Sagent Lending Technologies recently announced the appointment of Robert Johnson to the executive leadership team as VP and chief sales officer with the responsibility to lead sales and account management for the full suite of Sagent auto finance solutions.
Johnson brings more than 25 years of automotive finance and financial technology expertise to this role to further accelerate the market leadership of Sagent Lending Technologies in technology and services for originations, servicing and business process operations.
The company indicated Hernan Lardiez continues to lead the sale and account management for Sagent mortgage solutions. Management highlighted the two lines of business, auto and mortgage lending, for Sagent are now being led by two industry veterans to better the position the company for growth.
“I’ve seen firsthand the dedication that Sagent Lending Technologies has to their clients and the industry, and I believe they are uniquely positioned to address the transformation occurring in the auto finance market,” Johnson said regarding his new role. “I joined Sagent due to the great respect I have for their highly talented team, their vision, and their high standards and values.”
Sagent Lending Technologies chief executive officer Bret Leech added, “Robert is a recognized leader in auto finance technology and we are excited to have him join the Sagent team today. Our clients will directly benefit from his expertise and insights as together we make the auto lending experience better for everyone,”
“This is a real testament to how we create value by partnering with clients and the lending community as Sagent Lending Technologies,” Leech went on to say.
Technologically forward consumers often order their coffee ahead of time and pick it up at the counter, spending less time in the shop than it took you to read this sentence.
Well, Dealertrack wants to help dealerships and finance companies serve those consumers who want to purchase an SUV nearly as fast as that latte. On Monday, Dealertrack announced a new F&I software platform dubbed Dealertrack uniFI.
Auto Fin Journal connected with Cheryl Miller, vice president and general manager of Dealertrack F&I Solutions, in advance of Monday’s official launch to discuss how the vehicle-buying process has changed since Dealertrack came onto the scene.
“Dealertrack was the original fintech. We created the electronic path between the dealers and the lenders,” Miller said. As the consumer needs have evolved and the dealer needs have evolved, that’s taken it to a whole new level of expectations in the market. If you think about the consumer thought process of if I can go on any website for any retailer and buy something, why hasn’t buying a car become much easier?
“When we started looking at the workflows of the different systems, and Cox Automotive started coming together with all of the solutions it can bring to the market,” she continued, “we started down a journey about how do we look at this workflow, and how do we make it more efficient?
“There are three key players in the transaction, the consumer, the dealer and the lender. We want to make a much better experience for all through the pipeline. The consumer has expectations, and the dealer wants to satisfy those expectations,” Miller went on to say.
The company highlighted the new platform is designed to streamline the vehicle-buying process for consumers, dealers, finance companies and warranty providers by offering a single platform that seamlessly can connect the entire deal process with open integration.
Dealertrack uniFI addresses a major pain point for consumers, dealers and lenders. Less than half of consumers are satisfied with the three hours it takes on average to finalize their vehicle purchase at a dealership, according to Cox Automotive’s 2018 Car Buyer Journey Study.
Dealers recognize the issue with 69 percent concerned about the need to deliver a better customer experience and increase the efficiency of their sales process, according to 2018 Cox Automotive Dealer Communication & Operations Study.
On the finance-company side, Dealertrack acknowledged delays often occur around multiple systems requiring rekeying of data and the error rate on paper contracts.
This final stage can be complicated with different systems handling different parts of the process, such as credit checks, contract applications, taxes, titling and trade-in values. Dealership staff navigate on average more than six different systems to finalize a sale, a Cox Automotive poll showed.
Dealertrack uniFI can bring together these different systems to create a seamless F&I solution. Instead of switching between multiple systems and re-entering data each time, dealership staff can use Dealertrack uniFI to run credit checks, submit credit applications, structure deals and calculate accurate payments, add aftermarket products, and speed trade-in payoff and title release.
Dealertrack highlighted this single platform also can generates compliance-specific documents that meet federal laws and regulations and creates a check-list to track actions — all in one digital deal jacket. Dealertrack uniFI connects both online and in-store interactions, making it easier to seamlessly track the entire car-buying experience for each customer.
