RTO2 the automated collections superpower

Breaking news!! Only on The RTO Show! 

     We chat with Richard Formoe the CEO and Co-founder of Paydit.com about their new automated collections platform called RTO2! This AI powered software has the ability to schedule services and pickups, negotiate commitments, and even help with new or add on sales. All while working 24/7 to allow the operator more time to grow the business. Seem to good to be true? Listen to this special podcast and find out because this is the only place to get this new information before it's full launch at RTO World 2023 San Antonio, TX.

www.TheRTOshowPodcast.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 1:21

Hello and welcome to the RTO show. I'm your host, Pete Chao. We're talking rent to own with Richard Fomo, co-founder and CEO of paidit.com. Now, this is something that's going to be coming out later in our RTO world, and you guys are going to see that. But Richard, so glad to have you on the show. Why don't you introduce yourself and give us a little bit about your background?

SPEAKER_01 1:40

Pete, appreciate you uh taking a few moments to chat with me. We are super excited about our new product specifically designed for the rent-to-own industry. Um, it is called RTO2, so like oxygen. Um, and we will be launching it at April RTO World here in about 30 days. So super excited. My background, just to give everybody a bit of context, I have a little over 15 years experience in the rent-to-own and least-to-own specific industry. Um, I started when I was 18 years old uh with a uh RTO store called Bargain City in Arizona. Um, they also had a spin-off called TRS, which was really one of the industry pioneers for the least-to-own product that you see heavily in the market today. So after that, I spent years and years moving around for Renaissance Corporate with Acceptance Now, scaling the first ever national accounts division within the least-to-owned sector, and then moving back to Plano to work with the executives at Renaissance. So super excited. I understand all the intricacies of the rent-to-own industry extremely well. We're we're deeply connected with a lot of you folks out there in the RTO world. A lot of you may either know who we are or you've heard about our product coming. So super excited.

SPEAKER_00 3:08

Now, when you talk about Plano, Texas, I remember, oh, 23, 24 years ago, I was working for Renter's Choice. And uh it was right before it bought into or the Rennes Center that it is now. And I remember, you know, everything that came out of there was Ernie Tally and Plano, Texas. And man, that was a good time. That was a good time back then. I really, I really have a lot of admiration for that gentleman who's who just pioneered a lot of the way. So when you talk about the old rack days, you kind of you kind of set me off there. I kind of remember that from a long time ago. So we're when we talk about the the RTO2, so when we're talking about pay to dot com, it's a collections automation platform, correct? That is correct.

SPEAKER_01 3:49

Um the product we have in the market today, we are a collections engagement and automation platform built for businesses. So collection agencies, credit unions, banks, e-commerce lenders, buy now, pay later, lease to own, utilities, and even healthcare companies are leveraging the product today. As you may know, the rent-to-owned industry is significantly different. There's product involved, there's things like free time and some of these other things that are product returns that that just make the product from a technology standpoint significantly different. So we can't operate our core product in that market. But essentially what our core product does today and is doing today is a uh lender, for example, it's just uses SEMA, who's a customer of ours, who is owned by Rena Center. Uh, they would load a portfolio or multiple portfolios of debtors or or consumers into the platform. We're gonna reach in, we're gonna grab a bunch of history and data, and we're gonna build custom campaigns and sequences of when and how to engage the consumer, but all digitally. Okay. So uh a couple examples of that is when a consumer's phone number is loaded, when consumers are loaded in the platform, it'll ping their phone number or the carrier, and it's gonna tell us when they're they're active on their phone. So if John Doe or just you, Pete, if you were loaded into the platform, our machine would know that you're more likely on your phone from the hours of 12 to 2. Okay, so our machine's gonna automatically move you into your first SMS cadence. So you're gonna receive your first SMS from us from the hours of 12 to 2 when you're more likely on the phone.

SPEAKER_00 5:32

Or email. Now that's a good idea. That's definitely a great integration to make sure that they're consistently uh being targeted at the times that they're gonna be available.

SPEAKER_01 5:42

Exactly right. So we want specific, sophisticated methodologies of when to engage with the consumer so you're not just kind of spraying and praying that somebody hopefully answered or opens your SMS or answers your email. So the same thing goes for email. Um, we have the ability to understand when they're checking their emails. So ideally, say they open their emails every day at five or once a week. We will try to send them an email a few minutes before they're more than likely uh going to open their emails. That way, your email is at the top of their inbox and they're more likely to engage and take action.

SPEAKER_00 6:18

That's something new that I gotta say. I like that idea. Something a little different there that I definitely think RTO could use. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 6:25

So some of the other things, uh what I mean by custom campaigns and sequences and strategies, you're gonna hear that a lot. Um, a big thing is say a consumer gets an SMS from us, from our machine, right? And they click on that link and they bail, they don't take any action. The platform's gonna automatically move them into a new strategy or a new campaign for consumers that did only that. So, very similar to if you put shoes in a shopping car on Amazon, you didn't buy them, and now you're getting emails and hey, Pete, are you sure you don't want those shoes? They're gonna look great on you. Are you sure you don't want to buy those shoes? The same kind of concept. We're just putting unique tailored strategies to get the consumer to engage.

