Bill Bartmann

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William R. (Bill) Bartmann (1948 - 29 November 2016) is the founder and CEO of CFS2, Inc., a consumer finance recovery company based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and formerly founder and CEO of Commercial Financial Services Inc. , the country's largest debt collection company for a time during its operations from 1986 to 1999. One of the company officers was involved in accounting fraud and the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy despite widespread fraud allegations later determined to be incorrect.

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Personal life

Bartmann was born in Dubuque, Iowa in 1948. At the age of 14, he dropped out of school and joined a traveling carnival. He then joins a gang called Manor Boys. He tried to join the Marines but was rejected because of hearing problems. Bartmann became alcohol at the age of 17 years, and one night fell off a ladder when drunk. He became paralyzed and was told he would never walk again. Against his physician's wishes, Bartmann started a nightly physical activity regimen until finally regaining the use of his legs.

For several years Bartmann worked at the Dubuque Packaging Company, a large local slaughterhouse. While there, Bartmann organized a stray cat attack to force the company to benefit the part-time worker. The strike was successful. Around this time, Bartmann ran to the middle school principal who had previously expelled him from school. The principal challenges Bartmann to get his GED certificate, which he does. Bartmann then received a BS from Loras College and JD from Drake University.

After passing the Iowa Bar exam, Bartmann immediately plunge into private practice, specializing in consumer law. He also invested in real estate. Bartmann moved to Muskogee, OK to devote full time to investing real estate. Bartmann was then asked by a local bank to take over a struggling oil equipment company in Oklahoma. He reverses the company and grows it substantially. It was folded in 1985 because of falling oil prices, with Bartmann a million dollars in debt because it personally guarantees some corporate liability. Bartmann died at the age of 68 due to immediate complications after heart bypass surgery on 29 November 2016.

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Commercial Financial Services

Hunted by debt collectors, Bartmann looks for other opportunities. He saw an ad in a newspaper about buying a failed loan from the federal government. He bought a loan portfolio, financed by a bank with $ 1 million in debt. Bartmann managed to raise enough money from the first portfolio to cover portfolio costs, plus make a partial payment on his bank debt. That led to more purchases of loan portfolios that allowed Bartmann to pay back all of the $ 1 million liabilities. Bartmann created a consumer-friendly company that would buy out the troubled debts of the banks and then attempt to restructure them according to the requirements that customers can buy. The strategy was successful, he was able to help 4.5 million consumers complete the $ 15 billion debt, all without ever suing consumers, resulting in a net margin of as high as 48%.

In 1997, Bartmann was listed in Forbes magazine as one of the 400 richest people in America. Magazine Inc. estimates Bartmann's net worth is in the range of $ 2.4 to $ 3.5 billion. Goldman Sachs offered to buy a 20% stake in the company and Norwest Bank offered to acquire, but Bartmann rejected both offers.

As the company grew, Bartmann gained a reputation for doing the unexpected. He challenges his staff that if they beat their performance goals, he will take them all to Las Vegas. They surpassed the target and Bartmann flew the entire company to Las Vegas. Bartmann arrived and wrestled with Hulk Hogan at Thomas & amp; Mack Center in Vegas. "On another occasion, Bartmann leased 27 Boeing 747 Jumbo Jets to fly thousands of employees to Disney World for the weekend CFS offers free childcare where it grows to 500 children, as well as free full health care and 250% of corporate matches in 401 programs (k), BusinessWeek magazine called CFS "One of the top 10 family-oriented businesses in America" â€‹â€‹and Working Mother Magazine named it "One of the 100 best companies for working moms."

In 1998 the Harvard Business School published a case study on Commercial Financial Services methods used to secure troubled debt. The Smithsonian Museum of American History Museum awards the CFS, the Computer World Award for technological innovation.

Also in 1998, investigations began after an anonymous letter raise questions about the appropriateness of certain transactions in the company by rogue employees. Throughout his subsequent investigation, Bartmann maintained his innocence. Jay Jones, the company's shareholder, later acknowledged the transaction in question and admitted that Bartmann did not know about them. Nevertheless, the US Department of Justice persuaded a third jury to indict Bartmann and other senior executives.

In the trial that followed, Bartmann was found not guilty of all charges. One of Bartmann's defendants sued the government for an evil and victorious prosecution. However, controversy meant that his company could not get financing and Commercial Financial Services declared bankruptcy. A bankrupt entrepreneur dismissed the company, laid off 3900 employees.

In 2005, the bankruptcy trust for Commercial Financial Services announced publicly that the company was not involved in fraud. Bartmann is freed from all mistakes.

Billionaire secrets to success Bill Bartmann - YouTube

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Other activities

In 2002, the Governor appointed Bartmann to the board of Oklahoma Futures, a public-private partnership whose purpose was to advise the governors, legislatures and judges on ways to promote economic development in Oklahoma. The Senate confirmed Bartmann's nomination.

