Get Ready for the Industry Event of the Year
NARS 2018 is set to be one for the books. From the stadium tour and golf tournament to our networking parties and live auction, all the great events we have planned for the 10th Annual NARS wouldn’t be possible without the support of our wonderful sponsors.
Headline & Cocktail Party Sponsor
We’re thrilled to welcome back Harding Brooks Insurance as our Headline and Cocktail Party sponsor this year. The Harding Brooks Cocktail Party will be held from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Thursday, April 19th. This event will provide excellent networking opportunities for you to get to know both the Harding Brooks representative and your fellow NARS attendees. It’s an event you won’t want to miss!
Closing Party Sponsor
We’d like to give a special thanks to this year’s Closing Party sponsor, Digital Recognition Network (DRN), for making this special event possible. After two jam-packed days of education, collaboration, and networking, the Closing Party is something NARS attendees always look forward to. The DRN Closing Party will begin at 5 p.m. on Friday, April 20th, following the Business Owners Meeting.
Lunch Sponsor
Lunch this year is sponsored by our friends over at XINSURANCE. What is NARS without ample opportunities for networking? The best and brightest of the repossession industry will be there to rub shoulders with, so make sure you use this lunch to your advantage!
We’d like to extend our sincerest thanks to all of the sponsors for NARS 2018:
Harding Brooks Insurance
Digital Recognition Network
ARA
XINSURANCE
MVTRAC
CLEARPLAN
PAR North America
High Tech Locksmiths
Recovery Manager Pro
Premier Adjusters, Inc.
Dynamic Towing Equipment and MFG
Recovery Database Network
ARA Board of Directors
Norman-Spencer
Falls Lake Insurance Companies
Triton Claim Management, LLC
Loss Prevention Services
S.C.A.R.
ARB of Louisiana
First Credit Resources, Inc.
Minute Man
American Recovery Service
Recovery Columbus
AGR Recovery Specialist.
NARS 2018 is the can’t-miss industry event of the year. To see the full schedule, click here. Haven’t registered yet? Don’t worry- there’s still time! Get your ticket here.
ARA announces partnership with Bridgecrest on training, vendor vetting
Irving, Texas, March 14, 2018 – The American Recovery Association (ARA), the world’s largest association of recovery and remarketing professionals, is excited to announce a new partnership with Bridgecrest. As part of this agreement, ARA will assist Bridgecrest in their vendor vetting, training and monitoring program.
“We are honored to be chosen as the exclusive training program by Bridgecrest and are happy to help reduce the cost burden on vendors,” said Dave Kennedy, President of ARA. “We still believe repossessors should only have to choose one training service, but until our compliance program is accepted by everyone, we are determined to provide the best value.”
ARA seeks to be a viable industry solution to the high cost of vendor training. This partnership is a major benefit to Bridgecrest’s current vendor network, as it significantly reduces the financial burden placed upon them.
For more information about ARA, its partnerships, and its member benefits, please visit repo.org.
About Bridgecrest
Bridgecrest Acceptance Company is a licensed third-party servicer, servicing loans for DriveTime and other affiliated finance companies. For more information on Bridgecrest Acceptance Company, please visit bridgecrest.com.
About American Recovery Association, Inc.
American Recovery Association (ARA) is the world’s largest association of recovery and remarketing professionals. ARA members specialize in locating and repossessing collateral on behalf of lending institutions, including banks, savings institutions, finance companies, credit unions, rental/leasing companies, and auto, truck and equipment dealers. ARA is a nonprofit association whose members serve 27,000 national and international cities. All members are certified independent business operators. For more information, call 972.755.4755 or visit the website at www.repo.org.
MVTRAC agrees to sponsor Annual NARS Golf Tournament and Hole-in-Prize for 3 Years
IRVING, Texas – March 7, 2018 – The North American Repossessors Summit (NARS), an industry event hosted by the American Recovery Association (ARA) and headline sponsor Harding Brooks Insurance, is pleased to announce a three-year partnership with MVTRAC to sponsor the annual NARS Golf Tournament and Hole-in-One grand prize.
