Great News from the American Recovery Association

Member Highlight: DeAnn Juliano

DeAnn grew up in the repossession business and is a third generation participant in our industry. She works with her brother in managing the day-to-day operations of Preferred Adjusters, Inc. in Austin, TX. Although the business is her main job, her true calling is riding horses. She is an accomplished rider in several equestrian disciplines, including Dressage, Show Jumping and Hunter. One of her most rewarding life experiences is teaching others the skills of horsemanship. Over the years her most special students have been autistic children. DeAnn has been able to share her equestrian skills to help change the lives of these children.

On August 7, 2015, DeAnn was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer. Since that time, all of life’s little pleasures are a struggle. She has lost her job at the stable and is unable to ride. With all of the other issues she is dealing with, the loss of the joy of working at the stable is one of the hardest to face.

In her community, DeAnn has always been known to be the one to call if you are having personal issues or need a friend. If someone needed a place to stay or help with the daily challenges of everyday life, she was there for them to lean on or to lend a sympathetic ear. Now, it is this very same community that is giving her the lift that she so desperately needs. Her network of support includes all of her Facebook friends as well as a local support group of women who have dealt with, or are currently dealing with, breast cancer. Some of her very close friends have started a Go Fund Me page (https://www.gofundme.com/deannjuliano) to help her cover the cost of treatments and living expenses since the loss of her riding income.

We all have DeAnn in our prayers and hope that the positive prognosis that her doctors have given holds true. As of today, she has undergone four of her six chemotherapy treatments and still faces radiation, surgery and another round of treatments that will last another eleven months. We all know DeAnn is an incredibly strong and determined spirit and we know she will conquer this.

Thanks for all that you do, DeAnn! You are such a blessing to our association, community and industry.

Thanks For A Successful NARS 2015

Commander Rorke Denver

The 7th Annual North American Repossessors Summit proved to be the epitome of unity within the recovery and remarketing industry. This year’s summit hosted more than 500 attendees, an all-time high for NARS attendance. All sponsorship and exhibitor spots for the summit were filled, allowing a plethora of networking and marketing opportunities. The impressive speakers, thought-provoking discussions and unfaltering support from the recovery and remarketing community made this year’s summit the best one yet.

A highlight of NARS 2015 was the boisterous presentation by Commander and Navy Seal, Rorke Denver. Denver shared the lessons he learned from SEAL training to inspire industry professionals to lead and perform at their highest level. By sharing clips from his movie, stories from his adventures and leadership lessons learned from his past, Rorke had the audience mesmerized and enchanted.

Insightful and educational, John Messiha and Tom Haas graciously shared insight into the world of compliance. Questions from the floor were responded to with honest and helpful advice on how best to modify businesses to meet compliance standards.

Mac Fulfer proved to be a real treat for summit attendees. Fulfer explained stranger’s personalities and characteristics by reading their faces. Fulfer shared his knowledge of face reading with his NARS closing session, Facing Success. The session explained how to enhance communication with others by reading facial expressions.

Presentations by Tim Hamilton and Adam Boyd were informative and exuberant. Both focused on the road to success and illustrated different practices to help business owners obtain their success. Greg Crabtree provided data to help illustrate how much it really costs to work an assignment, allowing businesses to charge clients accordingly. Michael Eusebio presented on how technology can be utilized to improve profits, both speakers allowed attendees to get a more firm grasp on how assignments are effected financially.

The summit also featured roundtable sessions led by influential speakers. Paul Kulas, Alex Price, Dawn Psaromatis, Michele Ball, Doug Duncan and John Lewis led roundtable sessions and were able to talk with attendees on a more intimate level allowing for a more engaged conversation tailored to the attendee’s specifics.

In addition to the high quality of speakers, the summit offered networking opportunities at the DRN Sponsored Cocktail Party and network room, which became a breeding ground for discussion on hot topics occurring in the industry.

Attendees were given the opportunity to raise money for the Boys and Girls Club of Collin County while networking with other professionals. The third annual NARS golf tournament hosted by ARA and Capital One Auto Finance and sponsored by MVTRAC and Recovery Manager Pro, raised $5000 for the non-profit. The tournament took place at the beautiful Luna Vista Golf Course where golfers were able to bid for exclusive opportunities to team up with Capital One Auto Finance employees.

