Bill Bartmann is today one of the most successful and driven forces in the world of business and debt collection, but this ultimate survivor started out right at the bottom.
As the current founder and CEO of CFS II Inc, and the previous founder and CEO of Commercial Financial Services Inc, not to mention the best-selling author of Bailout Riches!: How Everyday Investors Can Make a Fortune Buying Bad Loans for Pennies on the Dollar, it is hard to believe that Bill was homeless at the age of 14.
The Early Beginnings
As a high school dropout and member of a street gang, the young Bill went through many personal obstacles and tragedies to rise to his current position as one of the top business men in America.
After taking control over his life and taking his GED exam, Bill put himself through college and law school, and on the request of a bank, made his first breakthrough when he took over a foreclosed oil-field pipe manufacturing plant – turning it into a million dollar a month enterprise. When OPEC slashed the oil prices however, Bill was put out of business and left with a million dollars in debt.
Bill’s persistence and hard work saw him and Kathy, his wife and business partner, loan $13,000 during the Save & Loan Crisis in the 1980′s to create a new debt collection business called Commercial Financial Services (CFS). Just a few years later, this power couple had repaid their entire million dollar debt. Over the next 13 years, the company expanded to a huge company of 3,900 staff, turning over revenue well over $1 billion, and earning over $180 million.
From that point on, Bill and Kathy went on to power a number of initiatives, going on be individually listed on the Forbes 400 Wealthiest People in America list – one publication even ranked them in the top 25.
Tragedy And A Rise From The Ashes
Sadly, in 1998 Bill’s former business partner committed fraud – a tragedy that put Commercial Financial Services into bankruptcy. While the former business partner cleared Bill of any involvement, confessed and even went to jail, the sensitive post-Enron business environment prompted the US Attorney General to indict Bill Bartmann.
Five years later, after 2 months of trial with 53 witnesses and over 1,000 exhibits, Bill rested his case – not having had to call a single witness. Bill was unanimously acquitted of all counts by the jury.
In a strange twist to the case, just 17 months after his acquittal and many years after his company was liquidated, the Federal Bankruptcy Trustee released a report that publicly stated for the first time that “CFS was not a fraud”.
Bill Bartmann Enterprises
In the year 2003 Bill founded Bill Bartmann Enterprises, so that he could share his knowledge by training those starting out in the industry. In 2008 the banking bailout and TARP subsidies offered an opportunity for Bill to yet again purchase bad debt from banks in trouble – an opportunity very much like the situation that helped him develop Commercial Financial Services years before.
Bill began to create training programs and material that helped people to learn how to buy loan portfolios of defaulted credit card debt, to have these debts managed by collection agencies.
Bailout Riches was published in 2009, and in this book Bill talks about the opportunity that the bank bailout and recession of 2008-2010 has come to offer.
For about two and a half years Bill also ran 2- and 5-day workshops teaching people how to profit from the debt buying industry creating new business partnerships with the people who attended the 5-day seminar.
In 2010, Bill Bartmann Enterprises went on to be listed as “Inc. 500″ for 2009 – making this the 5th time that Bill made it onto this list.
Onwards To A Bright And Prosperous Future
A brand debt collection company; CFS II was launched by Bill and Kathy on July 1, 2010 to facilitate Bill and his new business partners. Eight former CFS employees were hired to help grow the company, and they began working with hedge funds to raise capital of $400 million – that is being used to purchase new debt.
History is about to repeat itself, and Bill believes that there is a fantastic future emerging out of this bad economy. If the people who are on the wrong side of the coin are able to be helped, and the players who can step in to snap up this debt can make a profit, Bill Bartman believes that everyone has a chance to win.
Bill Bartmann is renowned for his tireless efforts to change and reform the debt collection industry in the US. Recently he launched the In Home Debt Buying Workshop; a home study course where Bill teaches everything there is to know in order to get into the business of buying delinquent loans for pennies on the dollar without using any personal finances.
