Conventional wisdom maintains that certain enterprises are recession-proof because their business booms when times are tough. But the magnitude of this recession is changing the rules, say the repo men, pawnbrokers and collection agents on the front lines of economic turmoil.

Many describe the pace of defaults, repossessions and other indicators of financial woe as "the worst" they've ever seen, and they pointed to a number of signs that things are different this time:

• While repossessions for automobiles and other property are at all-time highs, the increased workload has not resulted in equally increased profits.

• The explosion of repossessed vehicles is being fueled by more people losing homes and jobs as well. One repo car was found outside a homeless shelter recently.

• A new kind of debtor has emerged: the normally responsible guy who usually pays his bills but just doesn't want to let go of his cash now in case he needs it.

For the repo men and collection agents, this translates to one sad story after another, an endless stream of business that's so good, it's bad. Some have changed the way they do business to break even. For pawnbrokers and check cashing operations, it has meant watching business crawl to a near standstill.

For all, what's happening portends worse times to come.

Perhaps no one has had a thumb on the pulse of personal financial meltdowns like the repo man. When the economy plunges, his phone bounces off the hook.

"I've never seen anything like what's going on now, and I've been in this business 23 years," said David McCollough, president of RT's Service, the state's largest car repossession operation.

For more on this story, see tomorrow's Honolulu Advertiser.