The camaraderie shown during NARS provides a beacon of hope for our industry and its future. Many have declared this the best NARS the industry has seen and it is our goal to set the bar even higher for next year.

Sincerely,

Jerry Wilson
ARA President

ARA’s 49th Annual Convention is Quickly Approaching!

We’re a month away from ARA’s 49th Annual Convention. Join us September 19-21, 2013 in Phoenix, Arizona for a weekend filled with relevant speakers, important industry-related discussions, networking and, of course, dinner and dancing. On Friday, we will be discussing the future of ARA and the recovery industry. This is one weekend you don’t want to miss.

Please help us prepare for another successful convention by registering your attendance HERE.

SECURE YOUR HOTEL ROOM AT OUR GROUP RATE
The convention will be held at the Embassy Suites Hotel Phoenix Scottsdale, and is the absolute perfect place to play a round of golf. The Stone Creek Golf Club is conveniently located at the hotel, giving you plenty of time to unwind after the convention. The group rate of $119 per night has been extended through Wednesday, August 28, 2013. Book your reservations today.

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Dates Announced for NARS, Call for Speakers Also Opened

The Deadline to Sign Up for ARA’s Funds Matching Program is Approaching

Although we’ve sent numerous announcements with details of the program, I am still getting a lot of questions from members. I want to reiterate several points and to share a couple of new ones with you today.

First, the program will end August 13^th. It will not be extended. After the deadline, you will still be able to become a NFA CO-OP member, if you meet the required criteria. However, it will be for the full amount, which is currently $5,000.

Second, under the current plan if you have invested any amount of money into the ARMS program, this amount will be deducted from the $2,500 you must pay to join the new NFA. ARA will match the $2,500 amount, giving you a net investment amount of $5,000. This will enable all owners, both new and old, to be in the CO-OP for the same $5,000 figure. Every CO-OP member has an equal say in how the CO-OP is managed, which includes the election of officers, as well as having input about what the bylaws say that the CO-OP operates under.

Third, I have been asked about clients and potential clients. NFA is handling accounts for several clients, including Wells Fargo Dealer Services. NFA is currently completing an RFP for a major client. Obviously, if NFA had every ARA member on board today the chances would be even better to win the business. I have had conversations with several clients that like what ARA is doing with our compliance education and training program, as well as the monitoring program we are working on. This will help our members gain direct business and it will really strengthen the opportunity for the new NFA and our members to receive quality work from clients that will not abandon the forwarding model.

Starting this week, NFA will offer its Co-Op members a full refund to those who request it, should the viability of NFA fall into question before or at the inaugural meeting of all NFA members to be held Saturday September 21^st in Phoenix at the Embassy Suites following ARA’s 49th Annual Convention. The meeting will be held right after the annual ARA awards breakfast, in the same room. In the meeting, a decision will be made as to how NFA moves forward. It will be the first time for everyone to come together and make a commitment to each other that we have chosen a strategy of co-petition to begin the process of healing and of reviving our industry.

The latest discussion has been about the long-term viability of the facilitation model. I think it is excellent, but only if we, as an industry, get behind it and begin to pull together in one direction. One of the words Paul Kulas used at NARS and again recently on a LinkedIn blog is “co-petition.” I think of it in the NASCAR vernacular. As a team owner, I want my driver/car to win. But as a Ford, Chevrolet or Toyota partner, my second choice is for my brand to win should I not. Teams that compete every day share information amongst each other because they all get better. As an industry, all brands cooperate on many aspects of the sport because it makes the sport better. As the sport improves so does fan loyalty and money, which in the end benefits all of the teams.

I know this model works in our industry. Russ Dewitt and I did it for many years as fellow ARA members in the same city. When a client would comparison shop price, if I could not land them on the spot then I gave the client Russ’ phone number with the idea that I would rather him get the business and keep it in the ARA family than have it go to a non-association member. Also, I was positive Russ wasn’t going to cut his price just to take business from me because he knew I wasn’t cutting mine to take his.

