Editorial
Recently, the American Recovery Association partnered with Bridgecrest Financial to be the sole approved compliance program vendor for all of their agents. Sound familiar?
For those of you that don’t remember the August 30, 2017 joint editorial from the leaders of Allied Finance Adjusters, American Recovery Association, California Association of Licensed Repossessors, Time Finance Adjusters and Recovery Specialist Insurance Group titled “
Santander Demands CARS Certification – The Contingent Fee Contradiction”, I would simply like to remind everyone that this editorial was agreed upon and approved by the Presidents and leaders of all of these associations.
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Well there you have it… Two different stories from two different sources. I am sure this will be a topic which will be discussed in detail at the ARA Convention, held prior to the NARS meeting in Dallas Texas next month. Just one of the reasons that all ARA members should attend this annual meeting where issues may be discussed and resolved to the benefit od the members. I would love to see the day when there was but one trade association for our group which would possibly end the bickering, back stabbing, false propaganda and be the catalyst which would unite our industry for the benefit of all. BUT… it may be there are too many egos involved, too many men and women who do not want to give up their power positions, too many people who benefit egotistically and financially from the “politics of the game”.
As for me, I think I will just sit back and observe, politics and power struggles do not sit well on my palate.
“Political language… is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.”
George Orwell (1903-1950)
From Max Piniero of VTS –
Ron,
There is absolutely no truth to what you are being told by Les McCook/ARA. Bridgecrest has never had any contact with VTS and we have never solicited Bridgecrest. The VTS platform is demonstrated via a live demo to lenders and users that request information and no one at VTS has ever spoken to anyone at Bridgecrest, let alone demo the products and services. Why would Bridgecrest be heading in the direction of mandating VTS when they know nothing about VTS? Makes absolutely no sense to me. I am actually shocked with the information you are being fed. ARA has been trying to land a client to utilize their “Compliance Platform” for the last 5 years and finally they got a lender to bite. And yes Ron, they are also targeting non-ARA members which they are charging in excess of $600.00. This is the same organization that has been professing that agency owners should not pay for compliance and that it should be covered by the lenders. Really?? That was a quick change of direction from their original position. When one needs to fabricate this type of information, for their benefit, and to mislead the masses, it is a clear sign of desperation. Soon enough the industry will know where much of the documents and material used by ARA to build their members profile is coming from. No truth at all to that information!! Max Pineiro
Sincerely,
Max Pineiro, President
Vendor Transparency Solutions
VTS Training Center
In a conversation with Les McCook of ARA I was assured that ARA had no part in the recent reduction of the Bridgecrest Fee decreases. He advised me that Bridgecrest was headed in the direction of Santander in requiring all agents to be VTS certified and that he and other ARA representatives convinced Bridgecrest that the ARA training and compliance program was as good as any other program on the market. By Bridgecrest accepting the ARA Compliance program he feels the ARA members have been spared an additional expense. Again I would repeat and emphasize that Les McCook stated that ARA in no way negotiated any type of fee structure with Bridgecrest.
I wonder who negotiates these deals??? In polling my In polling the Eagle Group XX members I find that Bridgecrest Financial was previously paying $375.00 to $400.00 for an involuntary repossession with a close fee nd allowing key, delivery and storage charges. Now since they have partnered with our ARA they require ARA Green Light, ARA Compliance Training and have reduced fees to $315.00 to $305.00CONTINGENT with NO OTHER CHARGES ALLOWED.
THANK YOU! GOES OUT TO WHOEVER NEGOTIATED THIS WONDERFUL DEAL.