Press Release
Elizabeth, NJ – Vendor Transparency Solutions, LLC, an Arizona based vendor screening company, launched the first online compliance management system for the automotive lending industry today.
“Through compliance monitoring, VTS is positioned to create new standards in the highly unregulated repossession industry,” Said VTS President, Maximo Pineiro. “Our main focus is to assist lenders in reaching and maintaining the highest level of compliance while minimizing their risk and exposure.”
The company has developed an industry specific, comprehensive, supplier screening solution that will assist the automotive lending community to reach the highest level of compliance and provide a solution that addresses new regulations requiring financial institutions to properly screen current and potential suppliers.
The VTS online-based platform facilitates the act of monitoring vendors and presents a seamless flow of information directly to automobile lenders so they may track the compliancy of their contracted service providers operating within the repossession industry. This includes repossession companies, skip tracing agencies, repossession forwarding, and transportation companies.
The VTS Lender Portal tracks the various compliance components of each and every supplier. The system flags those vendors who are out of compliance while tracking and issuing system generated notifications to lenders and suppliers alike on those items.
In the near future the company will also to roll out compliance monitoring for additional industries that contract with auto lenders and financial institutions.
At the helm of Vendor Transparency Solutions, LLC (VTS) is President, Max Pineiro, with over 25 years of industry related experience and President and CEO of Elite Collateral Recovery, Inc., a New Jersey and Florida based corporation.
Director of Operations, Jeff Koistinen, brings over 20 years of recovery related business experience and software development to Vendor Transparency Solutions, LLC.
Jeff was one of the founding visionaries behind the software program that later revolutionized the repossession industry, Recovery Database Network (RDN). He was also one of the two founders of Digital Recognition Network (DRN), which he founded in 2008.
For further information on Vendor Transparency Solutions, their product or any of their services contact VTS President, Maximo Pineiro at 732-489-7728 or via email at max@vtscheck.com, or Director of Operations, Jeff Koistinen at 520-248-6000 or via email at jeff@vtscheck.com.
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I have nothing against Max for creating another revenue stream for his benefit. Most of us have had to diversify in to other avenues in order to keep the doors open. The truth of the matter is, in the recovery industry, if you want to make a million dollars; start with 2 million dollars. The recovery industry is dieing a slow painful death due to the lack of unification. Either we are too greedy or too prideful to come together as one. It is the lack of unity that is our biggest default. It allows for lenders, governments, and each other, the room to chip away at us as a whole. We are like young children who whistle in the dark in the hopes we will be alright.
Art has tried to bring a common ground to our industry with the creation of N.A.R.S., but alas, that too has failed in to becoming a ARA event veiled as an industry one. If N.A.R.S. was a true industry event, then the entire industry would be represented and have a voice. Not just the other associations, but the majority of recovery agents – you know, the ones that don’t belong to any association; the 75+%
Don’t get me wrong. I am not blaming or pointing a finger at Art. I point the finger at me. At you. At US.
There has never been a more important time to unify than now. Not just the associations, but every recovery agent and agency out there. I do not believe for a second that the CFPB is our friend, nor our allie. They simply have not gotten around to us YET.
I hope that in the future, N.A.R.S. will get back to being a platform for all of us. To take the tough questions, to make the stand on our entire behalf, to schedule the event so as not to be close in conflict with the association’s other events, and to have an array of speakers that is broad in spectrum and relates to the masses.
Finally (before stepping down off my soap box), I would like to see N.A.R.S., AFA, TFA, Allied, and NFA really strive to form unification. If we can not get the 25% (Our combined representation of our industry found in the associations members) to unify, how is it then can we hope for true unanimity for our entire industry?
I agree with jamie the (creditors)are quick to judge others but when it come to themself they don’t have ruleS. they can violate contract disclose personal information among themselve not PAY w entire agree fees so The recovery agent in other words it always under there gun. Here you come want give more control on poor business owner. I say the HELL WITH YOU. SNITCHES GET STICHES!!!!! GO AWAY
Art,
Hope you are well. I have much respect for your opinions and what you have contributed to the industry with your involvement with N.A.R.S. I am a supporter of uniting the industry for the right causes and I am sure we would agree on many issues. However, I find it difficult to believe that someone would come on a public site and discredit the credibility of a company or its purpose without having even taken a look at the platform and what it has the potential to do for our industry and for the lending community. That in my book is called “making assumptions”.
