News
On this Website, we will regularly inform you about news at KBS Enterprises, the Accounts Receivable Industry, and the Economy in general as it affects the Industry.
Commentary - 005/08/12
Wall Street Journal Article - May 5-6, 2012
Jobs Engine Sputters Again in April
By John Hilsenrath and Jonathan Cheng
On Friday the the US Labor report noted that only 115,000 jobs were added in April down from 120,000 created in March. Even with this news that the unemployment rate fell to 8.1% it was a result of more job seekers, approximately 342,000 people, deciding to stop looking for work all together.
Though slowing jobs recovery, consumer spending is seen as a bright spot in the economy, though not all done using credit cards - according to an InsideARM article this week.
A slow, yet steady, US Economic recovery is seen by KBS as a prefered scenario, as it allows for the continued availability of purchasing assets and for increasing returns from collections as people slowly find work and their ability to pay prior debt obligations then also increases. This identifies a sustainable growth pattern for KBS Enterprises over the coming years.
If you would like a link to this article please fill out our contact form and let us know.
Kenneth Feyl
President
KBS Enterprises
Commentary - 04/10/12
Poughkeepsie Journal Article - April 7, 2012
US Job Market takes a break after hiring binge
By Paul Wiseman (AP)
On Friday the the US Labor report noted that only 120,000 jobs were added in March which was well under the 210,000 jobs that analysts were expecting for the month. The unemployment rate did drop from 8.3% to 8.2% largly due to the fact that many more Americans dropped out and stopped looking for work. With this slight stall in hiring it's interesting to note that the economy hasn't added 200,000 or more jobs for 4 straight months since early 2000. On the positive side the first quarter of this year DID average 212,000/mo job growth.
The econony is still fragile as we watch US Jobs slowly climb and crawl out of hte pit that was created during the recession.
If you would like a link to this article please fill out our contact form and let us know.
Kenneth Feyl
President
KBS Enterprises
Commentary - 03/26/12
Inside ARM Article - March 23, 2012
CFPB Launches "Answers" Portal for Financial Questions, Including Debt Collection
By Patrick Lunsford
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) launched a new section of their web site last week - "Ask CFPB". There are catagories that the consumer can navigate to including "Debt Collection". Currently there are only 10 questions and answers prepared by the CFPB Staff but the intent is to allow an active interface with the CFPB to ask questions, receive answers as well as be provided linkes to other relevant goverment agencies and reports.
One of the next steps in the CFPB ramp up of operations. This provides the consumer a "go to first" resource for a multitude of questions regarding any financial situation a person may find themselves in. This can be a good starting place if a person finds themselves in a place that they are not familiar with (i.e. having a collector call for the first time) that can be very un-nerving.
The link to the CFPB "Ask CFPB - Debt Collection" Web site is:
http://www.consumerfinance.gov/askcfpb/search?selected_facets=category_exact:Debt%20Collection
If you would like a link to this article please fill out our contact form and let us know.
Kenneth Feyl
President
KBS Enterprises
Commentary - 03/19/12
Wall Street Journal Article - March 9, 2012
Sizing Up America's Debt-Service Economy
By Justin Lahart
US household debt incresed to a total of $13.22 Trillion due to increasing credit card debt, student loan debt, and car lowns which outpaced at decline in mortgage debt outstanding. Eventhough with household debt increasing the overall debt-income ratio fell from 113.4% to 112.8%. This is largely dut to the fact that after tax income grew faster than the debt. the peak of the debt to income ration was an incredible 130% in 2007 - when nothing seemed it could go wrong. By contrast in the 1990's the debt to income ratio averaged 85%! Currently 11.09% of families after tax income goes to debt payments.
What we see is that there is an intereting balance happening for the debt buyer in the marketplace - as people find employment and see their after tax income rise their ability to pay past obligations increases, yet at the same time, unemoplyment is expected to remain in the 8%+ range this year and thus keep debt purchase prices relatively low and attrative to buy.
If you would like a link to this article please fill out our contact form and let us know.