SPEAKER_00 7:07

Quick question is is this run by an AI engine, or is it just algorithms that because they didn't answer a certain way during a certain time frame, it will switch them to another way of connection?

SPEAKER_01 7:17

Exactly right. So we have teams of data scientists behind the product that are constantly running new programs from a machine learning and and artificial intelligence perspective. And that's how we're really truly dialing in and optimizing the right times to engage and methods uh that the consumer wants to engage.

SPEAKER_00 7:36

Well, I can tell you, Richard, right now, I've got a lot of people out there who are always concerned and how AI is going to affect us in the RTO world. I can tell you guys right now, it might be a good thing to start it from the collection side and see if we can make this happen for us. So that's good, it's good to know that it's there to kind of supersede what we know and kind of get them at the right times and get them in the right ways that they need to be connected to. Yep. And it's important to note, Pete, that the product is fully white labeled.

SPEAKER_01 7:59

And for folks that don't know what white labeled means, we've built the Ferrari for you and you get to drive it, meaning your brand is on the, your brand, your logo, everything. You get to manage the product uh as a company or as a storefront. So each storefront has their own uh version. It's all built in the cloud, so it's not on premise, right? So there's constant new features and functionalities. We're adding uh new features and functionalities almost daily. Another channel, a communication channel that we've built and customized ourselves is ringless voicemail drops. So for example, in the cadence, say day one, they get an SMS, day two, they get an email, day three, they can get a ringless voicemail drop. We've taken that voicemail drop just a step further. So when your phone does your phone won't ring, but you'll get a the consumer will get a voicemail on their phone. It'll sound just like you because you've you've recorded it. It'll say, hey, this is Pete from whichever rent-to-own store you're from. The RTO show. This is Pete from the RTO show. This is Pete from the RTO show. Um to make a payment, please click here on voicemailpayment.com or whatever that is, and that link, they can actually click the link in the voicemail and it will take them straight to the payment screen. So they can either make a payment, schedule a payment arrangement, negotiate a settlement if they're really past due, uh, schedule a return. You know, there's a bunch of things they can do all from a voicemail, which is pretty powerful.

SPEAKER_00 9:24

So this software is not just for collections, you can actually do it for recurring on-time payments within anyone's regular payment schedule. Correct.

SPEAKER_01 9:35

It goes a step further, Pete. It's actually so one of the number one things that we keep hearing is staffing, hiring, employee retention, engaging, right? How do you keep folks or how do you keep the the retention levels uh uh high? Because if I if I'm correct, the employee turnover or attrition in the rent-owned industry right now is almost 330%.

SPEAKER_00 10:01

It is so it is growing and it is uh I've talked to rent-owned dealers across the nation, and I think we're all kind of facing it. Some in some in geographical areas are better than others, but I can say that in most cases uh than not. Yeah, it's it's actually on the rise. It's kind of tapered off in the fit sense that it's not growing, you know, by leaps and bounds. But I would say it's you know, it's it's tapered off, but it's getting it's getting out of hand. I mean, we really, really need those people behind those those areas, and this might be a way to uh to fix that. Yeah, exactly right.

SPEAKER_01 10:33

And and secondly, just the cost of payroll now with the inflation is shit has just skyrocketed. So not only can you not keep people or find people, the cost of folks is getting more and more expensive every day. So we're really excited to deliver a product that can put your collections truly on autopilot and you can really focus on the accounts that are just much tougher to collect on or need a bit more of a uh, I guess, a one-on-one um relationship. Next, it's important to know something that is neat. You can actually build custom campaigns and strategies for, say, customers that are paying extremely well. And you hey, did you know the new Xbox is out? We just got it in the store, come on in. Right? So the product can actually help you grow your business, right? So you're not just collecting it.

SPEAKER_00 11:24

So wait, wait, wait. So you're you're telling me that this is a collections platform that can be used for the the same algorithms used to put product back out on the street.

SPEAKER_01 11:32

Exactly right. So our mission is not to not to just uh be the number one collections engagement and automation, but be the number one marketing automation platform all under one roof.

SPEAKER_00 11:44

So I'm looking on the website, right, and I saw that it's it is a collections automation platform and it uses omni-channel digital communication with the customers, the different ways to do it, whether it be the SMS, the text message, the emails, but then there's different ways to pay as well, right? So it's not just ACH, it's not just credit card. You can do an Apple or Google Pay as well. You can, yes.

SPEAKER_01 12:08

So look, the mission is to meet the consumer where they want to be met, right? In the channels they want to be met, whether it's email, SMS, voicemail, drop. And you want them to you want to allow them to pay however they want to pay. And that can be credit card, debit card, ACH, Google Pay, Apple Pay, etc. The whole mission is just to get the consumer a better repayment experience, keep them as a longer, better paying customer, and put them on more product.

SPEAKER_00 13:24

Now, I saw an analytical section. So are those analytics built into where someone at a store level can actually see them, whether it be a you know a DM or a GM, they can see how effective it is and what times it's being most effective and in what cases?

