Allied Finance Adjusters Conference, Inc. was founded in the summer of 1936 by eight men with a profound vision of the future. During the years prior to our founding a new financial instrument was initiated by the financial community known as Chattel Mortgage Lending. That instrument and the new found mobility of the borrowers of that time is what sparked the idea of setting into place a network of collection people to strategically locate across the country and assist the lending institutions in recovering property from those that defaulted on their Chattel Mortgage Agreements.

The majority of these pioneers were located in California and more specifically in the San Francisco Bay area. With that in mind, think of the sacrifices made by these men to pick up and move their families to places like Chicago, New York, Saint Louis, Los Angeles, Pittsburgh and Washington D.C., Having no jobs, no businesses and no place to call home. These individuals were following their vision and a solid gut instinct that what they were embarking on was going to change the face of the financial lending programs in America for many years to come.

During the early 1930's as these pioneers set out across the country following their visions they began to get settled and went about the task of setting up their individual businesses. Getting the word out to the lenders in their areas that they were part of a network that was being built to assist the lender in recovering their collateral from debtors that had defaulted on their loans was one of the problems that they faced. They wrote letters back and forth to each other sharing ideas and information as to what was working and what was not working. The one major difficulty they seemed to be facing was convincing the lenders that such a network actually existed and was in place. While each of these men were now in business, as individuals, they felt that since they stared as a group they should remain a group and they decided to have a meeting in Saint Louis, Missouri in the summer of 1936.

At that meeting this association was formally born. These independent businessmen decided on a name for the association and that was "THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF THE ALLIED FINANCE ADJUSTERS CONFERENCE." They held an election of officers and started to set out a blue print plan for the future. They were all in agreement that through this association they could pool their money and set out a plan for cooperative advertising. Thus the first directory of finance adjusters was printed and mailed to lenders across the country. That first directory was printed on newspaper stock and mailed first class. Keeping in mind that this was the 1930's, all of this work was done by hand, the hands of our founders, all working together to reach one goal, serving the financial community.

As the years progressed the association began to grow in membership and in lender acceptance. The membership doubled and then tripled into the early 1940's. The members were becoming trusted allies of the financial community. All was good in this new field of financial adjusting. The association was growing and they were holding one meeting each year to discuss the direction of the association and then the bottom fell out when the United States entered World War II.

With the war in full swing it was no secret that the new business of finance adjusting was going on the back burner and the way it looked this new business may be finished. Cars were not being built, for the cars that were available there were no spare parts to keep them running and even if they were running there was no gas to put in to them. Faced with this situation the association while in a stand down state, stayed in place while some members went off to fight the war and others found positions in the war effort in other areas.

In the post war era the leaders of the association tried to pull the association back together but it was just not the same. It seemed that the vision that they were following had lost its luster. There was an idea to stimulate interest through jealousy. Some of the leaders wanted to start a ghost association to stimulate competition. There was deception in the ranks so strong that finally the association split into two separate entities and the name of the association was split as well. Thus the founding of Allied Finance Adjusters Conference and its offshoot National Finance Adjusters was spawned.

The competition was healthy and both associations began to grow and prosper. Allied was incorporated in 1951 in the state of Illinois as a Not For Profit Corporation and per the articles of incorporation, all funds generated by the association are to be spent on cooperative advertising and the direction of the association. Allied has no paid officers.

All was well within Allied for the next 25 years. At that time due to circumstances beyond the control of the association the Department of Justice decided that it was a bad idea for the association to publish a minimum price schedule for the clients information. The Justice Department brought an action against the association and along with that complaint we were cited for a restraint of trade because the association was an exclusive membership. In 1980 Allied entered into an agreed Consent Decree to eliminate that section of the directory that dealt with suggested rates and fees thus eliminating the problems dealing with the charge of price fixing.

Things began to settle down and Allied began to grow again. Much the same as the kids game of "King of the Hill", Allied was again threatened with a suit for restraint of trade due to her exclusive membership format. At a meeting held in the early 1990's a motion was brought from the floor stating that any territories that were open as of that date, were no longer exclusive. The motion went on to say that, at the current members discretion in any territory, the member may, at his option, elect to make his membership non-exclusive. Further, if for any reason any territory becomes open, it shall not be re-opened as an exclusive.

Allied is now and has always been in complete compliance with the Consent Decree entered into in 1980.

Now, as when we were founded, Allied is in the process of rebuilding for the future. There are benefits to holding a membership in the Allied Finance Adjusters Conference, Inc. Those benefits are as always, cooperative advertising coupled with all of the new technology that the Internet brings to us. Allied also has a public relations program that sets up display booths at many Bank and Credit Union functions each year. Your membership dollars go to fund these programs and not into the pockets of those who purport to be acting in your best interest.

Allied may very well be your best investment for the future but you must be prepared to pitch in and work. Just the same as the founders of this association way back in the 30's, it takes the sharing and input from each and every member of this association to make it work for us all. The current members of Allied Finance Adjusters Conference, Inc. looks forward to any and all new applicants wanting to get in on the ground floor of the next generation of Allied. For an application or information on the association, please call us at 1-800-843-1232 or you may visit us at www.alliedfinanceadjusters.com and leave a message on the visitors comments page.