I’ll let you in on a little secret; V.T.S. is not responsible for the implementation of government regulations. That is what the CFPB is there to do. We did not ask the CFPB to look at financial institutions and/or it’s supply chain but they are here, at least for another 4 years.
You are correct when you say that creating new standards should be left to a coalition of industry leaders. My only problem with this statement is how long is it going to take this coalition of leaders that you talk about to implement minimum operating standard? I have not seen this coalition of leaders implement any minimum standards in the 26 years that I have been in the industry. And yes my friend, we do operate in a “highly unregulated industry” that allows anyone to enter uncontested, without standards, and the ability to purchase a truck with insurance, into our industry to compete on an unbalanced playing field that only rewards those that cut corners. If you knew anything about the V.T.S. platform you would come to realize, as so many have, that it provides more assistance to agency owners in taking the industry back, creating a level playing field and once and for all ridding the industry of those that pose the highest threats to lenders, because they have never been exposed. These are the same individuals that pose the highest risk and threat to the entire industry.
How many times are we going to hear about the problem forwarders, the camera operators, the lenders, the cost of fuel and the rising cost of insurance? That is not the problem. The real problem is our own industry that has allowed, through a “let someone else deal with the problem” mentality, a title wave of inexperienced, unqualified operators, to saturate our industry. Where was this coalition of leaders that you refer to? Leadership is directly related to action. What true effective action has been put in place in the past 25 years that has created change for the better? It may be late at night but I cannot think of one. How long is the coalition that you refer to going to wait before we look for means to lower insurance premiums for agency owners? Last I checked the Insurance carriers are exiting the arena not flocking to get in. V.T.S. provides a means where carriers can minimize risk through a supplier vetting process and attract new carriers to the market realizing lower exposure and possibly reducing premiums. Eliminating the extreme non-compliant and allowing those that fall lower of standards to invest in their companies to become compliant. Those that are extreme non compliant, working from home, parking cars in their yard, operating with a tow-man policy rather than proper coverage, operating without workman’s comp, the removal of hard-core felon and sexual offenders, eliminating the cutting of dangerous corners, not only serves to keep a lender compliant under imposed federal regulations, but ultimately creates a level playing field. So I tend to disagree with you in the analogy of putting another nail in the coffin. It is more like removing one nail at a time from that coffin. I speak to agency owners and lenders daily. They are both faced with change and challenges. They are both facing regulatory issues. More importantly many have shared there struggles, of which I myself have had many as a former agency owner. But one thing that echoes loud and clear is the fact that if we do the same things over the next 5 years that our coalition of leaders have done in the past 5 years, how many of these agency owners will still be in business to continue to debate this issue? We all know the answer. So my friend, your office is 15 minutes from mine. Please feel free to stop in at your convenience and allow me to demo the V.T.S. platform to you. I am certain that you will agree, as so many have, that the tides will change and finally we will all have a beneficial platform that WILL assist the lenders and WILL greatly assist the Agency Owners. The last thing we need in more talk. It is now time to take action and make a difference. I would be interested in seeing the coalitions plans to revive this industry and create a level playing field. Does one exist? Can you share it with us? I don’t know of a single person that has any information on any plan otherwise it may have saved us a year of work in creating V.T.S.
And yes, I still like you!!
Call me.
Max
…”create new standards in the highly unregulated repossession industry,”
“Highly unregulated repossession industry”? You guys can’t be serious!!! This is just what we don’t need, more government regulation. And, shouldn’t creating new industry standards be more the responsibility of a coalition of industry leaders rather than another fledgling upstart company?
As if being in favor of more regulation isn’t bad enough; you claim the main focus of this group is to; “Assist lenders in reaching and maintaining the highest level of compliance and minimizing their risk and exposure.” You want to assist lenders and forwarding companies? Please, what about assisting repossession companies with their risks and exposure?
In these very difficult times for our industry, we need to do more to improve the level of protection for repossessors and minimizing their risk and exposure. Our ever increasing responsibilities to service our clients and costs for fuel, insurance, and running our businesses keeps going up; while our work and service fees keep going down.
Every time I see another software platform company, camera company, or another new repossession association or service organization of some sort I want to scream. It’s not just about more competition or creating a better mouse trap, it’s really more about putting another nail in our coffin. What on earth does it take to get repossessors to understand that working together is our only hope to survive as an industry?
How about monitoring the vendors? Do they pay in a timely manner? Do they have the proper insurance? Do they verify the validity of there lien? Do the have the right to repo? Are they still infact the lienholder? So many of these companies check the agents, when is one of them going to check the clients?