(c)3, we rely solely on generous donations to continue our vital work.
“In addition to fundraising initiatives, these partnerships are an essential way that our organization can gain new exposure to groups and individuals who align themselves with our mission,” McCombs added.
Price and ILF plan to discuss the organization’s ongoing efforts during a live-streamed conversation set for Tuesday at 7 p.m. (ET). The online event will be available here.
“I know many of the best investigators in the world, and I challenge each of you to find out how you can help save a child. God bless anyone that is able to contribute in any way,” Price said.
Last month, ART Asset Adjusters came to fruition as the result of merging six repossession and recovery agencies serving California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico.
On Tuesday, ART Asset Adjusters expanded its footprint into Texas by merging two more agencies into its industry portfolio.
According to a news release, joining the conglomerate are Diversified Recovery of Texas and 1st Adjusters of Texas.
The owners of these two companies said they are fully aligned with the ART vision to become and remain the most trusted partner to auto-finance companies for asset recovery services. To help accomplish that vision, Diversified Recovery and 1st Adjusters will both merge completely into the ART organization by the end of the year.
Starting Jan. 1, ART Asset Adjusters will deliver direct one-call asset recovery services throughout seven states, operating from approximately 50 marshalling facilities across that service footprint.
“It is a privilege to welcome these two great Texas companies into ART Asset Adjusters along with all the special people that make their organizations stand out,” ART Asset Adjusters chief executive officer Dan Johnson said.
“In our continuing endeavor to better serve our clients and provide a stronger future for our employees, adding the state of Texas to our service footprint with these outstanding teams delivering that service moves us forward in living out our vision to become and remain the most trusted lender services partner in asset recovery,” Johnson continued.
Furthermore, the owners of Diversified Recovery and 1st Adjusters will continue in full time roles with ART Asset Adjusters providing leadership and operational continuity for all their lender clients.
“Over the years, our company has built and sustained a legacy of strong, trusted relationships with our clients, and a performance track record that continually sets the bar for service within our industry,” said Joseph Hale of Diversified Recovery, who will serve as vice president of client development for ART Asset Adjusters.
“Joining together with the ART team will enable us to deliver our service excellence across a larger service footprint, and to be even more responsive when we are provided additional opportunities to serve our clients in the days ahead,” Hale continued.
Rick Campbell, who founded Diversified Recovery 18 years ago, will serve as ART’s vice president of training and risk management.
“We are very proud of being a top performer in the repossession space, and we will remain intensely committed to the rigorous processes and standards that we are known for maintaining,” Campbell said.
“Effectively equipping our people for success is a key to continually being recognized as a service leader by our clients, and becoming part of the ART family will allow us to invest even more into preparing our people for increased personal and professional success,” he went on to say.
James Waldron of 1st Adjusters will be director of client relations for the Texas region for ART Asset Adjusters.
“Combining the strength of our field operations, while increasing our investment in technology and logistics support, will allow us to produce results for our clients in an even faster and safer manner,” Waldron said.
“This will allow us to provide a very personalized service to each of our clients that focuses on their specific needs and how they want their accounts handled. We are extremely excited to become a part of ART along with Diversified Recovery,” he added.
Following the initial merger announcement, Johnson described how the combination of companies came together in an episode of the Auto Remarketing Podcast, which can be heard through the window at the bottom of this page.
Ignite Consulting Partners chief legal and compliance officer Steve Levine explained two of the most important potential ramifications stemming from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s settlement with Nissan’s captive finance company.
To recap, the bureau said it found several violations by Nissan Motor Acceptance Corp. in connection with vehicle repossessions, leading to a settlement totaling $5 million.
In a message to clients as well as SubPrime Auto Finance News, Levine said, “Two big takeaways are be sure your state allows a fee to be charged by either the creditor or its agent for the return of personal property left in a vehicle. Many states prohibit this.
“Also, be transparent about payment fees being charged and communicating the availability of payment methods with lower or no fee,” he added.
Levine also acknowledged more potential compliance pitfalls are mentioned in the CFPB’s consent decree with Nissan’s captive than these two issues with repossessions. He welcomed dealerships and finance companies to engage in a more in-depth conversation with the firm by sending a message to [email protected].
“It’s worth noting that this is the second CFPB action taken against an auto finance company in a month, with a September action being announced against Lobel Financial on its loss damage waiver product. Rumors of the CFPB’s demise have been greatly exaggerated,” Levine said.
And as a side note, Levine mentioned activities on social media, too.
“Be aware that we’ve seen a few recent examples of creditors communicating with purported customers via Facebook only to find that the customer's account was a ‘dummy’ one,” he said. “Give careful consideration to your social media policies and the controls you have in place.”
For more details, go to ignitecp.com.
RISC said it understands the COVID-19 pandemic continues to keep the collateral recovery industry from getting back to any kind of normalcy.
In light of the challenges that repossession agencies are going through, RISC recently decided to extend its fee waiver for RISC Pro Membership, including CARS Certification Training for the fourth straight month.
The company said in a news release that billing will be on hold until Aug. 1. RISC believes the fee waiver will help current members save on monthly expenses as well as allow new members to sign-up to take advantage of free education.
“We have seen a 40% increase in membership over the last three months. This is a great sign that we are helping agencies during this hard time get the value of membership without any expense,” RISC chief executive officer Stamatis Ferarolis said.
“We will continue to monitor how markets are doing and consider additional waivers if the financial strain continues,” Ferarolis added.
RISC Pro is a membership for agents that have set their company’s compliance status as a high priority for managing their business.
