Led by a quartet of industry stalwarts, the National Loan Payoff Clearinghouse (NLPC), powered by EPIC, last week introduced secure financial infrastructure that can facilitate the standardized exchange, processing, and settlement of loan payoff and lien release transactions among network participants nationwide.

The NLPC got to this point guided by its advisory council, which includes:

—Brian Reed, director and advisory chair
—Steve Greenfield
—Ron Frey
—Paul Whitworth

The group explained traditional loan payoff processing conducted outside the NLPC often relies on manual workflows that can introduce errors, delays, and elevated processing costs.

When combined with lender-specific variability and fragmented multi-party communications, the group said lien releases can take weeks or longer.

“These inefficiencies increase costs for all parties, extend vehicle holding periods, constrain working capital, and negatively impact consumers,” NLPC said in a news release.

Participants operating within the NLPC’s uniform national infrastructure can mitigate these challenges through standardized processing that improves consistency, reduces delays, and supports more efficient loan payoff and lien release transactions.

“The National Loan Payoff Clearinghouse addresses one of the most persistent structural inefficiencies in the industry,” EPIC CEO Brandon Hall said in the news release. “By creating trust and uniformity across all parties involved in the loan payoff process, the NLPC provides a secure and reliable national framework that enables loan payoff transactions to move more efficiently and liens to be released more effectively.”

NLPC reiterated that it is guided by an experienced group of directors and advisors with deep expertise in automotive retail, lending, payments infrastructure, and financial technologies.

“We are honored to have such an accomplished group of industry leaders supporting the NLPC,” Hall said. “Their engagement underscores the complexity of the challenge the clearinghouse is designed to address and reflects growing alignment across the industry around the need for more consistent loan payoff and lien release processes.”

For more information on the National Loan Payoff Clearinghouse (NLPC), visit www.withepic.com.