The 2018 event will take place on Thursday, April 19 with a 7:30 a.m. shotgun start at the beautiful Dallas Cowboys Golf Club. For $200, NARS attendees will have the opportunity to play at the world’s only NFL themed golf club. This price includes: golf balls, a GPS, a golf cart, buffet style breakfast and lunch, plus any non-alcoholic beverages.
The tournament, hosted by the American Recovery Association, is an opportunity to network with various professionals in the recovery and remarketing industry.
“Our partnership with NARS through sponsoring their flagship Golf Tournament and associated Hole-in-One Giveaway aligns perfectly with MVTRAC’s dedication to providing the premier benefits for the recovery industry,” said Luke Smith, President of MVTRAC. “We’re excited to be able to support the industry as a whole through our multi-year commitment to this event.”
When registering, you can sign up as an individual, four-person scramble, or four-person scramble with a client. Register for the golf tournament here.
This year’s golf hole sponsors include AGR Recovery Specialists, ARB of Louisiana, ARB of Louisiana Lafayette, California Association of Licensed Repossessors,Council of Repossession Professionals, Gotcha Recovery, National Locating & Recovery, Automobile Recovery Bureau, Houston, All Cities Recovery, Rocky Mountain Repossessors Association, Experian, Certified Agents Specialist Association, Premier Adjusters, Inc. & Texas Pride, and Repossessors, Inc.
“We’ve had great experiences with MVTRAC in the past and we’re thrilled to have locked them in as our golf tournament and hole-in-one sponsor for the next two years,” said Dave Kennedy, president of ARA. “You’d be surprised at how much goodwill can be developed during a round of golf with a client, which is why we continue to look forward to the tournament each year.”
NARS 2018 will be one for the books, hosting more than 600 professionals from the collateral recovery and remarketing industries to gather and network. This year’s speaker lineup includes Dr. Tom Jones, scientist, author, pilot, and veteran NASA astronaut, as well as other industry professionals who will focus on open and collaborative discussions about the future of collateral recovery and remarketing.
About North American Repossessors Summit
The North American Repossessors Summit (NARS) is a 2-day conference for professionals in the recovery and remarketing industry from across the country to come together to address key issues impacting their industry and businesses. NARS provides an open and collaborative environment for all recovery industry professionals to address challenges and complexities in the industry and lay out the foundation for the future. The summit welcomes recovery specialists belonging to every type of professional organization and association across the country. For more information, visit www.reposummit.com.
American Recovery Association offers a free monthly webinar as part of its new continuing education series to help recovery and remarketing professionals stay plugged into the most current industry rules, regulations and compliance requirements.
Join us for our January webinar focusing on:
ARA Compliance Updates & the Americans with Disabilities Act
presented by
Dave Kennedy
Thursday, January 25th
1:00 p.m. CT / 2:00 p.m. ET
*Members who attend this webinar session will receive an ARA HR certification upon completion*
American Recovery Association provides a free continuing education webinar series for recovery and remarketing professionals. The one-hour webinar offers education about the latest recovery laws and regulations, compliance policies and industry issues.This presentation is geared towards owners, managers, employees, and field agents. ARA members must register online for the webinar with individual email addresses to receive a certificate of completion. If computer sharing is necessary, please provide a list of employee names and email addresses in an excel spreadsheet to tricia@americanrecoveryassn.org.
If you have any questions or feedback about our continuing education webinar series, please contact ARA Home Office at 972-755-4755 or homeoffice@americanrecoveryassn.org.
It is an honor to introduce our newest board member, Amy Bednar, president and co-owner of Relentless Recovery in Ohio. Jim Hall’s retirement created a vacancy on the board, and our president has chosen Amy as his replacement. She will complete his term that expires at the ARA Convention in 2019.
As an owner of one of the largest recovery operations in Ohio, she will be an asset to our association as we try to build relationships with lenders and continue the process of building the finest training and monitoring system in the country.
