Buffalo Debt Collector Shuts Down in Difficult Economy

Comment from Anonymous on December 15, 2008 at 6:51PM EST

Its just the sign of the times.

Comment from Anonymous on December 15, 2008 at 7:29PM EST

If we had some skilled collectors out there, maybe this wouldnt happen. 10 years of "easy" collections has made the industry soft.

Comment from Manager (N.C) on December 15, 2008 at 9:39PM EST

Everything rises and falls on managment. You might have the best collectors that money can buy but with lazy managers and upper managment business will fall everytime!

Comment from Anonymous on December 15, 2008 at 11:47PM EST

Citing economic reasons for this failure is pure poppycock. We are headed for some very good times. I've been in the industry 35 years. Our industry is recession on depression proof. Our ability to profit is always either good or better. Recession is the better. Mismanaging this operation is the true crux of its failure. There's a piece of this story not being told.

Comment from Anonymous on December 16, 2008 at 11:03AM EST

When even your clients are paying slow or not at all, agency competition continuing to drive down fee rates, student loans in an uproar and a legal atmosphere that has become absurd in its ability to hamstring an agency, this does not surprise me.

What does surprise me are some of the previous comments. I'd love to look at your company's financials....I guarantee it is not as bright as you may think.

I predict many more will fall soon when accounting practices for purchased debt catch up to the reality of the income stream.

Comment from Michael Blum on December 17, 2008 at 9:59AM EST

first of all, I have been a top performer in the industry as a collector and manager and agency owner and the customers are simply not paying- Poor management is not the issue here. Compliance and honesty leaves little error for margin in today's modern shop. Sure unlicensed rogue debt buyers can still make a lot of money by opening up and hammering people then closing and reopening under a different name. But I know the industry well after 23 years and 3 University Degrees I am more than qualified to make this assessment. The poor economy is not an excuse, people are afraid and reluctant to part with their money no more than ever. Pair this with the endless assault on collection agencies by the media and self serving consumer groups and you have a very hostile climate for debt collection. I am well aware of the executive staff at Elite Recovery and I commend Mr. Corica for not stealing his clients money to pay employees or having his employees show up for work without the ability to pay them

Comment from uconnmike on December 17, 2008 at 11:01AM EST

If you're consistently paying out more in expenses each month than you're taking in revenue than obviously it's a cut and dry business decision to cease operations. While most outsiders to the industry are telling me "your business must be booming" they are only seeing one side of the equation. The volume of accounts being referred to us is up significantly. On the flip side, with rising unemployment and the various other factors it's getting tougher and more costly to collect those accounts. Throw in postal increases, rising employee benefit costs, credit line restrictions, etc. and it all makes for a very tough operating environment for agency owners and managers.

Comment from Mike Murphy on December 17, 2008 at 3:23PM EST

This coming June, I will have been in the collection industry for 20 years. I got my start as a bill collector with Elite's former CEO, Rick Corica, then a fellow collector and have worked my way up through the ranks over the years. I have been acquainted with Rick for nearly two decades and have a high opinion of him. Having served on Elite's executive management team, I am convinced that Rick did everything he could to save the company. The previous comment made by an uninformed and conveniently "anonymous" individual asserted that this industry is recession & depression-proof is humorous and high-schoolish at best. True, that has been the case for a long time. Times have changed. This time, it's different! Many collection firms in the Buffalo, NY market have made job cuts throughout 2008. Has anyone noticed the marked reduction in collector want ads in The Buffalo News of late? I can personally attest that Rick put his heart and soul into Elite and most recently, I seen the pain in his eyes and heard the pain in his voice when he had to make the decision to put all 73 of us out of work. None of us affected are fond of the end result, obviously. But to turn this into an opportunity to take cheap shots is inappropriate and deserves to rebuffed. We have made arrangements for an informal social gathering this Friday at 7PM at a local restaurant and I personally invited a number of local agencies to send recruiters in an effort to help our people get back to work as quickly as possible. We do these things because despite the "poppycock" spewed by the aforementioned writer, we continue to worry about our people. Your readers shall be be judge.