SPEAKER_01 13:38

Yeah, we actually have a very sophisticated admin portal where you can drill down all the way from almost a CFO level. So a CFO can log in and have a complete company overview all the way down to a regional director, for example, can log in and see all their stores, a DM can see all their stores, and a store can log in and just see their store. So they'll get complete analytics. For example, it'll separate by card closes, right? So we've again we come from this background, we come from the rent-owned space, so we understand card closes very well. You can understand now exactly what SMS is performing for your card close, what email is performing in your card close, what uh voicemail drops, etc. You can drill everything down in very granular detail in the admin portal.

SPEAKER_00 14:29

Richard, that is amazing because that, I mean, I I couldn't tell you an RTO dealer that didn't or wouldn't want to know that information, especially with what's going on right now. Now, when you're talking about manual labor, yeah, it's a little bit more difficult. But when you're talking about those types of analytics going out to the point where you can see exactly what's working for you and what's not, you can push that at the counter during the sale and and make that work even better. That's that's pretty crazy. That's actually really, really uh interesting. So, how you know, right now I know a lot of people that are working with the Versa Rent system. Yeah, how does that integrate? So, you know, of course, all the stores they have their information, and I know that you know you said it's through the cloud. So, does the information have to be uploaded into your database through the cloud to have all those? And then how often does it uh update the software for people who have paid out, who have closed out, who have returned and no longer have it? How does that work?

SPEAKER_01 15:27

Pete, I'm glad you asked. Um, we have been working quietly, very hard behind the scenes with David Goldman at Versorent on a very sophisticated, a very robust integration. So that way you can just hit start and you'll be able to take the Ferrari from first gear to sixth gear as soon as we're ready at RTOL. Fully integrated.

SPEAKER_00 15:51

So David is all on board with this. Now, how does he feel about and I'm just being I'm just asking because I just want to know, you guys have some of the features that they have. Now, of course, yours is a lot more dialed in, a lot more robust, but they do have some text messaging, they do have some messaging, you know, platforms in there. Were they, you know, hey, listen, we want to keep what we have, or they were like, let's get it done. You guys have a great arm to add to what we have going on. Let's get together and make that happen.

SPEAKER_01 16:16

Yeah, look, I think David's biggest um concern is just ensuring that his customers have the best product. He he has a very loyal customer base, right, for a reason. They've done a fantastic job. And so when David uh partnered with us, he said, Wow, this thing is is uh is is revolutionary, and I want to be a part of it. And I want to I want to be the first one to deliver this to my customers. So we that actually sounds like Dave.

SPEAKER_00 16:44

That sounds like Dave.

SPEAKER_01 16:45

Yep. So we work with him and Michael Bennett. Uh Michael Bennett is on our advisory board from uh from Buddies. Wow. Geez, you got some heavy hitters out there, huh? We we've been working quietly but but very hard to ensure that this product is built specifically in every thought we've gotten on this phone over the course of a year with store managers to collection specialists to district managers to regionals to ensure that this product comes out of the gate swinging. You'll be able to schedule service in that platform, return, you know, schedule a return, a product return, make commitments, change due dates, all kinds of really cool features and functionalities. And look, there is even more to come. Uh, it will be able to do a lot of really cool things right out of the gate. So I just want to say I think I thank David Goldman. Hopefully, I'm not stealing his spotlight for RTO world, but I I want to personally thank him for working one-on-one with me almost weekly on this for the last almost year, quietly behind the scenes. Um, so we are really excited about our partnership with Ursula.

SPEAKER_00 17:51

Well, I'm gonna tell you, some guys are gonna be afraid of it and some guys are gonna run to it, as is with all new technologies. But when we're running across a situation where we're having a really hard time with getting labor on the situation to get it ongoing, this might be a breakthrough. And I know a lot of people say, you know, everyone once in a while, you know, you got to be careful, somebody else is gonna be making your fries, but now somebody else might be making your calls, and this sounds like a very, very direct, very go-to situation. So here's a question. Let's say I'm a regular dealer, I've got, you know, 10 to 15 stores, I am using VersaRents. We'll make it just easier. From the word go to full integration and it's running, how long does that take? Uh, it should be the matter of moments, uh, a flip of a switch.

SPEAKER_01 18:35

Okay, let me get that correct. It's immediate? It should be very immediate. Um, the only thing from VersaRent's end, yes. From from payday, we will just get folks onboarded onto the platform and just ensure they know how to drive the Ferrari, right? So um, and sorry if I keep using that terminology, but it's but the best way to put it because it's a very sophisticated, very robust, and we just need to ensure that when a store manager uh latches onto this thing, they they know how to use it and everything it can and can't do, right? So there will be some training involved, but in terms of getting it to go live, yeah, it's a matter of moments.

SPEAKER_00 19:11

I am very okay with using the Ferrari terminology. So here's a question. Are we calling it R202? Is that the direct name for it? Are we gonna call it payed it.com? Which what are we gonna go to? Like if if somebody was to come to me and one of my stores and say, hey, this is what I'm pitching, is it the RTO2 that they're gonna they're gonna call it?

SPEAKER_01 19:28

Yeah, so um paid it is the is the main company, it's the main brand. However, the product that is specifically designed for the rent-owned industry is RTO2. So we are excited to allow people to breathe again, Pete. Get some fresh air.

