Blog

As a skiptrace person you will find that there is little time that you are not working unless you are with some hotel chain doing skip trace work on time share skips. The good news is that the job requires little space and you can essentially do it from home. Financial institutions have this option more today then they did several years back. They have security points to know when exactly it is you log into their system and from where.

Skiptrace work is best done in a quiet atmosphere so if you have children running around it will probably not be the best idea to do it from home. As long as you have a quiet space, a phone even a cell phone is fine and depending upon how involved the skips are you may need further equipment but highly doubtful that level is reached. I talk about skip tracing levels in this article and becoming one of the greatest skip trace companies here if you wanted to read further.

Remote employment

Today in the part time world and in the biggest number of unemployment ever to hit the United States, people are working from home more often sometimes for two or three employers or perhaps even themselves. Some of the work from home scenarios include medical billing, web design, private investigation sometimes and many more including skip tracing. Large companies have decided to allow remote employees work from home for several reasons. Just becuase you do skip trace work doesn’t mean you have to do repossessions, there are so many fields in skip trace work such as: [Read more…] about Skiptrace Work at Home

Skiptrace Software in Company Ads

By Steven Cohen Leave a Comment

I see numerous repossession companies advertising which skip trace software they use in their office. You see it listed on the front page of websites, you see it on news paper advertisements and you see even on their business cards. To me it would be normal for the actual software companies to advertise to the repossession or investigation industry, but it makes no sense for a repo company to add this to its ads. It’s one thing to say you do skip trace work and you do it well, but I would think that by adding what software you use no matter which one it is kind of downgrades the company in the skip trace arena.

Why is it bad to list what software you use?

First of all even repossession companies that do not do skip trace probably have a skip trace software program just to quickly run an address prior to spending money on gas. Just to do basic skip tracing even without charging for it. It would probably end up saving them a ton of money in gas as so many people move so often today. The thing is that every finance company and bank have a software program as well, they will typically do that basic search for you before sending over the case. [Read more…] about Skiptrace Software in Company Ads

Subprime Financing your Next Car

By Steven Cohen Leave a Comment

Subprime financing today has become a tool of choice for many car buyers that have had credit affected one way or another whether it was from a previous repossession or even a bankruptcy, sub-prime is a choice that like repo is not really out on billboards or everywhere you look. Sub-prime financing is part of a dealerships financing structure, it is one of those things that automatically comes into play after your credit is ran. In fact these days most companies have different tier sub-prime loans available. For example perhaps you have a 580 credit score, you will likely be in the C tier sub-prime area, where if you had a 620 you could be in the B or even A rated credit area.

Getting car credit offers in the mail

When you get a credit offering in the mail, it usually signifies that you have had a lower than normal credit rating. A subprime finance company that we dealt with during our first year in the business worked by finding post bankruptcy people and making them a credit offer based on the severity of the bankruptcy or past repossessions. They did great, they had built over 150 employees with only around 4 in the repossession department which i’ll explain later. They developed relationships with only a select few franchise car dealerships and never worked with used car dealers. These sub-prime lenders and in house tier lenders are pretty much the only choice for a recent bankruptcy customer or previous repossession. You will almost always never have these options available at the friendly neighborhood bank or any banking institution for that matter. [Read more…] about Subprime Financing your Next Car

Yacht Auctions

By Steven Cohen Leave a Comment

When you get to level of repossessing yachts and aircraft things change, the lender must have a tremendous amount of faith in your company as well as the longevity factor. After all they don’t want you to close down while in possession of several million dollars of their assets. Far different from the car repossession industry where some lenders only care about getting a better price forgetting to think about liability and all the other whacked out crap that goes along with hiring some thug repo agent. God knows, I have had my share of those idiots and man everytime I say not never again, sure enough you need someone to do a job in another state and there always seems to be a double personality that comes out after the repossession. In business there is always an obstacle and in the repo business, dealing with double personalities and extortionists is just one of them.

After a yacht repossession, first thing to do is to secure the unit in a safe place, usually another marina in the vicinity that works with you, however you want to make sure that marina is fully secure because many times a debtor will find the boat again and steal it back, make sure its secure. Rather then taking the car to the auction, the yacht will then be sold by you for a small percentage of the sale. it works the same way as an auction works and you can really steal a yacht if you are in the market for one. Sometimes the banks just want out and will take low offers if there is no action on the boat considering there was already at least 3 bids on the yacht. [Read more…] about Yacht Auctions

Hiding a Yacht from the Repoman

By Steven Cohen Leave a Comment

Out of all the repossessions I have done in the day, I would have to say for me personally the most fun has been Yachts. Everything from the search, many times in foreign countries to spotting the yacht, to the actual repossession and later liquidating the yacht for the bank or lender. The thing is for me, I started my journey with what I and probably most would consider the best yacht repo company in the world at the time. Since then it has been sold and is currently on the Discovery TV show but with what seems as a much different management from when I was there for several years prior to the switch. The management that I trained with was extremely strict and professional with every little thing. They had done over a hundred million in repossessions per year and had some of the largest bank contacting us daily. There were write ups in several magazines and the management knew every little thing about any motor yacht out and aircraft out there. If you wanted to learn about yacht repossessions, there was no other place in the USA to do it. [Read more…] about Hiding a Yacht from the Repoman

Repo on Credit Report and Deficiency Balance

By Steven Cohen Leave a Comment

I got a letter in the mail that the bank has finally sold our car at auction. We owed $12,000 and the bank sold it for $4,000, only a third of what we owe. I have a couple of questions as to the repo and credit moving forward down the road. One of our options was bankruptcy but we decided against that as it was only the car we had to give up and we know a bankruptcy will stay on the credit for 10 years which is far too long. How long does a repo stay on a credit report? How long can a bank sue us for a deficiency balance and will they?

