A recent
article on CU Collector, a website dedicated to the auto-loan collector within
America's credit unions reported that a national repossession "forwarding company" was
trying to find new repossession agents on Craigslist.
Don't
get me wrong. I use Craigslist all the time to list things for sale
(surfboards, guitars, etc) and find handy-man assistance for home work
projects. I like Craigslist. Craigslist is and of itself isn't immoral, and
really, neither is "forwarding", per se.
But one
has to ask themselves why someone would need to turn to this generic online
bulletin board to find professionals in what is very specialized niche service?
Aren't there already good repossessors working already?
This all
seems like a lot of effort made to bypass 500-600 repossessors that are
already licensed, bonded, equipped, certified, and insured, that are on the
streets already, and can be easily found in the pages of ARA, TFA. AFA, NFA, or
some other reliable source. Why source "qualified newcomers" when
experienced professionals exist?
The
answer is price.
If any
forwarder were willing to pay a fair rate for legitimate services
rendered.....investigation fees, storage, skip tracing, difficult
repossessions....they would find allies in the professional segment of the
repossession world.
Its not
forwarders, really, that professional repossessors are pushing back
against...its assignments being put out for unrealistically low fees, no close
fees, no storage. And its only the "newcomers" haven't done the
math to realize that their business model is not sustainable for the long haul.
And, are
"newcomers" who creditors need out there representing them in the
most invasive collection practice allowed in America? Read NCLC's "Repo
Madness" if you need an answer to that question.
Creditors
are ultimately responsible for the injuries, deaths, or damages that could
occur (and have occurred) in the repossession process. That's a fact, proven time and time again in the courts. Creditors need to
have already qualified, already experienced people in the consumer's driveway
at 2:00am, not a newcomer! And, like it or not, the greatest
concentration of experienced repossessors are in the trade groups....and most
of them have been in business long enough to know the foolishness of offering
unrealistically cheap prices for their valuable services.
Its too
bad. At the end of the day, its all about price, not experience, or even
concern for consumer safety. All this effort to save, what., $100 an account?
To safely recover more of the creditors $10,000 vehicles?
Its not
Craigslist that's the problem. Its an unwillingness to use the trained,
professional agents that exist already, and that unwillingness is simply driven
by price alone.
That's
what is too bad about this.