SPEAKER_00 19:45

Yes, I I'm I'm I'm telling you right now, I'm just thinking about all the implications that that it could, you know, the things that can happen, it can change and allow for. I'm actually very excited to see this information. I'm I'm actually excited to see you at RTO World and kind of have that conversation ourselves. Now, PayTit's been in business for years, correct? But then this particular, the RTO2, is only this is this has been in RD for a year then?

SPEAKER_01 20:10

Yeah, so the the core PayDit product that our collections engagement automation platform, we have hundreds and hundreds of businesses um on the platform today that's operating all the way from very large publicly traded businesses to one-person locations that rely on us to literally run their entire operation from a collections standpoint. However, with my background in the RTO world, um I've always wanted to kind of help revolutionize and and um and change the industry a bit. Because the biggest thing that I've seen from the outside looking in is my concern has been it's just been growth. And so this product will imagine, Pete, just take a step back and imagine if you could have a platform that can even just collect as much as one human, right? Or as much as what your store is doing today, but you never had to make a single phone call again or make another outbound collection effort again. Imagine the growth that you could have in that in that RTO store. Imagine you could you could spend all that effort on on growing the business. And right now, I can just say one thing, our core collections product that's in the market, we have tons of case studies. We are collecting, on average, 10 to 15 times more than a human in all of our locations that we're working with today.

SPEAKER_00 21:30

And every single board across the way you see it, it's been better.

SPEAKER_01 21:34

Everybody. Something that's important to note, this could kind of give you an idea. 65% of our user engagement on our platform today is happening after business hours or on the weekends. So folks are making a payment, scheduling payment arrangements, or even negotiating settlements all after business hours or on the weekends.

SPEAKER_00 21:53

RTO family, I'm gonna tell you, this sounds like a game changer from pay to dot com for an RTO to that's amazing. Now Pete, you're hearing it first. This this is this is not public until RTO world. So this is super exciting. Yes, this is it. I mean, this is you you've got my mind really. I'm telling you, there's so many possibilities because you know, on the sales side, there is a lot that goes with that. There's the ordering, there's the merchandising, there's the re the refurbishment that goes into it. There's the making sure that it's set up properly on the showroom, is it tagged correctly? Have I explained to you all its products, features, benefits, delivery times, and making sure that it's good for you? And this opens that window to create different positions to where, you know, I have a collections person, but if I have that collections person only focusing on the top, let's say 10%, if that, that really need to be, you know, drilled in on, then what is the, you know, what is the time frame of what they have left? That gives you so much more opportunity. That changes the amount of of traditional training that goes with it, the traditional learning curve that goes with it. I mean, you can have people come in and only learn a few parts of the business and be able to be ready to go instead of training them on sales and credit or at collections, vice versa. It's almost like this is how you handle it, and then we'll go into the back end of it, you know, the the very different, difficult 10%. But that's a whole different learning curve. Yeah. To be able to stay on top of that and you know know that if somebody leaves for a let's say they move, let's say they found something better, let's say something in their family has changed their ability to be able to work the hours that you have available. You're not down that person. You're still having those collections happen every single day, you know, six days a week, or whoever's open seven or whatever the case is, and utilizing it for sales as well. That can change up a huge amount of the way Rentone is done. And I I think I'm gonna say it, Richard, you guys on the forefront of that. I haven't heard anything that's close to this right now. Now, the question that I saw, because every time I go onto the website, I see this, it looks like it's it's very much mobilized. So I see a lot of tablet use, a lot of phone use. Is it specific? Made for that?

SPEAKER_01 24:04

Yeah, so it's fully mobile optimized. So you'll see you'll you'll receive the same repayment experience or repayment journey whether you log in from a phone, a tablet, or a computer. And it is important to note, Pete, that 80% of our user engagement is done on an Apple device, which is interesting. Not even just a phone, but an Apple device, Apple device specifically.

SPEAKER_00 24:26

You know, I'm going to tell you, Richard, I'm probably going to get a little bit of messages on this. I am a Samsung guy. I've always been a Samsung guy. I guess it makes me an Android guy. It's just the way that I use things, it just seems to be easier for me. I never really kind of understood the Apple part of it. But when I do the analytics of the show, when I do the analytics out in the world, there are far more Apple users that actually listen to the show or integrate with the show through Apple software and devices than anything else by far. And so I know that there were a few times at Versarrent, and not trying to say anything about them, but I know Versarent was doing uh a few things, and Apple was a little bit difficult for them to get through. To know that you've already kind of accomplished that and it's already done, and you can see that there's a lot more Apple user engagement, that's also a game changer because it's it's already there. You don't have to worry about it working or not working. It's solid state, ready to go.

