DALLAS — The American Recovery Association and MasterFiles recently completed an integration project that's resulted in a new alliance.

As a result, ARA members can perform their skip-tracing and front-end verifications in a cost effective way that association leadership believes cannot be duplicated anywhere else in the industry.

"We are very appreciative of MasterFiles joining with ARA in this industry-changing initiative," ARA executive director Les McCook stated.

"MasterFiles is the leading data provider in our industry and has demonstrated their commitment by standing side-by-side with the recovery industry," McCook continued. "This alliance with MasterFiles is the first of many as we expand our partnerships and offers on our Resources Page.

McCook went on to emphasize about how the billing section of ARA's resource page is intended to operate.

"From our discussions with companies willing to arrange a special discount program for our members, a single source billing model is the best option to provide the largest discounts for our members," McCook explained.

"With this feedback, we developed a secure tool for our members," he added.

McCook noted the new alliance with MasterFiles is designed to work similarly to ARA's relationships with RDN and iRepo models.

"You will buy credits and use them with the providers with whom you want to do business," McCook reiterated.

"In addition, these providers will offer the ARA membership an extra discount," he went on to say. "We are negotiating discounts that will give you a very beneficial price break after the ARA's costs are considered."

McCook then relayed an example. If a vendor offers a 10-percent discount to ARA members and the cost for card processing is 1.8 percent, McCook said members should realize a net saving of 8.2 percent.

ARA also mentioned other developments it hopes to finalize.

"We are talking to fuel card companies, tire companies and other businesses you do business with everyday," McCook relayed.

"If any of you have a suggestion or a contact with one of these types of companies, please contact the home office at (972) 755-4755 or homeoffice@americanrecoveryassn.org with that information and we will reach out to them," he suggested.

"The board's intention is to create the maximum return on your investment dollar in this association, and we thank you very much for your support of the ARA," McCook concluded.

Price Begins 2012 with More Free Skip-Tracing Webinars

With a new year well under way, skip-tracing expert Alex Price is giving repo agents and other parties associated with recoveries plenty of opportunities to learn more about how to find debtors and vehicles.

In his role as national sales director and training manager of MasterFiles, Price is holding free sessions titled, "Overcoming Skip-Tracing Obstacles." They begin at noon ET daily beginning Jan. 16 through Jan. 31.

Price believes participants will learn how to profile skips and more, including these topics:

—The three types of skips.
—Qualifications of a good skip-tracer.
—Tools of a professional skip-tracer.
—Cyber-tracking tools.

Following each session of "Overcoming Skip-Tracing Obstacles," Price is going to provide a 30-minute follow-up session titled, "Skip Collecting with MasterFiles."

Price has more than 25 years of skip-tracing, collections and public speaking. He joined the MasterFiles' team as a consultant in May 2006. Later that same year, he accepted the position of national sales/training manager to bring the next generation of skip-tracing technology to the lending and recovery industries.

Price insisted that he combines old-school skip-tracing methods with new-age cyber-tracking technology to equip attendees with tools that he gained through invaluable experience.

"In this turbulent economy, we all want to be more profitable and cost effective," Price emphasized. "MasterFiles provides a full-training class for you to learn the next generation in prequalification, collections and skip-tracing methods.

"This free online daily advanced training class features a ‘Live Search' demonstration that shows you how to maximize your skip-tracing efforts through useful techniques and wild-card searches to propel your collections to a higher level," he continued. "Join us today to turn your skip-tracing into skip-collecting."

Participants can complete the free Webinar registration at http://www2.masterfiles.com/Webinar/Default.aspx.