Kenneth Feyl
President
KBS Enterprises
Commentary - 03/02/12
Wall Street Journal Article - March 1, 2012
Fed Chief Interprets Growth, Job Signals
By Ron Hilsenrath
Fed Chief Ben Bernanke in his semi annual testimony to congress expressed uncertainty regarding his outlook regarding both inflation and unemployment. Unemployment has been dropping faster than expected in relation to the overall economy that has been growing but only at or below it's long term trend.
The central bank's forcast is for economic growth of 2.2% - 2.7% in 2012 and for unemployment to be between 8.2% - 8.5% by the end of this year.
This prompts us to believe that charged off credit card debt will continue to be available and the opportunity to help people start to get out of their personal economic distress will remain high as well.
If you would like a link to this article please fill out our contact form and let us know.
Kenneth Feyl
President
KBS Enterprises
Commentary - 02/28/12
Collections and Credit Risk- February 24, 2012
Year End Lawsuits Revises Upward, Reach 12,000
By Staff Contributor
Fair Debt Collection Practices Act complaints reached 12,018 for 2011 as reported by WebRecon LLC. This represents an 8% rise from 2010. The sharpest rise happend in 2009 when it rose over 50% from 2008 at the peak of the financial crisis.
FDCPA lawsuits remain on an upward trend as litigation remains to be the predominate means of collections for many firms. This is what will continue to distinguish KBS Enterprises and it's contracted agencies as being THE firms for banks to sell their credit card charges off's to. Reputations and client relations don't become tarnished when customers are treated with Dignity, Repsect, and Integrity. The motto - Polite and Professional.
If you would like a link to this article please fill out our contact form and we'll be glad to send you a link.
Kenneth Feyl
President
KBS Enterprises
Commentary - 02/20/12
InsideARM Article - February 16, 2012
CFPB Proposes Rule to Supervise Large Debt Collectors
By Staff Contributor
The CFPB was given the authority to supervise "large participants" in the nonbank markets for consumer financial products or servicest under this new organization created by Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and the Consumer Protection Act.
This is the beginning of potentially many new regulations for the ARM Industry and will be interesting to see how it all develops. We can see states taking action as proposed new collection laws where Senate bill 1430 (The Bartmann Bill) was approved and will now move the floor of the House for debate. KBS Enterprises supports this bill and we'll continue to watch as this landscape develops.
We see these changes as good as it positions KBS Enterprises as one of "THE" companies to sell debt to as we use agencies that utilize a non-litigation and non-confrontational approach to collections.
If you would like a link to this article please fill out our contact form and we'll be glad to send you a link.
Kenneth Feyl
President
KBS Enterprises
KBS Commentary - 02/13/12
American Banker Article - January 10, 1012
JPM Chase Quietly Halts Suits Over Consumer Debts
By Jeff Horwitz
Late in December JPMC completely dismantled a unit that recovered $1.4Billion in defaulted credit card accounts in 2011. This action which appears to have been done very hastily leads to question the motive behind this move. What would cause a bank to shut down such a profit center? The article notes concerns even within the bank that it didn't have the correct balances for accounts shows that documentation is a key concern, particularly in an aggressive litigation approach to collections.
It was also noted by Michelle Weinberg of the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago that "If sloppy record keeping and problems with false affidavits is a problem with mortgages, it's 100 times bigger in credit card accounts," Clean title and documentation of debt owed and ownership are key elements for any dispute of debt.
At KBS Enterprises we don't approach our customers in this way. We want to find that Win-Win agreement with a customer. Understanding their current economic condition and working within that framework. Litigation is not on the table for us so you won't find KBS in a headline such as this.
If you would like a link to this article please fill out our contact form and we'll be glad to send you a link.
Kenneth Feyl
President
KBS Enterprises
KBS Commentary - 02/04/12
Wall Street Journal Article - February 4-5, 1012
Jobs Power Market Rebound - Unemployment Dips to 8.3%
By Conor Dougherty
The economy is showing signs of life as unemployment has shown another month of decline. The official unemployment rate ticked down to 8.3% down from 8.5% in December 2011. There is still a long way to go to get back down to normal levels of 4-5% but 2.2 million jobs have been added since the offical end of the recession. What this means for our industry is as those who have been out of work find employment their ability to pay off debts that were charged off by the credit card banks will be have a greater ability to reduce their debt load.
