Compliance Matters - A Lot

                                               By – Myril Shaw, COO, Dealer Profit Services
 

Like it or not, this is NOT a political statement – it is a reality statement about today’s real climate.  As a dealer who handles personally identifiable information and who could be responsible or accountable for identity theft or identity fraud, you need to be aware that the government is now VERY actively involved in looking at all potential compliance issues.  Even without the government concern you should care about an area that has seen a dramatic increase over the last couple of years – identity fraud is a real problem.

Now, let’s go a step beyond that.  We know a dealer who, had they not been diligent in their OFAC processing (cash deals less than $10,00), would have suffered potentially crippling fines and penalties.  The rules about checking for OFAC includes, even for cash purchases less than $10,000 are no joke.

Now, with an active CFPB, an incremental increase of both actual and synthetic identity fraud, and an increase in OFAC named individuals/entities (especially in the area of drug cartels), the risk of falling afoul of compliance standards is VERY high.  You can ignore this or you can protect yourself.

Do you have the full set of Compliance documents (Red Flags, Disposal, OFAC, Safeguards, and USA Patriot Act)?  Do you have a trained Compliance Officer?  Are you physically compliant?  Do you do regular inspections to make sure that compliance standards are being followed and that compliance is top of mind among your team?

Compliance is not just important to prevent legal issues and huge fines, compliance is customer service.  You should have signs around your store saying that “We care about you and your privacy”, “We protect your identity”, “You are safe doing business with us”, and more.  You need to let customers know that you care about them and their identity.  This is one of the critical ways that you treat your customers correctly

Caring about compliance, and being able to demonstrate and document that compliance caring can save you millions and potential jail time, it can also add customers who know you care. 

                     Compliance is not a head-nod.  It is not an “Yeah, I know”. Compliance is customer service                         that saves you money!

About Dealer Profit Services

As a premier F&I Services Provider, Trainer, Consultant, and Comprehensive Compliance Program supplier, Dealer Profit Services is about improving a dealer’s F&I profit and then providing the tools to ensure that profit is protected.  As a Service Provider, Dealer Profit Services provides complete F&I services and delivers the industry leading F&I Profit Results.  As Trainers and Consultants, we help dealers improve their in-house F&I departments.  Through the Comprehensive Compliance Program, Dealer Profit Services provides an on-line, on-demand, Compliance Program with documents, training and tools to make F&I Compliance a process that helps protect the dealer against potential risks from compliance issues.  Learn more by visiting dealerprofit.com, email info@dealerprofit.com, or call (470) 326-0966.