SPEAKER_01 25:20

It is. It's ready for any device. So we've we've thought about everything in great detail and it it looks just incredible. Actually, Pete, our brand new UI UX um user experience user interface was completed today, and I can tell you it looks really, really slick. So excited. One thing, if you don't mind, I'd love to touch on that kind of made us pretty well known in the industry. We do have a unique feature that uh is for really late stage customers. So right now, a store, if somebody goes and never pays you again and they charge off, right? There's a couple different avenues you can take, but a lot it a lot of it just sits there and it's never collected on ever again, right? The customer keeps the product and and hopefully you don't rent to them ever again. We have the ability to do one-time and um one-time settlement offers and allow the consumer to negotiate. So we've already tested this with some, which I can't say yet, but we've already tested with some RTO stores and some RTO brands uh quietly and confidentially. But what it's allowing the consumers to do is get an SMS and say, hey, you owe us a thousand bucks. How much can you afford? They can send, they can submit any amount, so call it 75 bucks, and the machine's gonna automatically counter-offer them three different offers in the machine. So you can either accept one of those offers and settle, or they can actually count on the machine and go back and forth. So the consumer feels like they're back in control and they're the one settling for whatever amount that they agreed on. And this has been a game changer for even the stuff that's just sitting there charged off that you're doing nothing with today.

SPEAKER_00 27:02

That's completely different. I didn't I that's actually a feature I you're right. I did not see that coming. Now, a good thing to say is now what about the states? And and I don't want to get too far into it, but you know, there's states that have uh legal recourses to do that. Do you cancel that out in those states, or do you allow the store or the management to say, we're gonna go with this option with so many customers, or we we select the uh the clientele or the account or the agreement parameters that would fit into this, or how does that how does that work? How do you pick when it will and will not do that?

SPEAKER_01 27:35

So you can toggle anything on and off that you do or don't want in the product. So if there's certain uh state-based regulations or what have you that uh that limits and things, you can toggle that on and off. However, we are going to provide you guys what what an A plus looks like right out of the gate. And it would just be up to your compliance to kind of approve it and move forward with it. But to answer your question, you can do all that. The same with, for example, Spanish in the platform. It is optimized for English and Spanish. You can actually set campaign strategies simultaneously so folks get all their emails and SMS in Spanish, their voicemail drops in Spanish, and they log in, they can negotiate in Spanish or they can request a pickup or what have you in Spanish.

SPEAKER_00 28:20

So it does have that capability as well. You you must have been reading my mind. You must have known that was that was literally the next question I was gonna have is because we have certain areas in the Tampa Bay area that are predominantly Hispanic, and regardless of what we do to penetrate that, we have to get on the level of the customer, right? We there's no they're not gonna they're not gonna conform to what we do. We need to conform to them to make it easier, that shopping experience, the filling the needs, that experience easier for them. And that is that is huge because in this area, especially in the Tampa Bay area, I have stores that are predominantly Hispanic that it just wouldn't work unless you can do it in a way that they can read and they can understand. That's great. I mean, that's amazing. Now, here's a question that I have, and I keep on telling, I keep on telling Mike I'm gonna I'm gonna make him a teacher that says this is the biggest question. But when you said earlier that it's said in your voice, is that like do you record something directly or do you speak into the AI? It kind of figures out the way you say things, and then it uses the way you say things to make these notifications or leave voice messages or whatever the whatever the case.

SPEAKER_01 29:28

Yeah, so you can do all pre-recorded voicemails.

SPEAKER_00 29:30

So whoever you want to record them, you can do that. So you have full autonomy over that. So probably at home office we would have somebody do it with the with the best speaking voice and make sure that they can pronunciate and enunciate everything, right?

SPEAKER_01 29:41

Yeah, you can you can use ours, right? We we have professional ones done, uh a plethora of them for you to choose from, or you can do your own. It's up to you. We have it in the market today uh on our uh core paid product that's a that's out there. And I would say 99% of people just use uh the ones we had professionally done, but it's up to you. You can have if you want to ensure that you know it's coming, the voice message is coming from your store manager, you can do that.

SPEAKER_00 30:06

Now you have some pretty heavy hitters on there, right? You're talking about David, you're talking about Mike. So do you already have contracts available and set up for people to use this software coming soon, like like ready to almost go? Or is this going to be the full-on, regardless of who's on the board, regardless who's been helping us out, strategically and planning, this is the this is the go point where from here everybody can now get on the platform?

SPEAKER_01 30:30

Yeah, from RTO world on, it will be it will be available to the public. We have been working quietly with a number of folks that do know it's coming confidentially that are ready when we say go, but it will be public here to everybody that wants it at RTO World. And we're actually going to offer um a very exciting exclusive discount for about 30 days for those who want to take advantage at the RTO world. So really excited to do that. But um, I will say uh there are some, and I won't name any brands, but there are some RTO brands and owners out there that know me and know the products coming and have called me and are begging for it now. They are just struggling with staffing and collections, and they're really excited about what this is gonna do for the industry.