In addition, RISC Pro gives its members unlimited access to all of RISC’s CARS training programs, Driver Safety Training, business templates, worksheets and more.
Learn more about RISC Pro at https://www.riscus.com/AgentServices/riscpromembership.
MBSi Corp. and Resolvion are making sure their firms are fully prepared when finance companies begin to start repossession and recovery activities again in full force.
The companies announced on Wednesday that they reached an agreement to complete full integration of Resolvion’s Wombat system with MBSi’s new RecoveryConnect platform.
Both firms have been in transition during the past year.
Resolvion completed a merger with Del Mar and in doing so created one of the largest repossession/skip management companies in the country. MBSi, which acquired MyRecoverySystem (MRS) and Vendor Transparency Solutions (VTS) in 2019, has been working to merge legacy systems to create the new RecoveryConnect, a comprehensive back-office platform with mapping and post-recovery scheduling capabilities.
Executives explained the Wombat-RecoveryConnect integration will provide agents the ability to receive and work all Resolvion repossession assignments in RecoveryConnect without the need to log in to Wombat.
“This integration is a win-win for all involved,” MBSi president Cort DeHart said. “For agents, it further reduces the number of systems they access, while improving compliance and efficiency.
“For Resolvion, it helps consolidate recent acquisitions into Wombat, as well as expand their commitment to mobile technology and the real-time benefits it brings,” DeHart continued. “For MBSi, it further enhances the service and compliance offerings to our lender, forwarder and agent partners.”
Resolvion chief executive officer Michael Levison added, “While we have been integrated on the lender side with MBSi for many years, this expansion will ensure our ability to seamlessly support both our lender clients and our agent partners regardless of the platform that they choose.”
After sharpening the solution for nearly a year, PAR North America is ready to broaden the availability of a service aimed at enhancing the wholesaling of repossessed vehicles.
The KAR Global business unit on Tuesday announced the expansion of its PAR Repo 360 Advantage service.
Finance companies using this digital-first product for their recovered vehicles can launch those units for sale to a potentially nationwide buyer base on ADESA.com and the ADESA Marketplace app directly from the recovery vendor’s lot, potentially saving time and money on both transportation and reconditioning.
Buyers also can benefit by getting first-pick access to fresh inventory of high-quality vehicles nearly two weeks before those units would otherwise be available in auction lanes.
“We’ve watched the digital transformation of the remarketing space over the past two decades, and the time is now right for the repossession segment to take advantage of the upstream, online sales channels that work so well in the wholesale space,” PAR North America president Lisa Scott said in a news release.
“The detailed vehicle information available today, like AutoGrade ratings, condition reports and image capturing technology, has earned buyer confidence, and selling platforms like ADESA Simulcast have grown more sophisticated and efficient,” Scott continued.
“With Repo 360 Advantage, buyers can purchase the high-quality vehicles they are looking for much more quickly, and lenders can sell those assets faster and with fewer costs. It’s a win-win,” she went on to say.
The company explained PAR’s Repo 360 Advantage program can open up an expanding online sales channel to its finance company clients, allowing them to sell recovered vehicles in a relevant, widely recognized method of inventory disposal, before adding transportation or reconditioning expenses. In the pilot with a credit union, PAR’s Repo 360 Advantage service reduced the average days to sale by 11 days and saved the client hundreds of dollars per vehicle in remarketing costs.
The PAR Repo 360 Advantage product is starting its nationwide expansion after being tested and refined since April of last year. The company highlighted vehicles in the Repo 360 Advantage pilot demonstrated a significantly positive conversion rate, and retention was higher overall for vehicles sold on ADESA.com than for those sold in-lane.
“The gains in days to sale and net proceeds due to cost savings have been substantial for the lender in our pilot, as well as seeing improved conversion rate and retention,” said Stacey White, senior vice president of remarketing for PAR North America.
“We’re confident that our other lending institution clients will benefit from the innovative approach of Repo 360 Advantage,” White added.
PAR’s Repo 360 Advantage service leverages the strengths of other KAR Global companies to provide services for its clients.
In addition to accessing the remarketing capabilities of ADESA, PAR North America utilizes AutoVIN to conduct any inspections required at recovery agent lots, and High Tech Locksmiths provides both finance companies and repossession vendors with key replacement services.
These services are integrated into the Repo 360 Advantage product through PAR’s secure, proprietary VIPR/eVIPR system, which can allow clients to receive fast, real-time updates, hold/close notifications, repossession reports, condition reports and other associated documents.
For more information, go to parnorthamerica.com.
This week, Resolvion announced the launch of its new client success team.
The skip-trace and repossession management firm explained the objective of this new initiative is to provide a more holistic and seamless approach to ensuring that client specific requirements are being properly coordinated and met as well as to generally make it easier to transact with the company.
The client success team is led by senior vice president of client services Claudia Plascencia and includes seasoned client success directors and quality audit Representatives. Their role is to serve as a primary point of contact on overall relationship issues and coordinate action across the multiple departments that touch the client relationship.
“Customers are vital to our business, so focusing on them and their success with our products/services helps with retention. When customers are happy and succeeding, it benefits our entire organization” Plascencia said in a news release.
Resolvion chief operating officer Scott Darling added, “this service is different than what we have been providing to clients.
“We need to be the leaders in the area of communication, both with clients and more importantly consumers,” Darling went on to say. “Our client success department helps us do that.”
For more information about Resolvion’s client success team, contact Plascencia at [email protected] or call (760) 431-6014.