Amy and her partner, David Ziebro, gave Relentless its start by working for buy here pay here lots. Since its humble beginnings in 2001, Relentless has grown into a successful agency working with large lenders to recover over 2,000 cars per month throughout the state of Ohio. Amy has been an ARA member since 2010, and her company has been featured in Scene Magazine, Popular Science, and various news articles related to its philanthropic endeavors and pioneering deployment of technology in the recovery industry.
When not at work, Amy enjoys spending time with her two sons, being a foster mom, and leading bible study with her husband.
Members,
As you are well aware, there are repossession companies having their bank accounts closed by the very banks employing them, allegedly because they don’t meet the bank’s “risk profiles.” Although recent actions at the highest levels of our government should go a long way toward resolving this issue, those wheels are infamously slow to turn. Meanwhile, American Recovery Association is proactively working to correct individual wrongs as well as working with others to present a united front for the entire industry to our legislature, banks, and the Department of Justice (DOJ).
If you and your business have been directly affected by this issue, contact ARA and please be sure to inform us of the particulars.
On background, Operation Choke Point was a 2013 initiative of the United States Department of Justice to investigate banks and their business associations that the DOJ believed to be a high risk for fraud and money laundering. The program, which purportedly was to use legal and regulatory pressure to “choke off” financial support for businesses that were exploiting consumers, unfortunately had a far wider effect.
Banks were being pressured to separate themselves from legal businesses of which the previous administration disapproved (like payday loans, gun dealers, etc.). Obviously, the effect has gotten wider, yet.
Fortunately, things are changing.
On Monday, the House of Representatives passed a bipartisan bill to prohibit any future Operation Choke Point initiatives.
American Recovery Association insists the closure of accounts of professional collateral recovery agents who have been held to the highest levels of personal and business standards in the financial arena is unlawful and unconscionable – this practice must be stopped and all accounts reinstated. We have been in contact with Representative Hensarling’s office and Senator Ted Cruz’s office about this matter. Rest assured we will continue this fight until we win.
Dave Kennedy
President
American Recovery Association
This month, we’d like to recognize longtime member Gary Purdom, President of MO-KAN Central Recovery Company in Kansas City, Kansas. A loyal member since 1989, Gary and his company of professionals have represented themselves and ARA in a laudable manner, day in and day out, year after year.Clients love working with them for the services they provide and their willingness to go the extra mile. Just last month a client sent them a $100.00 bonus check for handling a particularly difficult transaction.
Knowing happy employees make happy clients, Gary recently purchased “sit and stand” desks for his office personnel. When he’s not slaving away at the office, Gary can be found on the soccer fields coaching young athletes, teaching the same work ethic he develops in his employees.
Thank you, Gary, for your membership and for being such a great ambassador for ARA.
ARA President Dave Kennedy was asked to participate on a panel Monday night at Used Car Week, alongside officers from JD Power and Pelican Auto Finance.
The panel opened Used Car Week 2017 and was titled “The State of the Industry: The factors and trends that will shape the retail, auto finance and repossession industries in 2018.”
The association and our industry can be proud Dave was chosen to represent them at this significant conference where a majority of the attendees were c-level executives.
“Dave made a great impression at Used Car Week. The phrase ‘Relationship Recovery‘ was born, and he received a great deal of interest from several lenders in the room.” – Keith Baggett, Repossessors Inc.
Dave spoke to the current industry trends in repossession, including new technologies such as body cameras and routing systems. When discussing third-party compliance, Dave stressed the importance of lenders knowing their recovery agents and having a direct relationship with them in order to avoid risk.
We are proud of Dave and we look forward to continuing this conversation with lenders and representing our association at events like these.
This month, we want to highlight everyone who donated to our Hurricane Relief Fund. We were able to get the funds distributed to the families who so desperately needed help, many of whom had up to three feet of water in their homes and no flood insurance.
They were very appreciative of all of you who donated. Here are a few quotes of gratitude:
“We cannot thank you enough for the Hurricane Relief Funds. To receive this check from ARA means so much to us. We are grateful, thankful, and most of all know that American Recovery Association cares about its members and staff! God Is GOOD!!”