A repo will stay on a credit report just like a charge off or late payment for 7 years, so it is a few years less than a bankruptcy, not to say that you must wait an entire 7 years to get something on credit again. In fact in many cases a bank or finance company extending credit may only look at the last two or three years in order to give you a new loan. However chances are that you will be paying a higher interest rate since the repo will be weighing down your credit report for the time being. You can take a look a some of the other articles we have on how to repair your credit after repo as this may help you in raising your credit again to a point where the repo may not even have a change on your future interest rates offered but again this will surely take at least 2 to 3 years and working on your credit during that time. [Read more…] about Repo on Credit Report and Deficiency Balance

Buying repossessed cars: is it safe or not

By Steven Cohen Leave a Comment

There seems to be a misconception about buying repossessed cars. In our experience a large majority of the people would prefer to pay several thousand dollars more for a car that is being sold from a private individual or a non repossession. In dealing with repossessed cars for more than a decade we have been able to see that a repossessed car can be just as clean as a privately owned car.

What are the misconceptions about buying a repossessed car?

It is very similar to the fact that some people will pay $200.00 for a pair of shoes they love instead of buy or rent a nicer pad. The fact of the matter is that some of the repossessed cars we get in a far nicer than some of the dealer trade in’s we have seen over the years.

If the payments were not made how could they maintain the car
They didn’t care about the car
They bought the car knowing it would get repossessed and beat the crap out of it
They must have been dirty and the interior is trashed
They never changed the oil
Knowing the bank was looking for it they broke some things inside

While some of these things can happen, the likelihood of you buying a repossessed car with those is low. The fact of the matter is that most people who get repossessed really have no idea they will be getting repossessed soon after purchase. They usually love the car and do take car of it in hopes that they will continue ownership of the car. Don’t get me wrong, occasionally you have the trash people that want payback and they destroy the car in one of those “if i can’t have it nobody can” type deal. However if this does happen it is typically disclosed and or obvious to the person looking at the car to buy it.

The truth is that most people will take the car for a oil change every 3000 miles or so, they will wash and wax the car on almost a religious basis and will more times than not treat the car better than the buyer that pays cash or doesn’t default. The higher payment makes the the things that can be done to the car a higher priority for them and essentially after repo, gives the buyer a great deal just on the mere basis that the car has been repossessed.

Buying repossessed cars is an excellent way to save several thousand dollars from the dealer prices and should not be looked at any different from buying a regular trade in that very well might have been with a non caring slob.

Locksmith training for repomen

By Steven Cohen Leave a Comment

As a repoman you have two choices, either you get locksmith training or you use one of the locksmiths in the area that you can count on to come to your location on call. However it is even worse then some of the other scenarios that delay repossessions that I have listed here. Becoming one of the locksmiths in your area is a strong choice, in fact most repomen that I know personally throughout the years have some kind of locksmith training.

There are times where you have no keys for cars, there are times when the keys won’t be left on a boat and if you happen to repossess tractor trailers, without locksmith training you will surely be stuck.

In Orlando they have locksmith training available, just like most cities should have. The training is just another great skill to have under your belt for those days you would have otherwise been locked out. Not only does locksmith training come in handy for repossessions, but it also comes in handy for other things that may come up. I remember one time I had been driving a car that I bought at auction, it was an SUV and I wasn’t used to being able to lock the keys in the car, but in this case I had my dog in the car and luckily it was still running with the AC going, otherwise no questions asked I would have had to break the window before the heat stroke hit the dog but that was not an issue since the AC was running as well as the car. However I had to look at fuel consumption, and the possibility of the car stalling out. [Read more…] about Locksmith training for repomen

Toys Always Get Repossessed First

By Steven Cohen Leave a Comment

After doing repo’s for so many years you begin to realize the chain of events leading up to repossession and what they might let go of first. Allot of times it begins with one asset and ends with another much more personal asset.

It’s a kind of the circle of repossession, the business starts losing money like a funnel, there is a balance due or a debt on everything so the debtor has to think, should he pay the car first or the yacht, while not always thinking rationally, almost always they let the yacht go before the car. While a person may be attached to one thing much more than the other, in this scenario there are also many factors that should take place. Think about it, if you put over $100,000 down on a yacht and it has equity after paying it for so many years but the Maserati car is upside down and the payment amounts are similar just a longer term on the yacht. Logic says to let the Maserati go if need be and try to sell the yacht to save some of the equity that will surely be lost once the bank starts adding repossession costs, investigation costs, transport, storage, auction and remarketing fees, you can just say goodbye to any equity you might have had previously. [Read more…] about Toys Always Get Repossessed First

Repossession business cost more than most think

By Steven Cohen Leave a Comment

In repossession there is a ton of things that unless people are actually in the company know little about. Most people think all you need is a truck and an office and you are good to go. While this is true in some cases, it is certainly not true for anyone trying to work for finance companies and national banks. In fact this might be one of the reasons that so many banks utlize national forwarding companies in order to eliminate the hassles.

What are some of the things that are hidden to be in repossession

A big thing believe it or not is cash. A large amount of liquid working cash is needed to be in repossessions. Why is that? There are actually several reasons for this and different players in the repo business as you know. Most people become known for what they do but very few do several kinds in the same company. Meaning if you do Yachts, you don’t typically do cars, if you do heavy equipment, you don’t typically do car repossessions. However in this business you need money no matter what type of recovery you handle. Sometimes cash must be laid out for up to 60 days, perhaps well into the 5 figures. [Read more…] about Repossession business cost more than most think

Blog

Footer

Information