SPEAKER_00 31:18

Well, Richard, I'm not gonna tell you that you have the silver bullet to uh rent to own. I'm gonna sell you probably have something very close to it. I mean, you have the want and go-to system that I I can tell you right now, I know people are gonna go to that. Now, this is the crazy, I want to tell you, I have my ear to the ground when it comes to rent to own, and I've got it everywhere. I've got it in a lot of states from a lot of people in a lot of companies. Yep. I have not heard this. I'm telling you right now, I'm a little jealous that I didn't know this was coming. So, whoever you have on the staff, whoever's been discussing it with you, I can tell you firsthand, they've been keeping it quiet. And I I kudos to them because it's a good thing that you know you guys work under the cover of making sure it's 100% before it's out there. So kudos to them and congratulations. This system sounds amazing, not just from the collection standpoint, because absolutely I think if it was just on the collection side, that would make it worth it as well. But to say that there's a sales aspect to it, to say that there's somebody working behind the scenes when somebody's at lunch, when somebody's not there, when the hours are closed, when somebody's sick, when somebody's on vacation, that's that's the game changer to have that consistency. And also I think sometimes we as human beings, and I'm just putting it out there, collections is difficult. I've done collections and I've done sales, I'm gonna tell you right now, I'm a sales guy at heart. But when it comes to collections, it's the inflection. It's how you say it, it's when you catch them. But when you have a system sometimes, and I'm not trying to be all for the system, but sometimes it takes the personality out of it and it says, this is how you resolve the account, and I'm not here to bother you or say something, or I don't believe in something that you don't, or I don't say things that you don't agree with. It's just me. I'm gonna this is how you collect, this is how you make the payment, this is what I can do for you. And it's straightforward and easy for the customer to use. That's super important, especially in today's in today's system, in today's world. I mean, AI is here, right? It's it's to stay. We might as well use it to the best of our abilities. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 33:13

I I do have a question. Have you heard of uh the concept, I'm sure you have, but uh like the old school war rooms, right? Collections war rooms. We love war rooms. So imagine this. Imagine if you can load in the customer base that you want in a war room or the account base, all the strategies are automatically built to however you want them, and you just hit go, you lock the front door, you go home, and there's a war room going 24-7 collecting any from from any consumer. That's what's exciting, is when you're sleeping, there's folks scheduling payments and negotiating settlements for people who have charged off, and right? That's what's pretty exciting.

SPEAKER_00 33:55

Stop, stop, Richard. You're giving me the heebie jeebies, man. You, you you're setting chills down my spine, man. You're really you're really kind of painting a great picture for what's a possibility in rent to own. That's I'm telling you, I haven't heard of anything close to this. You know, you always think about it, right? You always think, well, well, what's the future gonna bring? You guys are bringing something completely different to this R202 thing. Now, you know what, the first, I'm gonna tell you right now, the first thing I can see on the war rooms is you could possibly say, okay, I'm gonna put Route 1, you know, in the war room on R202, and I'm gonna put Route 2 on the staff. Bingo. And we're gonna see how this fares out. And you know what? I mean, I don't want to be on the losing side either way, but I think no matter what you do, the store's gonna win. It's gonna be better for the customers, it's gonna be better for the for the business, and it is gonna allow that opportunity to get more personal with all your customers, whether they're new, whether they're reoccurring, whether they've paid out, whether they're, you know, somebody who hasn't been here for a long, long time, or somebody that comes in every three months. It's gonna really help you build that relationship. I'm gonna tell you right now, I wow, I've you got me sitting beside myself. If there was another Pete, he'd be looking at me going, wow, Pete and repeat, or just we're gonna be staring at each other going, holy cow, what is this?

SPEAKER_01 35:07

The most important thing we want to accomplish is ensure that the RTO stores can grow their business at levels they've never seen again or before, excuse me. So that's that's the big thing we want to see is we want them to focus less on the monotonous collection calls and dropping door tags at doors and things that still happen day in, day out, and they can put their focus on growing the business.

SPEAKER_00 35:32

Something you mentioned earlier that I thought was a little bit different, and I know that you're gonna I I'm always gonna be an advocate for change in the right direction. You are always gonna get those steadfast people who probably have a lot of different ways to look at it, and they're gonna you know try to pick it apart to make sure that it's the best for them. I did hear you say that you can make a commitment to pay in the future through the system. How does that work?

SPEAKER_01 35:54

Yeah, so that is one of the features. You can you can schedule services, you can make commitments, you can schedule a callback, right? And it'll go straight to a person's screen so they can call back. You can schedule equipment returns. What we'll we will always ensure, though, is that the brand or the store and has a say in what you want that to be. So, for example, we don't ever want them to make a commitment on a Saturday or a Thursday or whatever the rule is. You can you can have those rules input in the system that way you have a say in what you want it to look like.

SPEAKER_00 36:31

So the parameters are set by the store as loose or as tight as you need them to be. Exactly right.

SPEAKER_01 36:36

So it's not just, hey, use our way or the highway. It's you can actually, you know, the rules that you're out there teaching a brand new collector, hey, make sure you don't do this, or make sure you don't, you know, you update their phone number and and address every time you speak to them, and all these great best practices, you can actually now just put those best practices in the machine and it does it automatically.

SPEAKER_00 36:58

I'm still stoked. I'm still stoked. It's great to hear this. Now, walk me through this. I'm a customer, I'm going in, I open an account, right? I have an agreement in front of me, somebody's going over it with me, they explain it to me, or they sit down in the closing room, whatever the case is, you know, they explain to me I got a package or a single item. This is my same as cash, this is what I can expect, service, credit, whatever the case is for that particular rent own. Now, somebody's gonna say to me, and I and I'm guessing, and you help me out with this, somebody's gonna say, okay, this is what you can expect when it's time to make a payment or a pass due payment. How do I initially get into it? Do I download an app? What do I need to do?