Comment from peaceofmind on December 18, 2008 at 1:52PM EST

TO Mr. Blum,

Your assessment is right on! One good thing about the downward swing of the economy is that it will weed out those companies who do practice unethical collections. You can only stretch the dollar so far and steal from clients for so long before they catch on. When you are an agency who practices ethics, and compliance you don't have the issues that many have. I applaud Elite's decision to get "out" before its too late. As far as the employees, it sucks being without a job but if you are as good as an employee to Elite you can be just as good somewhere else.

Comment from a client on December 24, 2008 at 12:37PM EST

If the company was going under, why they din't advice there client's, know we getting phone call's with other agencys, and not advance letter, with today's days trust no one.

Comment from Anonymous on December 24, 2008 at 1:13PM EST

I really think this stinks, that this is put on the “economy”. That has nothing to do with this company shutting down. Rick knew what he was doing he was looking out for him self and him self only anything else is bull. When he resurfaces in a few months you will all see the light?

How can a company where the collectors are making bonuses all of a sudden shut down…?

We came into the office and 8:00am were locked out of the system and by 8:20 am we had our final pay checks and our W2….

This was set up and was in the works for months…I know I managed payroll before it takes awhile to run before end of year…so to all this is bull…..

Merry Xmas...

Comment from unknown on January 2, 2009 at 11:50PM EST

certainly the economy is on a downward swing. but money is still being made. perhaps not in the quantity that it was before, but still numbers are being hit. instead of that 2k payment, you will get 666x3. but money is still being made. as a collector, you must see what is happening and adjust to the current times. you can not be one dimensional in todays collections. you will fail. you must be willing to end the call with a payment of any kind, not just homerun payments. rick is very knowledgable of collections and how to run a business. please remember it is a business. business is in place to make a profit first and foremost. if that is not happening things must be adjusted as elite is currently doing. new york is an at will state, you can quit or be fired at any time. you agreed to those terms before you started working. deal with it.

Comment from One of Rick's former employees on January 5, 2009 at 1:44AM EST

I did not work for ERS but did work under Rick as a collector at his former employer Account Solutions Group(ASG)...now Firstsource Advantage. From a collector's standpoint(10 years experience) I can tell you that Rick was one of the most respectful and honest managers I ever worked for. His management style would be similar to the coaching style of Tony Dungy. Rather than manage in a stern authoritative manner; he commanded respect by the respect he gave us as collectors(rare in the industry), his integrity and willingness to help. Without providing anyone's personal information, I can tell you that this help extended beyond collections and into the personal lives of some of his employees. This man is the true definition of a Collections Professional. Rick ....I wish you the best in your next endeavor. I know it'd put a smile on more than a few faces to see you walk back into Firstsource Advantage(can't help but miss the old days there with you, Tony and Dennis). And if the rumours about you and Tony are true expect more than a few calls. If the industry is going to bottom out; I can't think of anywhere better to start over than with the 2 of you partnering. Good luck Rick.

Comment from Anonymous on January 7, 2009 at 11:25PM EST

I agree with the last person commenting on what a great person Rick is. As far as wanting to work for Tony again though, well that is where I would have to disagree. Tony will be enjoying his millions in Florida, while his sons run the company into the ground. NO THANKS!

Comment from Anonymous on January 22, 2009 at 12:18PM EST

What is this company going to do with the people they had arrangements with? I was making monthly payments to pay off a debt with this place and noticed in December and January they failed to withdrawl the payment. So nice of them to not notify anyone...

Comment from Anonymous on May 14, 2009 at 8:53PM EST

What happened to the accounts that Elite held? Were they sold off or did they just stop being collected?

Comment from Anonymous on June 22, 2009 at 10:35PM EST

I have the same problem as Anonymous's comment of March 14, 2009 - Can someone answer the question - is it legal since elite no longer exists? What happened to the money we had been paying them??? HELP - someone, please!

Comment from Goodguy on August 18, 2009 at 1:17AM EST

Yes you will have to pay your debt. Just because they shut the door dont meen debtors are off the hook.if it takes legal action to make you pay then im sure you would ask such a question.i hope people like you never get aproved for another penny becase you keep honest people from getting loans off your greed and selfishness.