“It is with my deepest gratitude that I thank ARA and those that donated to Hurricane Harvey relief. The checks that I received today brought tears of gratitude to all. I’m proud to be an ARA member and to be surrounded by such considerate people. Just saying thanks does not fully express our gratitude.”
“Thank you so much for the outpouring of care and love. On behalf of our entire operation, we sincerely thank the entire ARA membership for this act of extreme kindness and generosity.”
It’s members like you that make ARA great. Thank you!
A survey published earlier this year showed that in the past 12 months, hackers have breached half of all small businesses in the United States. Small businesses, which often don’t have the revenue to afford their own IT departments, are especially susceptible to phishing attacks via email or fraudulent activity through their online activities.
Eighty-seven percent of small business owners don’t feel they’re at risk for a cybersecurity attack, and 1 in 3 small businesses don’t have the tools in place — firewalls, antivirus software, spam filters or data-encryption tools — to protect themselves.
The American Recovery Association (ARA) wants you to know YOU are at risk.
National Cybersecurity Awareness Month (NCSAM) has been observed every October since 2004. The program was developed by the Department of Homeland Security and the National Cyber Security Alliance to ensure every American has the information and resources to stay safer online.
In the past, we have had webinars on things you should or should not do on social media sites. This month, ARA is using this article as our education material. With so many things to think of during a hectic day, cybersecurity might be a thought that never happens. This is why you use technology to help protect you from attacks you don’t often think about, or for many, do not understand. Make sure you have your computers protected with at least the following measures:
- Firewalls
- Cybersecurity programs such as Malwarebytes or Norton. These help block malware, ransomware, adware and other threats
- Use a password manager
- Ensure your Wi-Fi is secure on mobile devices
With these in place, you can keep out a lot of the bad stuff. Just remember, there are consequences for your online actions.
We’ve collected these cybersecurity statistics for small businesses from a variety of sources.
General Small Business Cybersecurity Statistics
The numbers show small businesses are not only at risk
for an attack, but have already been attacked:
CYBERSECURITY STATISTICS – Numbers Small Businesses Need to Know
55 percent of respondents say their companies experienced a cyberattack in the past 12 months (May 2015-May 2016), and
50 percent report they had data breaches involving customer and employee information in the past 12 months (May 2015-May 2016).
43 percent of cyberattacks target small business. Only 14 percent of small businesses rate their ability to mitigate cyber risks, vulnerabilities and attacks as highly effective.
60 percent of small companies go out of business within six months of a cyberattack.
48 percent of data security breaches are caused by acts of malicious intent. Human error or system failure account for the rest.
Small businesses are most concerned about:
As you can see, just like us most other small business industries are most concerned about the security of customer data. In the aftermath of these incidents, these companies spent an average of $879,582 because of damage or theft of IT assets. In addition, disruption to normal operations cost an average of $955,429.
The root causes of data breaches broke out as follows:
While many small businesses are concerned about cyberattacks (58 percent), more than half (51 percent) are not allocating any budget at all to risk mitigation.
Dangerous disconnect – One of the more popular responses as to why small businesses don’t allocate budget to risk mitigation was they “feel they don’t store any valuable data.” Yet a good number reported they in fact DO store pieces of customer information that are of significant value to cyber criminals:
68 percent store email addresses;
64 percent store phone numbers; and
54 percent store billing addresses.
Small businesses reported that only:
38 percent regularly upgrade software solutions;
31 percent monitor business credit reports; and
22 percent encrypt databases.
If a company has a password policy, 65 percent of respondents say they do not strictly enforce it.
16 percent of respondents admitted they had only reviewed their cybersecurity posture after they were hit by an attack.
75 percent of small businesses have no cyber risk insurance.
In the end, the keys are: get educated and be diligent. Employees have to be made aware that what may appear to them a harmless internet connection can open the door for a ruthless cyberattack.
*Portions of this article were taken from malwarebytes Labs and other open source resources.