SPEAKER_01 37:37

Yep. So the one thing that is important uh to note the difference between uh RTO2 and Versorent is a VersaRent is really gonna stay focused on customers that that aren't pass due, right? So those normal payments will still kind of go through that VersaRent process. Um, but as soon as they go one day path due, the machine will, the VersaRent will automatically kick them over into the pay to platform on on different campaigns. So uh there really is no telling the customer anything other than that now they have the ability to pay online on their phone while they're at their soccer game. It doesn't matter how they want to pay, they they have the ability to do it any 24-7.

SPEAKER_00 38:19

So they don't need to download an app. There is information set and all the stuff that they get. Like if I got an SMS, I can connect through the SMS to make sure I'm making that payment or an email or uh whatever the case is.

SPEAKER_01 38:31

And it'll show all your agreements, right? Because a lot of the RTO customers have have multiple agreements. So you'll get an SMS and saying your payments due, you'll click on it, you'll you'll dive into it, and it'll show the customer all their open agreements. It'll break everything down exactly. You know, if there's one that's that may be past due, one's not, which one are they gonna pay? All that.

SPEAKER_00 38:53

I'd I I'm still beside myself. I can't believe that you have actually made this. Like it's ready to go. We're not talking about something that's gonna be out in the next year or the next six months. We're talking about something's gonna be out next month. Pete, it is ready today.

SPEAKER_01 39:07

We are just waiting for RTO world, which is exciting. So now that the product is kind of ready and we we've tested it on some stores and we've had some success, we're already looking at things. I'll give you an example of where we'd we'd also like to add a hypothetical here, Pete. This is pretty exciting. Imagine a customer is a really good paying customer, right? And they've made just call it 12 on-time payments, or they've they've had a bunch of agreements they paid off in the past, and it says, Hey, thanks for making your payments. We see you have a 32-inch TV. Click here if you want to upgrade to the 55-inch TV, and we'll have it delivered to your house tomorrow. And it'll swap out the 32 for the 55-inch, and you just grew your business by the click of a button.

SPEAKER_00 39:55

Uh I'm what you know what I'm gonna tell you, Richard. I'm glad I'm getting into this podcast thing because I'm gonna feel I'm gonna feel like I might get replaced at work. Um, I mean, it's it's you know, it's it sounds like it can do so much, and I'm I'm very surprised that it's only taken a year of RTRD. But I mean, then again, you you yourself and David's been doing this for years and years and years. Uh Michael Bennett's been in this for I God, I can't tell you how many years. So, I mean, there's a lot of a lot of thought process that's gone into this. Now, I'm not gonna try to steal all the thunder from this. Is this something that happens that a store will pay transactionally, or is it a a month-to-month deal, or are they paying a year for how does that how does that work? Yeah, good question.

SPEAKER_01 40:34

So it's just a uh month-to-month subscription. So it's purely subscription, so no transactional fees uh associated with it, um, other than some like email and SMS and voicemail, we have to pay that, right? We have to pay that ourselves, but um, it's just a uh a small monthly subscription, and that's it.

SPEAKER_00 40:54

Now I I would when you say month to month, I'm guessing it's based on per store, correct? Because then if I have you know 20 stores and somebody has 60 stores, that would be a different situation. Am I correct?

SPEAKER_01 41:05

Yeah. Each store has to be on their own separate platform, right? Um they need a separate instance, so yes, they would be set up individually.

SPEAKER_00 41:13

There's a couple questions that I have to ask. Number one is what is the ratio of downtime? Has there ever been a situation where the systems have gone down and we believe that they're calling, let's say at night or whatever the case is, they're not. How are the people how are the you know the stores or the management notified? And it are there downtimes? Are there multiple server farms that kind of you know pick up the slack or are redundant when one shuts down? How does that work?

SPEAKER_01 41:40

Yep, exactly right. We don't have any downtime. Uh, we never have in the history of the product in the market, uh, knock on wood. Uh we are built on just next generation technology that that allows us uh to constantly stay up and alive and working for all of our customers. That is a a requirement for a lot of the publicly traded businesses that we have on our core product, that we have at least a 99.9% uptime, and we've always delivered that.

SPEAKER_00 42:09

That's great because I know a lot of guys who are always going to be, you know, I live in this particular area, or whatever the case is. Doesn't matter, you know, things go up and down, and I want to make sure that, you know, if I can't be there, at least they're still getting phone calls, at least they're still know that we're around or something going on, and how we can can we help you. So that's great. Now, when you say it's on the cloud, all that matters is is the is the consumer has access to the internet.

SPEAKER_01 42:34

Correct. Or a phone. That's all that matters.

SPEAKER_00 42:36

Great. Now, when we're talking about uploading to the cloud and you say it's a flip of a switch, so when we're talking about data, we're always talking about keeping the data encrypted or keeping the data safe from people who just aren't doing what they should do. Now, because it's integrated at a store level with you know the the POS systems that they have, does that information go to the servers or does it stay on the the company servers and it's just accessed as needed?

SPEAKER_01 43:05

Yeah, it's accessed as needed. It's uh everything's living on in the cloud, everything's tokenized. We are PCI level one and two compliant. We have um all of the highest levels of security um that are required for any publicly traded uh business. So you're gonna get the top of the line security uh that comes with it, and that's just because we have such large businesses and even banks and credit unions that are that are on our core product today. So you folks get to take advantage of that.