“After our upgrade to the new Dealertrack uniFI platform, I’ve experienced a level of efficiency that gives me both speed and accuracy and allows me to work more deals for more customers in a shorter period of time,” said Richard Cirami, finance director of North Shore Honda in Glen Head, N.Y., an early customer of Dealertrack uniFI.
Dealertrack uniFI can streamline the process by creating a single system built as an open platform to make it easier to connect various systems needed to handle different parts of a car deal. The open platform can allow Dealertrack uniFI to work with other Cox Automotive solutions, solutions from other providers as well as with Dealertrack’s network of more than 1,600 auto finance institutions.
“F&I is the backbone of any dealership, and Dealertrack uniFI has made a significant impact on our business by making our F&I process faster from start to finish,” said Joe Speaker, sales manager for Neuwirth Cars On Market in Wilmington, N.C., who’s also an early customer of Dealertrack uniFI.
“I now utilize more lenders and the faster workflow has made me a more valuable employee. The quicker turnaround time in F&I also means happier customers and better CSI scores,” Speaker continued.
Miller emphasized to Auto Fin Journal that dealerships that adopt this new platform quickly can enjoy similar results to North Shore Honda and Neuwirth Cars On Market.
“The car-buying experience should be an exciting time for consumers, but it’s often lengthened by a set of disjointed technologies required to finalize the sale,” Miller said. “Dealertrack uniFI creates a single technology platform to simplify the process. Dealership sales staff spend less time logging into and typing data into various systems, enabling customers to enjoy their new vehicles more quickly and freeing dealers to focus more attention on serving customers.
“In today’s fast-paced world, we could all use some extra time,” Miller added. “Dealertrack uniFI is one way that Cox Automotive is trying to help both customers and dealers gain back time that they can spend on more enjoyable and productive activities.”
A trio of companies are joining forces to revamp the credit score.
Experian, FICO and Finicity announced a new credit score this week during the Money 20/20 USA conference. The new score, called UltraFICO Score, leverages account aggregation technology and distribution capability from Experian and Finicity to help consumers improve access to credit by tapping into consumer-contributed data, such as checking, savings and money market account data, that reflects responsible financial management activity.
With UltraFICO Score, the companies explained that a consumer grants permission to contribute information from banking statements, including the length of time accounts have been open, frequency of activity and evidence of saving, which can be electronically read by Finicity and combined with consumer credit information from Experian to provide an enhanced view of positive financial behavior.
Experian, FICO and Finicity estimate this new score has the potential to improve credit access for the majority of Americans and is particularly relevant for those who fall in the grey area in terms of credit scores (scores in the upper 500s to lower 600s) or fall just below a finance company’s cut-off score.
Consumers who are relatively new to credit with limited history or those with previous financial distress that are getting back on their feet stand to benefit the most, according to the companies.
“This changes the whole dynamic of the lender and customer relationship,” said Jim Wehmann, executive vice president of scores at FICO. “It empowers consumers to have greater control over the information that is being used in making credit risk decisions. It also enables a deeper dialogue between the consumer and lenders to help both parties make better financial decisions.
“It’s a game changer,” Wehmann added.
The companies indicated the UltraFICO Score will launch as a pilot program in early 2019. The pilot is designed to validate the score and assess willingness of consumers to share financial data for a potentially higher score.
The company noted pilot participants were sourced across various lines of businesses.
The model developed by FICO will be implemented through Experian and integrated into a finance company’s existing operational workflow. Borrower data will be aggregated through Finicity.
Officials pointed out the UltraFICO Score builds off of the framework of the base FICO Score, and is designed to reflect the same odds-to-score relationship so that the new score can be easily incorporated into lending strategies and origination account management systems.
The UltraFICO Score is slated to be broadly available to finance companies during the middle of next year.
