Missouri Collection Agency to Expand and Create Jobs

A collection agency in Northwest Missouri is opening a new office in downtown St. Joseph that it says will create at least 80 jobs over the next few years. The city is contributing funds toward the plan.

Universal Data Services, already based in St. Joseph, will be moving about one block into what is now known as the Kirkpatrick Building. The company will occupy an entire floor of the building.

Universal Data, and its sister companies Universal Guardian Acceptance and Universal Account Servicing, relocated to St. Joseph in 2003 at the behest of co-owner and vice president Jeff Daum, a native of the town. The company secured restoration grants to convert an old building in downtown to office space (“Collection Agency Beneficiary of Economic Development Grant,” Sept. 16, 2003). But the company has already outgrown the space.

Universal will move its debt collection business to the new building with the other units remaining in their current location. Daum told the St. Joseph News-Press that the company will create 80 new jobs over the next three to five years. The jobs will include collectors, sales and marketing professionals, and information technology workers.

The city is kicking in $100,000 in federal money for the project and the county is making available $80,000 in economic development funds. Universal’s plan is a part of a revitalization effort underway for downtown St. Joseph.

“I’m excited about the expansion. For whatever reason, I think that entrepreneurs don’t look Downtown as much as they should,” Daum told the News-Press.

St. Joseph is located about 50 miles north of Kansas City, Mo. and has a population of around 80,000.