DANGER: REPO MAN SAYS BEST REPOSSESSION WEAPON IS HIS COMMON SENSE

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- Greg Withers doesn't balk when it comes to rating himself as a repossession man. The way he sees it, he ranks as one of the best in the country.

Want a number on a scale of 1 through 10? No problem; Withers instantly settles on a number: 9.9.

There's a simple explanation for this high assessment of himself, said Withers. It's because his company, Collection Credit Corporation of Cape Girardeau, has a very high repossession recovery rate. And the reason for that, he said, is his company tries to work in any possible way with the people from whom he's repossessing property.

"You can go further with people by feeding them sugar as compared to trying to feed them vinegar," said Withers. "If you're there to repossess the vehicle, the problem's already there, and all you can do is try to come to a solution and make the problem go by as easy as possible.

"You're not there to create a conflict that is the last thing one wants to do."

Withers, 30, serves as Collection Credit Corporation's vice president. The company president is his father, W.R. Withers. Withers described his father as a "figurehead" in the business. He said his father who would take over the company if something happened and he could not run it.

Counting himself and two part-time agents who also do repossessions, Collection Credit Corporation has five employees, Withers said. Two women work in the office as collectors and secretaries.

Repossessions amount to about 15 percent of the company's business, Withers estimated. Most occur within 30 to 40 miles from Cape Girardeau, he said, but the majority are in other states. Withers said he believes he's carried out his work in every state.

Along with collections, he said, the company can also conduct surveillance on people, such as spouses in divorce cases, and "trailbacks," which deal with background checks on fiances or girlfriends or boyfriends.

In talking about his job, Withers uses a rushed delivery, at times using his hands to accent his expressions.

Withers said he began Collection Credit Corporation in 1983 after starting out in the repossession business as a teenager seeking extra money. Over the years, he said, he's probably carried out 600 repossessions, ranging from Chevrolet Corvettes to Volkswagens. The repossessions have also included tractor-trailers, heavy equipment and mobile homes anything that carries a mortgage and needs to be picked up because of a payment default.

"I've had several (repossessions) where we've literally stolen vehicles out of barns, out of garages," he said. "We've taken repossessed cars out of people's driveways ... while the front door's open; (it's) 12-o'clock at night and all the windows are up, and you can hear the TV going and the people laughing inside."

Around 50 percent of the repossessions are done clandestinely, with no prior contact with the debtor, said Withers. The process requires one person to serve as a lookout while two others take the vehicle. Withers said the lookout's job is to watch for any hostile situations that may develop and, if need be, disarm any potential attackers of their weapons.

Regardless of the job's potential for danger, Withers doesn't carry a firearm. If the situation gets to a point where a person may pull out a weapon against a repossessor, he said, the repossessor should have been gone long before that.

"I have never yet, in all my years of repossessions, needed a weapon. I feel the best weapon one can use is common sense in this line of work."

Ninety-five percent of the people whose property is repossessed realize that the repossessor is not a bad person, Withers said. Rather, he said, they understand that the situation came about because they got behind on their payments.

Withers said he tries to work with people who have encountered financial difficulties and would eventually pay off their debt if given more time. In those cases, he said, he tries to talk the bank or loan agency into giving the people a reprieve.

Of all the repossession jobs he has done, Withers said one stands out particularly. It occurred about a year ago in Illinois. Withers said he went to repossess one of three tractor-trailers owned by a man. The man had no problem with that, he said, but he did have a problem with the fuel inside the tractor-trailer.

"He said: `You can have the truck, but you're not taking my diesel fuel. I just refueled her last night before I brought her in.'

"I said, `Well, I'll tell you what: We'll help you unload your fuel but you've got to give us enough to get back to our destination.' He said, `OK, agreed.'"

Withers said he and another employee helped the man dump about 175 gallons of diesel fuel into a gallon bucket and pour it into another truck through a funnel. The whole process took six hours or more, he said.

Added Withers: "I could have said, `I don't have time for this,' and it could have made the situation bad. Sure, it took a few hours extra but I got the vehicle back."

He said only two reasons have kept him from coming back with repossessed property: he's been given old information and the people have left the area, or a person is going through bankruptcy proceedings and the property is tied up in court.