If you would like a link to this article please fill out our contact form and we'll be glad to send you a link.
Kenneth Feyl
President
KBS Enterprises
KBS Commentary - 01/30/12
Collections and Credit Risk Article - January 30, 1012
Debt Buyer Agrees to $2.5M FTC Penalty
By Collections and Credit Risk Staff Writer
Yet another example of business as usual. No wonder the industry has a bad reputation within the general public. KBS Enterprises is committed to a another way of doing business - a better way. As debt buyers we will not stray from our core values and only use collection agencies whose practices are in line with those values. We have an opportunity to help build people up, not tear them down, and yes, still make money at the same time.
"The FTC's nine-count complaint charged Asset Acceptance with:
- misrepresenting that consumers owed a debt when it could not substantiate its representations;
- failing to disclose that debts are too old to be legally enforceable or that a partial payment would extend the time a debt could be legally enforceable;
providing information to credit reporting agencies, while knowing or having reasonable cause to believe that the information was inaccurate;- failing to notify consumers in writing that it provided negative information to a credit reporting agency;
- failing to conduct a reasonable investigation when it received a notice of dispute from a credit reporting agency;
repeatedly calling third parties who do not owe a debt; - informing third parties about a debt;
- using illegal debt-collection practices, including misrepresenting the character, amount, or legal status of a debt; providing inaccurate information to credit reporting agencies; and making false representations to collect a debt; and
- failing to provide verification of the debt and continuing to attempt to collect a debt when it is disputed by the consumer."
If you would like a link to this article please fill out our contact form and we'll be glad to send you a link.
Kenneth Feyl
President
KBS Enterprises
KBS Commentary - 01/26/12
Wall Street Journal Article - January 20, 1012
A Plastic Revival at AmEx, CapOne
By Andrew Johnson and Matthias Rieker
Revolving credit is on the rise! Fourth Quarter reports from American Express and Capital One show that US balances have increased. A combination of increased confidence on both the consumer and issuer of credit is happening as issuers are ramping up marketing to bring in new customers. During the recession borrowers were decreasing debt load by paying down debt or defaulting and lenders cut back offers to those people who had stellar credit only.
What does this mean for us? More credit will be working itself through the system and presents to us a level of volume consistancy in the consumer credit marketplace.
If you would like a link to this article please fill out our contact form and we'll be glad to send you a link.
Kenneth Feyl
President
KBS Enterprises
KBS Commentary - 11/22/11
Wall Street Journal Article - November 22, 2011
Debtor Arrests Criticized
By Jessica Silver-Greenberg
Highlighted in this article are the mounting issues of debtors being arrested after being sued over their defaulted debts. About 33% of the states allow people who can't or won't pay their debts be arrested. What is at issue here is that sometimes the people don't know they were sued and didn't show up at their hearing or fail to make judgement payments thus resulting in an arrest warrent being issues. THIS IS CRAZY! The Illinois State Attorney General Lisa Madigan is looking to curb the abuse of companies power to seek arrest warrents.
This highlights the difference of how KBS Enterprises seeks to do business with our customers. We do not utilize a litigation strategy and we use agencies that treat all our customers with polite professionalism. It's about helping our customers who have fallen on hard times recover not beating them into the ground just for a quick dollar..
If you wish to support changes in the industry please click the link to the right regarding the changes we support in the collection industry.
If you would like a link to this article please fill out our contact form and we'll be glad to send you a link.
Kenneth Feyl
President
KBS Enterprises
KBS Enterprises News
November 14, 2011
We recently signed a pledge to a major bank that as future owners of their customers we would:
1. To never attempt any collection efforts on any credit card debt that is beyond the statute of limitations.
2. To never file a lawsuit for the collection of credit card debt.
3. To never charge interest on a credit card debt that was charged-off by the original issuer.
4. To never attempt to contact the consumer regarding credit card debt by telephone more than two times in any one 24-hour time frame.
