TBF Financial announced this week that it has acquired a commercial small-ticket portfolio from a bank that had $25 million in outstanding charge-offs on leases and loans. TBF was the highest bidder in an auction for this collections project, according to Brett Boehm, a principal of TBF Financial.

This was a new client for TBF, an established service provider in the equipment leasing and finance industry. However, the portfolio of some 600 records is not unusual for this company to receive since it TBF's mission is to purchase uncollected receivables known as "charge-offs" and provide an immediate cash return to sellers. 

Since its inception in 1998, TBF has purchased hundreds of millions in charge-offs. The company is active in the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association (ELFA) and other trade groups serving large independent companies, banks and captives that lease or finance capital assets.

When asked about current trends, Boehm said: "It is not that there are so many more charge-offs in the industry today than in previous years, but we are gaining more business because our company is becoming better known, and our service better understood."

"Executives are realizing that this is an easy and accepted practice and that gives them a new revenue stream from otherwise 'dead' accounts," Boehm added.

TBF Financial, LLC, since 1998, serves the equipment leasing and finance industry by purchasing portfolios of charged off small-ticket leases and loans in an efficient process that helps individual companies recover cash quickly and improve their account balances.  The company, in fact, pioneered this service. The Deerfield, IL-based firm is an active member of the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association.