Please take time to call and ask about what it takes to be involved. You can call me at 972-755-4755 (office) or 512-826-8525 (cell), or email me at les@americanrecoveryassn.org. You may also contact Darren Frame at 623-516-1018 or Darren@NFACoop.com.

Join Us In Phoenix for ARA’s Annual Convention

We’re only two months away from ARA’s 49^th Annual Convention. Please help us prepare for another successful convention by registering your attendance HERE.

Join us September 19-21, 2013 in Phoenix, Arizona for a weekend you don’t want to miss. Located in one of nation’s premier golfing destinations, the Embassy Suites Hotel Phoenix Scottsdale is a perfect place to play a round of golf. The challenging Stone Creek Golf Club is conveniently located at the hotel, giving you plenty of time to unwind after the convention. We’ve secured a group rate of $119 per night, so book your reservations today. The group rate expires Saturday, August 17, 2013.

This will be a very great year for ARA and we have some very exciting events lined up for you to enjoy. On Thursday, we will have speakers and clients joining us for important discussions. Friday, we will cover ARA business and hold elections, as well as our dinner and dance celebration that evening. On Saturday, we’ll close the convention with our awards breakfast.

See you in Phoenix!

We Would Love To Hear From You!

NARS 2014 planning has begun, and we’d love your input to help plan it! If you haven’t already done so, please take a moment to provide us with vital feedback to help improve your experience at this year’s NARS.

Please fill out this brief survey by July 12, 2013.

We appreciate your feedback and look forward to NARS 2014! Thank you for your participation.

CFPB: Clearing Up Misconceptions

In an attempt to clarify some misunderstandings, and add factual information to the discussion, ARA is addressing the new requirements placed on the lending industry (the banks) by the CFPB that are also affecting us as third party service providers.

Lenders have been forced to make these changes because of what the law requires of them. This is not some arbitrary set of requirements that some vendor department thought up and placed on us. To be compliant, the lenders that hire us must adhere to the rules placed on them by the CFPB and the federal government. The CFPB has issued a bulletin numbered 2012-03 that is available to you to read so you, as a businessman, can understand compliance from the CFPB’s own directive. I am aware that each lender will develop its own risk-mitigation standards, but they will be based on this published directive.

Hostile blog posts and over-emotional comments about the banks are just showing how out of touch some people are with what is happening in their own industry. In many cases, I find that it looks like these attacks are on the “messenger” and not the authorities at the upper levels of the lender that made the decision. I am sure that almost all of these edicts are being handled at the senior compliance officer level and not at the recovery vendor manager level. I do not see where it is helpful to our industry’s image to attack those that are, many times over, trying to help us. Frankly, it makes us look unprofessional – which is the opposite of what we pride ourselves in being.

ARA strongly suggests that all agencies get a copy of CFPB third party servicing rules, and read them to see where/how they apply to you. If you have a lot of extra reading time, take a look at the CFPB act (Dodd-Frank) to get a taste of what our clients are up against. Hopefully, you, as an agency owner, will see why we have to become verifiably compliant. It’s not the lenders, as stated earlier.

Those who choose to say no to compliance verification services will only make it better for those of us who are willing to comply. The banking community has no say in this; it’s the Federal Government that’s dictating these laws. This is something we, as recovery professionals, need to get on top of – not fight or push against it. We should own it, embrace it, and we will prosper from it. Those who choose not to comply give their client no alternative but to find an agent that has become verified compliant.

I am proud that ARA has recognized the need for compliance training and verification and is working quickly to provide a solution from which our members will benefit. The track we are on now will only lead to more splintering within our industry and an increased financial burden on agency owners.

Sincerely,

Jim Hall
ARA Past President

Your Questions About NFA Answered

Dear ARA Member-

Since the announcement of the ARA and NFA merger and the combining interests of the ARMS program and Reliance CO-OP, we’ve been asked many questions from the membership. The purpose of this post is to clarify some important points.

In a CO-OP, each member is an equal owner with an equal say in the direction of the business. The ARA Board negotiated a deal so that every ARA member has a 90-day window to have their initial $2500 investment in the new NFA matched with a similar $2500 investment from the old NFA treasury. This allows everyone to be an equal investor in the CO-OP with a similar investment of $5000. In order to take advantage of this matching program, you must sign up by August 13. (more…)