5. To never re-sell credit card accounts to anyone who has not signed this Pledge.
Kenneth Feyl
President
KBS Enterprises
KBS Commentary - 10/19/11
Wall Street Journal Article - October 4, 2011
Citi Cleans Out the Closet - Despite Sales, Unwanted Assets Weigh on Firm; Mortgages to Credit Cards
By Suzanne Kapner
Citi Bank has moved its unwanted assets into a separate entitiy called Citi Holdings. 40% of Citi Holdings are in home mortgages and home equity lines of credit. Also included are 49% stake in the Smith Barney brokerage firm which includes a private label credit card company and OneMain Financial, a consumer lending business. According to the article $308 Billion are still for sale. (approx. 50% of what it was back in 200)
There will continue to be banks cleaning house by selling assets as they recover and adjust from the financial crisis and reform to new legislation.
If you would like a link to this article please fill out our contact form and we'll be glad to send you a link.
Kenneth Feyl
President
KBS Enterprises
KBS Enterprises News
September 30, 2011
With it's latest portfolio acquistion, KBS Enterprises now has $2.85 M in face value assets that are being managed. As we continue to grow, we continue to strive to reach our goals of helping those hardest hit in our economy take steps to regain their financial footing.
Kenneth Feyl
President
KBS Enterprises
KBS Commentary - 9/21/11
Wall Street Journal Article - September 17, 2011
CIT Shops $1 Billion Commercial Loan Portfolio
By Sabrina Willmer
CIT Group is looking for a buyer for it's $1 Billion commercial loan portfolio - mostly from it's distressed loan book with some accounts still performing. It's seen as cleaning up their balance sheet for a potential acquisition by a large bank. The insite that the article makes is that the selling of distressed assets allows a financial institution the ability and room to issue new loans. This allows time and resources to be utilized effectively in lieu of spending them servicing and existing portfolio that may have issues.
We'll continue to see more of this activity as banks continue to dig themselves out and create the necessary capital reserves required to get back in the business of originating loans. As mentioned in David Wessel's article on Sept 8, 2011 - "The Long Slog of Paring Debt". Most of the large banks have either raised capital or are selling assets to devleverge themselves. Corporations are generally flush with cash and not highly leveraged. American families on the otherhand can't raise capital to pay down debt. They can only deleverage by house appreciation, (which isn't happening), selling thier home in a short sale, saving more (which is happening), or walking away from their debt (which we see in the amount of credit card debt we are seeing being bought and sold).
If you would like a link to this article please fill out our contact form and we'll be glad to send you a link.
Kenneth Feyl
President
KBS Enterprises
KBS Commentary - 9/6/11
Wall Street Journal Article - September 3-4, 2011
Job Growth Grinds to a Halt
By Sudeep Reddy
Overall no new jobs were created in August. Any gains in the private sector were offset by goverment jobs being shed. Thus the official unemployment rate remained at 9.1% for August. The federal goverment has revised it outlook to show that they expect unemployment to remain elevated at this level through the end of the year.
An interesting graphic was shown in this article that shows just how different this recession has been to other recent economic downturns we have faced. The cummulative change in non-farm payrolls is dramatically slower than any other of the recent recessions since the 1980's. (see graph from WSJ below)
We'll continue to see large amounts of charged off credit card debt out there from banks as people are still finding it so hard to find employment. We have seen increased prices for discharged debt for sale - in part due to increased buying from the larger debt buying companies and that banks have seen a reduced amount of charge offs compared to the record number of charge offs in 2009-10. This lower charge off rate can be attributed to the lending standards tightening and the banks not issuing as much credit as they did in the past.
We foresee the prices for distressed debt to remain opportunistic and a good buy. As the country continues to dig out of this recession we'll see that people's ability to pay their debts increase. We continue to see this as a good time to buy this type of asset class.
If you would like a link to this article please fill out our contact form and we'll be glad to send you a link.
