Other experts see low-cost, high-volume operators like State Farm and Allstate rushing in to pick up the business.

But consumer advocates and the low-cost operators suggest that the advice might not be all that valuable.

In a business that is largely paper shuffling, as mortgages are issued and then sold to investors, Countrywide has become a low-cost operator able to handle rapid growth.

Bank of America, based in Charlotte, N.C., was a no-nonsense, low-cost operator.

Community is a low-cost operator that eschews television advertising and relies on referrals from doctors, the clergy and law enforcement personnel for most of its patients.

Air Canada tried to go toe to toe with WestJet and a proliferation of other low-cost operators long before the bankruptcy filing.

His challenge is to make his company the low-cost operator in all phases of his business.

National Health is one of the industry's low-cost operators, generating $47.5 million in revenue for each lab, compared with $13.6 million at Allied.

Dillard, which is known as the low-cost operator, slices out layers of middle management when it makes an acquisition.

Rome is served by most of the world's major international airlines and by a growing number of low-cost operators.