After passing the Iowa Bar Exam, Bartmann immediately went into private practice, specializing in consumer law. He also invested in real estate. Bartmann moved to Muskogee, OK to devote full-time to real estate investing.
Bartmann authored Oklahoma Senate bill 1430 “The Bartmann Bill” which would require debt collectors to follow stringent practices designed to protect consumers. This bill passed the Senate 40–2.[33]
In 2005, the bankruptcy trustee for Commercial Financial Services publicly declared that the company had not engaged in fraud.[3] Bartmann was cleared of all wrongdoing. [12][13] Other activities[edit]
^"Bill Bartmann Takes Debt Collection Abuse Campaign to Minnesota InsideARM". August 25, 2011. Archived from the originalon April 25, 2012. Retrieved October 5,2011.
He went to work in a meat packing plant, earned a GED and eventually went to college and law school. Bartmann is survived by his wife, Kathy Bartmann ; and daughters, Jessica Allsop and Meghan Barry. Services are pending. From the archive: Bill Bartmann, from dropout to billionaire to bankrupt to his comeback.
He was 68. A native of Dubuque, Iowa, and graduate of the Drake University law school, Bartmann became a billionaire in the 1990s through his company, Commercial Financial Services, which he and his wife, Kathy Bartmann, started with partner Jay Jones in 1986.
In his 2013 autobiography “Bouncing Back,” Bartmann said he ran away from home at age 14 to join a carnival and by 17 was an alcoholic. A drunken tumble down some stairs left him temporarily paralyzed but also helped turn his life around.
Bill and Kathy Bartmann answer an advertisement to buy bad accounts from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
Jay Jones, who has completed his prison term for crimes that led to the downfall of CFS, speaks Monday in his attorney’s office.