Kenneth Feyl
President
KBS Enterprises
WSJ Graphic 9/3-4/2011
KBS Commentary - 8/12/11
InsideARM Article - August 8, 2011
Consumer Credit Jumps in June; Cards see largest Gain in Years
By Patrick Lunsford
The Federal Reserve just released a report that showed that outstanding credit card balances rose 7.9% in June which translates into an increase of $5.2 Billiion. Credit Cards loans took the largest drop off in terms of outstanding balances than any other type of debt. This can be attributed to a several factors:
1. consumers sheding debt by defaulting on it
2. Consumers tightening their financial belts not spending as much and steadily paying down debt they owe.
3. Banks limiting credit
Prior to the recesion (Aug. '08)Americans owed $973.6 Billion and only this past March 2011 bottomed out at $789.7 Billion. (See graph below).
This growth in outstanding credit card debt shows how dependant on credit cards we are as a society and as well as a pressure release of consumer weariness from personal budget tightenting.
If you would like a link to this article please fill out our contact form and we'll be glad to send you a link.
Kenneth Feyl
President
KBS Enterprises
KBS Commentary - 8/12/11
InsideARM Article - July 29, 2011
Porfolio Recovery Associates and Asset Acceptance Report Record Earngings
By Patrick Lunsford
Two of the largest debt buyers reported record earnings in Q2 of 2011. We at KBS Enterprises may not agree with the business model that some of hte largest debt buyers have chosen. Yet, this shows the industry strength as well as the opportunity that is available in a down turned economy.
If you would like a link to this article please fill out our contact form and we'll be glad to send you a link.
Kenneth Feyl
President
KBS Enterprises
KBS Enterprises News
July 27, 2011
With it's latest portfolio acquistion, KBS Enterprises now has $2.34 M in face value assets that are being managed. As we continue to grow, we continue to strive to reach our goals of helping those hardest hit in our economy take steps to regain their financial footing.
Kenneth Feyl
President
KBS Enterprises
KBS Commentary - 7/23/11
InsideARM Article - July 21, 2011
Troubles Continue for Credit Card Collection Actions
By InsideARM
"Recent decisions in New Jersey and Maine demonstrate the growing burden courts are placing on creditors and debt buyers in credit card debt collection actions"
To establish ownership, copies of the bank’s “computerized and hard copy books and records” on which the affiant’s statement was based had to be attached to the affidavit. The “Debtor’s File Balance Report” that a debt buyer’s attorney puts together is not enought to establish account balance as it's "not accompanied by an affidavit supporting its authenticity or establishing that it was prepared by a person with personal knowledge of the credit card account"
This is the most recent confirmation that those companies that take a litigation approach to debt collection are facing growing regulation and expense to continue this way of collections. An incredible advantage to buying the accounts directly from the bank is the ability to obtain this information, not for litigation purposes but for verification of debt when a customer disputes the debt with the collection agency.
If you would like a link to this article please fill out our contact form and we'll be glad to send you a link.
Kenneth Feyl
President
KBS Enterprises
KBS Commentary - 7/23/11
Wall Street Journal Article - July 21, 2011
Layoffs Deepen Gloom
By Conor Dougherty
Increasing layoffs are adding to fears that the economic recovery is continuing to show signs of continuing to be sluggish. Only and avgerage of 21,500 new jobs were added the last 2 months.
We could see the unemployment rate potentially tick up again for July.
As people continue to find it hard to find work or are currently being layed off we could also see a tick up in deliquency and charge off rates for credit cards.
In the first quarter of this year the charge off rate for consumer credit cards for all US Banks was 7.99% which is the highest of all the types of loans US Banks make. (from BankRegData.com)
If you would like a link to this article please fill out our contact form and we'll be glad to send you a link.
Kenneth Feyl
President
KBS Enterprises
KBS Enterprises News
July 21, 2011
With it's latest portfolio acquistion, KBS Enterprises now has $1.97M in face value assets that are being managed. As we continue to grow, we continue to strive to reach our goals of helping those hardest hit in our economy take steps to regain their financial footing.