In 2003 Bartmann founded Bill Bartmann Enterprises to offer business and information training to entrepreneurs. In 2008 he noticed that the banking bailout and TARP subsidies provided an opportunity to buy bad debts from troubled banks, reflecting the situation he built in Commercial Financial Services in the 1980s and 1990s. Bartmann developed a series of training programs to enable individuals to purchase a credit card debt portfolio to fail and then teach them how to collect without resorting to litigation or other abusive behavior.

In 2009 Bartmann published a book, "Bailout Riches", which explains the chances he says bank-bailout and recession 2008-2010 have made. The book became the # 1 bestseller worldwide in the Amazon, and also made it into the bestseller list of Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and BusinessWeek.

In 2010, Bill Bartmann Enterprises was named "Inc 500" for 2009. This is the fifth time Bartmann has made the list.

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CFS2

Bartmann reinvented its consumer finance recovery company, naming its successor entity, CFS2, in July 2010. Later that year the company rented space at the CityPlex Towers complex in southern Tulsa, returning Bartmann to the location where the CFS was operating earlier. Bartmann is in the midst of reviewing potential sites across the country for expansion, with Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio and Arkansas already offering incentives. Counter-intuitive CFS2 offers a unique set of free services to those collected, including: job assistance, credit specialists negotiating other personal debt deductions, resume writing, medical discounts and helping access government aid. An anomaly into the debt collection industry, CFS2 has promised never to demand to collect from their accounts and have encouraged others in the industry to follow suit. This helping hand approach reduces the bank's reputation risk while allowing CFS2 to garner twice the industry's average rate.

In April 2013 CFS2 became the first and only collection company to ever win a "Consumer Friends" award from the American Consumer Council. In conferring the award of American Consumer Council CEO Thomas Hinton, saying "as a financial recovery company, CFS2 offers valuable services that millions of consumers need when we come out of one of the longest recessions in our nation's history." In 2014 he won this award for the second time. CFS2 has also won the Compass Award for Business Ethics; Beacon Award for Community Involvement, "Stevie" Award for Customer Service, and was named one of the most admired CEOs in Oklahoma by the Oklahoma Journal Record.

In October 2013, CFS2 is featured on CBS Evening news as a growing debt collector using a unique strategy of kindness.

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Industrial reform efforts

In the 1990s Bartmann gained a reputation for collecting debt by avoiding strong arm tactics. He followed the same consumer advocate approach in his new company, CFS2. He said: "We will do it the same way as before, treat people with respect and help them get out of a bad situation." A Bartmann-run website, StopTheseCriminals.com, urges consumers to sign a petition calling for drastic legislative and regulatory reforms from the debt collection industry. Among the proposed reforms is the limitation of all debt collection efforts that are older than the statute of limitations; allows consumers to record phone calls from collection agencies; and requires licenses from both individual institutions and collectors.

Bartmann has persuaded 200 debt financing companies to take "Promise Bartmann." The Bartmann Pledge requires that all signatories agree not to use litigation against the debtor, not to charge interest on the liability, not to try to contact the debtor more than twice in one day. , does not pursue debtors outside the statute of limitations and does not sell back bad loans.

Bartmann has worked with members of the US House of Representatives and the US Senate to reform current federal debt collection rules. In addition he helped enact recent changes to Oklahoma's debt collection rules, which the Oklahoma Governor signed into law in June 2011.

Bartmann wrote the Bill of Oklahoma Senate 1430 "The Bartmann Bill" which will require debt collectors to follow strict practices designed to protect consumers. The bill passed the Senate 40-2. In 2011 Bartmann was nominated to the Consumer Advisory Board of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) by the president of the American Bankers Association (ABA), Frank Keating. The nomination is underpinned by six seated state prosecutors.

In October 2012, Bartmann was invited to the West Wing of the White House to meet with the Deputy Director of the National Economic Council and Senior Policy Advisor to discuss the creation of a debt-litigation litigation moratorium which would reduce the national bankruptcy rate by as much as 50% while also reducing the national unemployment rate. Bartmann has worked extensively with the Attorney General across the United States to promote debt collection reform and has testified as an expert witness at their request in various processes.

Bartmann is a regular contributor to publications such as The Huffington Post and The Christian Science Monitor. He wrote Out of Control: The Case of Billing Debt Abuse In America And What We Can Do About It, an exposure of the debt collection industry.

Bartmann created the non-profit organization, the Consumer Recovery Center, which, in October 2013, launched the Shutdown Affected Forbearance Relief (SAFR) program to assist 400,000 federal employees captured by government closures. The Customer Recovery Center contacts the creditors of these abducted workers and persuades them to provide patience for interest, principal and credit reporting until the employee is recalled for work. The organization's main charter is to help families who are victims of natural disasters and act as advocates and intermediaries by dealing with creditors, insurers, and victim government agencies.

In July 2013, Bill Bartmann was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014 for his debt billing industry reform efforts.

In April 2014, the Governor of Oklahoma appointed Bartmann to the Bonds Supervisory Board. This five-member board is responsible for reviewing and approving all financing requests by state agencies, authorities, departments and trusts.

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References