“As the consumer’s bureau, our goal is to help empower consumers and to give better access to credit for more consumers, all while promoting fair lending,” said Alex Lintner, president of consumer information services at Experian.
“Through this project, we’ve found a new way to use consumer-permissioned data that allows lenders to make better decisions and helps consumers gain access to credit,” Linter continued.
Finicity chief executive officer Steve Smith went on to say, “This approach allows Americans to benefit from positive financial behaviors We are proud to have created a new way for consumers to share financial information, safely and securely so that a new UltraFICO Score can be created.”
To learn more, visit www.fico.com/en/products/ultrafico-score or www.fico.com/ultrafico.
Dealertrack now has a closer relationship with two captive finance companies.
On Monday, Dealertrack announced the expansion of its partnership with Hyundai Motor Finance and Kia Motors Finance making Dealertrack Contracting available in 39 states, including Texas, California, New York, Florida and Arizona.
Dealertrack’s proprietary contracting offering can enable Hyundai and Kia dealerships to more accurately submit automotive contracts electronically to their captives in real-time, resulting in funding as fast as same day.
Dealertrack Contracting, which is expected to roll out across all 50 states by the end of October, is designed to eliminate the cost and hassle of the traditional and mistake-prone approach with the use of electronic validations, mobile signing and immediate delivery of funding packages.
Dealertrack believes this milestone announcement underscores the scaled growth of electronic contracting usage by captive finance companies, with Hyundai Motor Finance’s and Kia Motors Finance’s enrollment rate nearing 35 percent across the manufacturer’s more than 1,600 dealers nationwide.
“Our relationship with Hyundai Motor Finance and Kia Motors Finance is strengthened by our contracting expansion that helps lenders and dealers efficiently conduct business while meeting car shoppers’ rising expectations for a better car buying experience,” said Cheryl Miller, vice president and general manager for Dealertrack’s F&I dealer and lender solutions.
“Consumers want a fluid, digitally-driven dealership experience, and Dealertrack Contracting provides Hyundai and Kia dealers the ability to deliver that experience to their customers,” Miller continued.
One of Hyundai Capital’s pilot dealers who has reached a high utilization rate shortly after enrollment with Dealertrack Contracting stated it’s all about efficiencies.
“Electronic contracting comes with plenty of benefits like same-day funding, reduction of paperwork and verifying all data upfront. Funding through electronic contracts is as fast as one hour, which helps us save time,” said Mike Lahham, general manager of Kia Downtown Los Angeles.
“Electronic contracting has definitely benefited our store by making it easy for us to minimize mistakes as the system verifies all data before signing the contract. From a profitability point of view, it increases our bottom line by having a faster cash flow in our system as well,” Lahham added.
Dealertrack Contracting can replace the traditional approach of paper contracting that relies upon both fax machines and mail. The solution also can mitigate manual data entry and calculations, paper contracts with “wet” signatures and reduces documents needed to mail to lenders.
As a result, Dealertrack contends the technology can cut expenses, enhance contract accuracy and the customer experience, reduce the amount of time it takes to submit a contract and get funding the same day in most cases.
Dealertrack and Hyundai Capital America’s relationship began in 2003 when Hyundai Motor Finance and Kia Motors adopted Dealertrack’s Credit Applications tool. Now, with the expanded partnership to further streamline F&I processes and contracting efficiency with Dealertrack Contracting, Hyundai retailers can electronically rate, remit and submit aftermarket products to Hyundai Motor America and the final contract to Hyundai Motor Finance.
The companies say the result is a simplified deal flow process, streamlined application process, less paper and faster funding.
“Our goal was to launch electronic contracting in all fifty states and to enroll 25 percent of our dealers by the end of 2018. We have achieved that goal three months early,” said Eckart Klumpp, senior vice president of sales and marketing at Hyundai Capital America.
“Dealer and customer satisfaction continue to be top of mind for us. Dealertrack’s electronic contracting allows us to efficiently service our dealers and provide them with same-day funding,” Klumpp continued.