Kenneth Feyl
President
KBS Enterprises
KBS Commentary - 7/11/11
InsideARM Article - July 9, 2011
Texas Attorney General Launches Action against Encore Capital
By Patrick Lunsford
Texas AG is taking action on the publicly traded debt buying firm Encore for "used falsified or otherwise inaccurate affidavits to support debt collection claims made in court and made little other effort to validate debts in advance of filing the lawsuits". Encore disagrees with these statements as there is a pending settlement in a case addressing these issues already
This is only the first of many actions that AG's accross the US may be taking against the largest debt buyers in the indudstry that utilize a litigation strategy and who have been so profiled in the news for cutting corners for documentation for debt ownership verification.
If you would like a link to this article please fill out our contact form and we'll be glad to send you a link.
Kenneth Feyl
President
KBS Enterprises
KBS Commentary - 7/10/11
Wall Street Journal Article - July 9, 2011
Worries Grow Over Jobs
By Justin Lahart and Joe Light
New unemployment numbers were out for June and only 18,000 jobs were added to the economy last month and the unemployment rate ticked up to 9.2% with the "real" unemployment rate much higher at 16.2%. "What this report showed was that even more workers dropped out of the Job Market" There is a very interesting graph related to this article that shows the last 12mo. of job creation showing a bubble centered around the beginning of the year. Definately worth watching as it relates to the charge off rates of the larger banks.
Overall what the unemployment rate and the rate of the economic recovery tells me is that this is good time to buy debt and that the time for collections will take longer.
If you would like a link to this article please fill out our contact form and we'll be glad to send you a link.
Kenneth Feyl
President
KBS Enterprises
KBS Commentary - 7/5/11
Wall Street Journal Article - July 5, 2011
Inside the Disappointing Comeback
By Jon Hilsenrath and Connor Dougherty
Two years into the recovery and it's plain to see that this is not a snap back recovery. There are excellent graphs depicting the recovery of this recession with that of other recession recoveries in the past. In this recovery Personal Disposable Income is the lowest of any recession recovery as well as bank lending, yet personal spending is above that of hte 1980 recession recovery. The Federal Reserve Bank is reporting that banks have reduced money they make available through credit card lines from $3.04 Trillion to $2.69 Trillion. Also, the article points out that "to get back to 1990's debt to income ratio households would either need to pay down another $3.3 Trillion of debt or see their incomes rise $3.9 Trillion. That's eqivalent to about 9 years worth of income growth in normal times." Household indebtedness, the article states, is likely hte single biggest problem. In 3Q2007 the debt to income ratio was 127% currently it is down to 112%. Household debt gets paid down in two ways - actually repayment and by consumers defaulting on the debt. As the jobs recovery remains sluggish and people continue to spend beyond thier income leveles we'll see that charged off debt remain steady.
If you would like a link to this article please fill out our contact form and we'll be glad to send you a link.
Kenneth Feyl
President
KBS Enterprises
KBS Commentary - 7/5/11
Wall Street Journal Article - June 28, 2011
Rich? Have we got the Card for You
By Robin Sidel
US Credit Card default rate of all credit card loans at 7.2%. Still double that of pre-recession rates of 3.7%
Credit card offers are now going out in droves, but only to those that are affluent already and who have enough credit cards already.
If you would like a link to this article please fill out our contact form and we'll be glad to send you a link.
Kenneth Feyl
President
KBS Enterprises
KBS Enterprises attends Limited Partners Summit in NYC
June 28-29
Kenneth Feyl
President
KBS Enterprises
KBS Commentary - 6/18/11
Wall Street Journal Article - June 17, 2011
Unemployment Claims Fall but Job Market Stays Weak
By Alan Zibel and Luca Di Leo
This article notes again the ongoing concern of job creation here in the US. Wiht 414,000 initial jobless claims during the week ending June 11, 2011. Most economists agree that under 400,000 in a week the labor market is adding more jobs than it is shedding. The moving 4 week average of jobless claims is currently at 424,750. "Data indicates that the economic reovery that started in Mid-2009 is losing steam." it is written in the article. As charge off rates historcially track with the umemployment rate - this forcasts a large charge off market as well.
