All right, welcome back. So, uh, my next guest is very, very,
very important because she has a wealth of information and knowledge.
So I'm excited to pick your brain a little bit.
So for those that don't know you,
go ahead and introduce yourself and the company that you're with.
Absolutely. My name is Erica Gillerman. I'm general counsel at Trenton Recovery.
We are a commercial collections agency that focuses on merchant cash advanced
collections.
All right. So this industry's changing drastically.
A lot of things are going on. So in your specific field, uh,
what have you been seeing? What are the trends?
Well, the trends are that defaulter of course, up. Uh,
obviously there's certain industries that we are recommending to stay away from.
We always tell everybody to focus on proper underwriting, doing the,
doing your due diligence when you're actually going into a deal.
And that's something that has been lacking with a lot of the funders.
They're seeing, you know, certain trends on their book of business,
but they're not realizing that the entire industry as a whole has an overhaul
that we need to really look at from the big picture and not just the book of
business that they're getting on their individual platforms.
So you're, you've been here all morning. Kind of walk me through, uh,
you've seen a lot of familiar faces.
What's been the atmosphere like here so far?
Well, every single de bank that we go to is always a really, really fun time.
We have a blast seeing our clients.
It's always nice to see new faces in the industry,
and it's always nice to get together,
not only with the other attorneys that are in the industry,
but just seeing how the trajectory is changing, meeting the brokers,
being able to also educate the brokers and telling them that even though we're a
collection agency and we may not be seen as a necessity for them,
they need us as well, because if their deals go bust, they get clawed back.
And so if they work with us in making sure that we get, you know,
kind of the trajectory going down that road,
it's protection not just for the funders,
but it's protection for the broker commissions as well.
So, listen, this industry, it's going through a very interesting time. A lot,
a lot of, uh, transitions are going on. Um, for,
for your specific area of expertise, uh,
what advice would you give to people that are watching this at home, um,
or that are here about just doing things the right way and,
and just maneuvering collections, just maneuvering your area in general.
Being open to the changes. The changes are not a suggestion,
unfortunately. They're a requirement.
And that is something that we kind of need to continue to educate throughout the
system and have everybody truly be understanding and open that this is not going
to kill our industry. In fact,
it's going to make our industry grow to a level on a national scale that it
hasn't been before. Alternative finance is here to stay. Mm-hmm.
We are a necessity that a small businesses need, so let's make it done right.
And unfortunately,
sometimes that is going to have to weed out certain people because they don't
want to essentially follow the rules. But we need that to happen. And, you know,
this is just one of the things that it's a necessary evil that we can't avoid.
So rather than continue to go down this kind of like road,
we need to embrace it and roll with it and be open to the changes and the
possibilities of how we can continue to evolve and expand into more than a
trillion dollar industry that we're hoping to get to.
And so for people that have never been to an event like this, that are new,
trying to maneuver it, you know, trying to meet like attorneys,
trying to meet clients, trying to meet everyone, and they're not here,
what would you say to them?
Honestly, meeting the people that are here really puts a face to the industry.
So it gives us the opportunity to understand who we're dealing,
who you can be doing business with, even if it's direct competitors,
we have direct competitors that are here. It's always great to just see,
you know, the faces that are behind, the names that we see in the courts,
that we see in the bank accounts that we see, you know, in the submissions.
It's, it's always a cool trajectory to see, oh wow, I've seen,
I got a submission from you. Oh, cool. I've seen, I went up against you.
This is,
this is the kind of dynamic where it's just a fun environment to be around in.
And honestly, every,
every single person at one point or another needs to come to de banked because
they need to finally understand what the industry's truly about. Yeah.
Erica, thank you so much for your time. I appreciate No problem.
It was a pleasure. Likewise.
So I'm gonna go ahead and let you enjoy the rest of the event. I appreciate it.
But thank you for your wealth of information. Thank you.
And the tidbits that you gave, the golden nuggets, because this industry,
a lot of people are asking, you know, how do I, how do I maneuver it right now?
Yep. So
Anytime.
Awesome. Well, thank you much, Nono. Thank you, Erica.