“This is a rewarding initiative and HCA will continue to invest in capabilities to further drive our dealer adoption of electronic contracting and enhance the overall customer vehicle purchase journey,” he went on to say.
A company that specializes in catering to customers who are low-to-moderate income individuals with soft credit histories now has the technological horsepower constructed by SpringboardAuto.com.
Oportun, a technology-powered community development financial institution (CDFI), announced on Tuesday it has acquired the intellectual property and financing platform of SpringboardAuto.com, a platform designed to be a mobile-friendly, auto finance solution to simplify a secure online transaction for customers, dealerships and private sellers.
“We’ve long wanted to find more ways to help the customers we serve, and this is an important step towards our goal of offering responsible and affordable auto loans,” said Raul Vazquez, chief executive officer of Oportun, which as a federally defined CDFI is a mission-driven financial institution that creates economic opportunity for individuals and small businesses, quality affordable housing and essential community services.
As part of the transaction, the SpringboardAuto.com team has joined Oportun. Jim Landy, previously chief executive officer of SpringboardAuto.com, will now serve as executive vice president and general manager for Oportun’s auto finance business unit.
“We are pleased to have Jim and the talented SBA team join Oportun,” Vazquez said. “Over time, we’ll work to integrate the SBA platform into Oportun and begin to develop the right offering for our customers.”
Landy is part of the collection of experts and executives set to appear during Used Car Week 2018, which begins Nov. 12 at the Westin Keirland Resort and Spa in Scottsdale, Ariz. Landy shared what it means that SpringboardAuto.com is now a part of Oportun after launching a little more than two years ago.
“SBA’s proprietary technology was developed with consumers’ needs in mind,” Landy said. “We are excited to join Oportun so we can further extend our mission to provide a transparent, personalized and empowering car buying and auto finance experience.”
Cox Automotive grew again on Monday.
The company announced the acquisition of Intersection Technologies; better known in the aftermarket industry as F&I Express. Management said the deal furthers Cox Automotive’s mission to transform the way the world buys, sells, owns and uses cars.
While specific financial terms of the deal were undisclosed, Cox Automotive mentioned all F&I Express employees will remain in their current roles at F&I Express, and the business unit will operate out of its current Grapevine, Texas location.
The company indicated F&I Express will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Cox Automotive, which also includes:
— Autotrader
— Clutch Technologies
— Dealer.com
— Dealertrack
— Kelley Blue Book
— Manheim
— NextGear Capital
— VinSolutions
— vAuto
— Xtime
Cox Automotive noted that F&I Express will be a part of its retail solutions group.
“Combining assets, including a vast F&I providers network and unbeatable new technology, will create a competitive advantage driving continued value for dealers, agents, providers, and lenders,” said Mike Barrington, senior vice president retail solutions group sales, digital retailing and F&I solutions at Cox Automotive.
“As both pioneers and innovators, they’ve done an outstanding job of giving lenders and dealers who use multiple providers one place to go to rate, contract and register F&I products,” Barrington continued. “Together, F&I Express and Cox Automotive will continue to deliver the services and solutions F&I Express has been delivering to the market.”
Both companies have a history dating back to spring 2013 when Autotrader and Intersection Technologies leaders first met and decided to work together to further an initiative known today as digital retailing.
“F&I Express has developed innovative solutions via its technology, to connect the automotive marketplace to F&I providers,” said Brian Reed, chief executive officer and co-founder of F&I Express.
“Joining Cox Automotive gives F&I Express deeper resources and broader talent to deliver innovative technology solutions and superior service that will help position F&I Express as an unbeatable contender in this industry,” Reed went on to say.
Reed also touched on some of the products F&I Express delivers.
Express Recoveries is an optimized eCancellation solution connecting finance companies, providers and dealerships to streamline the cancellation and recoveries process in an efficient and compliant manner.
Express Digital Media can give digital retailers the power to educate car shoppers online with accurate and dynamic aftermarket rates and content.
For more information about either company, visit Dealertrack.com or fandiexpress.com.