Kenneth Feyl
President
KBS Enterprises
KBS Commentary - 6/18/11
Wall Street Journal Article - June 14 2011
States to Fight Lawsuit Accord
By Jessica Silver-Greenberg
This article points describes the nature of a class action settlement that Encore Capital Group, which is the nation's largest debt buyer, is proposing. They seek to pay $5.7 Million to the plantiffs due to flawed or all out fake affidavits. This amounts to approximately $10 per person in the suit. What would this lead to if agreed by the courts? It would lead to more of the same as debt buyers that utilize a litigation strategy to collect would just see this as the cost of doing business as they still make out anyway despite any court issues they may face, when it amounts to only $10 per account. We will see regulation changes coming in the ARM industry that relate to how consumers should be treated coming from all the issues that have appeared with the national debt buyers. The litigation strategy they have as a business model will not function as it used to. The debt sellers will be looking to debt buyers that won't trarnish thier good name in the credit industry.
KBS Enterprises does not have a litigation strategy for debt collections and use Collection Agencies that also have the same philosophy - Treat the customer with dignity and respect - Polite , Professional, Persistant.
If you would like a copy of this article please fill out our contact us form and I'll be glad to send you a link.
Kenneth Feyl
President
KBS Enterprises
KBS Commentary - 6/18/11
Wall Street Journal Article - June 13, 2011
Sluggish Hiring Seen as a Threat to Recovery
By Phil Izzo
This article points out that the consistant slowdown in hiring is one of the major threats to our economic recovery. Other potential "shocks" to our economy are: Goverment Budget / Debt Ceiling Decisions, Oil Prices, any other additional natural disasters like the flooding in the Midwest US or the earthquake in Japan. As the national unemployment inched up to 9.1% last month and the "real" unemployment and under-employed is much higher, charged off credit card debt looks to remain elevated in the near future.
Kenneth Feyl
President
KBS Enterprises
KBS Enterprises News
May 27, 2011
With it's latest portfolio acquistion, KBS Enterprises now has $1.65M in face value assets. As we continue to grow, we continue to strive to reach our goals of helping those hardest hit in our economy by providing an opprotunity to take a step forward in their personal economic recovery.
Kenneth Feyl
President
KBS Enterprises
KBS Commentary - 5/27/11
Associated Press Article
Toubled Banks List Largest in 18yrs : FDIC
By InsideARM.com and AP May 24, 1011
The AP reported the toubled bank list has reached an 18 yr high. While many of the very large banks have really begun to deal with their balance sheets and distressed assets alot of the smaller banks are still working through their issues. Most of these issues have revolved around mortgages -both commercial and residential. We may not have seen the end of the banking issues particularly surrounding commerical mortgages.
The impact of this list is really to see who ends up being taken over by the FDIC and who then acquires the banks assets from the FDIC. If no one bank takes over the assets then watch for the preverbial fire sale from the FDIC. To view the Failed Bank List you can go to
http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/banklist.html
Kenneth Feyl
President
KBS Enterprises
KBS Commentary - 5/24/11
Wall Street Journal Article
Job Engine Shifts to Higher Gear
By Sara Murray May 7-9, 2011
April showed that job hiring was increasing but not at a pace that will "bring down the unemployment rate down quickly". Unemployment rose to 9.0% in April, up from 8.8% in March. The article noted that the White House analyists feel that unemployment will slowly decrease to 8.2% by the end of next year, while some private sector predictions say that it may fall below 8%. Only time will tell.
What makes this relevant in our industry is that historically the charge off rates track with the unemployment rate, thus giving an indication of the potential supply of charged off's. If someone doesn't have a job, it makes it hard to pay the bills.
If anyone reading this would like a link to the WSJ article I would be happy to send it to you. Please mention it as you fill out our contact form.