SPEAKER_00 43:35

That's okay. So I because I know that somebody's gonna ask me and say, how how safe is it? How safe is that I have my customers' information out there, they're being accessed, how do I know that they're not gonna be taken advantage of? Or somebody has a back door to kind of do, you know, like I said, just get in there and do things that they're really not supposed to, because unfortunately the world is the way it is, and sometimes we just have to look for the safest way, the securest way to make that happen. So you have a collections automation platform. It it is on every channel of communication available out there. They have the ability to, or you have the ability to not only work this on collections side, but you can turn it onto a sales side. They can pay by credit card, ACH, Apple, or Google Pay. They can make commitments. You have 100% analytic tools. Integration is almost instant. Years and years of background and RD have gone into this. I can't see this as a lose situation. I'm gonna say you better be careful. You might need a couple of security guards when you decide that you want to go with this. You might get a little uh a mob going on there at the RTO world to try to see how they can get it going. I hope you have enough people ready for that.

SPEAKER_01 44:44

Yeah, look, we are super excited. We've been planning this again, like I said, quietly behind the scenes. There's a lot going into it. A lot of money, a lot of time, a lot of effort. I want to thank Michael Bennett, has just been and his team have been instrumental in privately helping prepare this product for the industry. So APRO has been uh a big help. David Goldman has been exceptional in his team. And once it's public, we'll we'll thank the publicly thank all the store managers and the uh district managers and the regional managers from all different brands that have quietly helped build and guide us and give us advice of what they want to see and what they want to ensure is not missing in the product when it goes live to the market.

SPEAKER_00 45:28

Well, that's that's the thing. I mean, you got guys that do this every single day. Who's to say that they don't have an idea on their own that just kind of stands out and goes, God, why didn't I think of that? And you always got the human element, right? You always got to remember that there's somebody out there thinking of something. But so far, it sounds like you guys got this covered pretty well. It sounds like you've had a couple of roundtable discussions about this. And uh, I just want to let everybody know this is a first on the RTO show podcast, talking to Richard Formo, the co founder and CEO at payday.com, RTO2, going out to you guys at the RTO world where you can set this up and put Your collections on autopilot and make it like you said, almost 10 times better and doing it off hours. I can't even imagine uh how this is gonna work out, but I can tell you right now, you're gonna have a lot of people asking a lot of questions, including how do I get this to where I'm at?

SPEAKER_01 46:20

We couldn't be more excited. Again, this is we hope to revolutionize the industry, and we know there's nobody else doing it, nobody else has thought of it. The one thing that always bothered me, Pete, when I was an operator was that we were always getting these fantastical ideas that came from the home office and they just never work in the field. And so that's why it was important for us to go to the ground level, day-to-day operators who have been doing this their whole lives, and we got their feedback on how to build the best collections automation platform.

SPEAKER_00 46:53

Richard, you got my vote. I'm gonna tell you guys right now. R202 has the vote of the RTO show. I am stoked to see this. I can't wait to hear about it during the show in San Antonio this year at RTO World that that April's putting on. Listen, guys, if you guys have any questions for Richard, please feel free to email the podcast at Pete at the RTO Showpodcast.com. I will forward that along. If we need to have a second session, we will. If you guys have any questions on Facebook or Instagram, look up the RTO show, hit us up, you can hit me up on the DM, and I will answer any questions that I know. If not, I will direct them to Richard himself and maybe we can get that answered together. But I really, really appreciate you taking out the time. I appreciate that you guys allow the RTO show podcast to be the first one to send this out to everybody and let them know there are some changes on the horizon for collections. If you are having labor problems, if you are having outages, as far as I've got guys here, but they're either gone for a couple weeks before I hire somebody else in, or I've got to deal with schedules that are conflicting with what we need. 24-7 collections for your stores is coming. And RTO World from RTO2. Richard, I appreciate your time today. I really appreciate what you guys are doing. If you talk to Dave, if you talk to Mike, tell him we said hello. Tell him that we appreciate what you guys are doing, and I can't wait to see this happen face to face in RTO World San Antonio 2023. Pete, thank you so much for having me. Absolutely. Listen, if there's anything you guys need, you let me know because I love this, and with the RTO show, we'll get behind us. We're gonna have some more stuff coming out during that time, but I can't wait to see you there. Richard, it's been great talking to you. I wish you guys the best of luck. And again, if there's anything that I can give you guys from the RTO show, please don't hesitate to reach out. Awesome. Thank you so much, Pete. Take care. Thanks, Richard. And that concludes our talk with Richard Formore, the CEO and co-founder of RTO2, a division of payday.com. If you guys have any questions, again, hit me up at Pete at the RTO Show Podcast.com. If you want to see what we're doing, if you want to see what's going on in the RTO show world, go to our website, www.therto showpodcast.com, drop me a line, say hello. Listen, we love to hear what you guys have to say. We love to know that you're listening. If you have any questions, let me know. If you need anything, if you want some swag, hit us up on the website. And that today is gonna be the best thing I've heard in a long time for the RTO industry. This is gonna be a game changer. As always, keep your credit low and your sales high, and we'll talk again.