Kenneth Feyl
President
KBS Enterprises
KBS Commentary - 5/24/11
Wall Street Journal Article
Drawing Benefits Via a Debit Card, There's aFee for That
By Jessica Silver-Greenberg
May 14-15, 2011
A facinating trend is happening in the banking industry, in that US States and Cities are turning to prepaid debit cards to distribute benefits to recipients, such as child support as well as unemployment. Governments are turning to this as a cost saving measure as they do not have to process paper checks. A great thing for states struggling to make budgets meet decreased revenue. As Jessica points out in her article these prepaid cards "escaped the crackdown" regarding interest rates, fees, and billing practices. What this leads to is a miriad of fees from "in-activity fees" to "check balance fees". The banks hope to make back lost fee revenue due to the recent law changes last year. These fees further deepen a hole that many consumers cannot dig themselves out of and feel the on only way out is to defalut. A very difficult position to be in for many people.
If anyone reading this would like a link to the WSJ article I would be happy to send it to you. Please mention it as you fill out our contact form.
Kenneth Feyl
President
KBS Enterprises
KBS Commentary - 3/30/11
Wall Street Journal Article
Encore Faulted on Documents
By Jessica Silver-Greenberg
This article points out a particular facet of the debt buying industry in that there are times when a customer requests verification of ownership of debt by the current owner of the debt. It noted that debt buyers buy their debt in large bulk purchases, and many times the "individual accounts lack information on the underlying debts." This can be very true for older debt that is bought - primary, secondary, etc debt.
The "fresh" debt that KBS Enterprises buys is bought directly from the original issuer of the debt and back up information including back statements as well as affidavits are available from the original creditor to substantiate the ownership of the debt in question. We take debt ownership very seriously and take the appropriate steps to ensure that we have the document support when its requested by our customers.
If anyone reading this would like a link to the WSJ article I would be happy to send it to you. Please mention it as you fill out our contact form.
Kenneth Feyl
President
KBS Enterprises
KBS Commentary - 3/21/11
Wall Street Journal Article
Welcome to Debtors' Prison, 2011 Edition
By Jessica Silver-Greenberg
There are thousands of good people out there today being really hurt, humiliated, and taken advantage of by the bad apples in the asset recovery industry. The strong arm, intimidating tactics by many collection agencies is uncalled for. Its placing demands on a court and police systems that have much better use of their resources. It's tearing famlies apart. With unemployment still unusually high we should be reaching down and helping people out of their situations. It is my belief that people, in general, are good and conscientious. Most people want to improve their lives and debt settlement may just be one way to help in that goal. If you beat people while your down that will come back to you in some way. You get from the world what you put into the world. So it also works the other way as well, if your focused on helping those around you the universe will return that to you. That is what we're focused on at KBS. We diligently only seek companies to work with who treat our customers with dignity and respect. Simple.
The asset recovery industry needs reform. There is a website petition that you can sign to show your support of this industry's reform. If this speaks to you please sign the petition - and if you have been abused from this industry it has a place for you to tell your story.
If anyone reading this would like a link to the WSJ article I would be happy to send it to you. Please mention it as you fill out our contact form.
Kenneth Feyl
President
KBS Enterprises
New Online Website
KBS Enterprises launches its brand new Website! - 3/15/2011
KBS Commentary - 3/15/11
Wall Street Journal Article
Boom in Debt Buying Fuels Another Boom—in Lawsuits
By Jessica Silver-Greenberg
This article points out exactly what is wrong with the asset recovery industry - particularly with some of the large players. During these tough economic times why kick someone when they're down and sue them. There is a better way to do business and that is why at KBS Enterprises we make sure any 3rd party collection agency we use treats people with the dignity and respect that we all deserve. It all comes down to the golden rule - treat others the way you would want to be treated in the same situation. It's very simple.
At KBS we've made it a policy that we will never sue any of our customers that we acquire. PERIOD. There will never be a good enough reason to do so. Listen, if someone has fallen into hard times, it's not our job to push them down further, it's our job to help lift them back up.
If anyone reading this would like a link to the WSJ article I would be happy to send it to you. Please mention it as you fill out our contact form.
Kenneth Feyl
President
KBS Enterprises
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