Before 2019 wrapped up, OCM Auto Financing Group gained more funding horsepower to propel its business this year and down the road, too.

The Ottawa-based subprime auto lender secured a $10 million credit facility from Toronto-based lender Bridging Finance Inc. (BFI), which is one of Canada’s leading credit management firms with more than $1 billion in assets.

While currently lending primarily in the Ontario market, OCM said in a news release that the company plans to expand further in Ontario as well as in Alberta and Quebec, too. 

Since its inception in Q3 of 2018, OCM reported that it has produced gross returns of more than 20% for the year and maintained a loan loss ratio of less than 1%.

OCM president and chief executive officer Andrew Abraham explained what the funding means to the company.

“We are thrilled to be working with BFI,” Abraham said. “This new credit facility, along with the money we have already raised, gives us the unique opportunity to lend up to $20 million in this rapidly emerging market segment.

“In (2020), we intend to raise even more funds so that we can provide the products and services necessary to meet the increasing demand,” he continued.

OCM emphasized that subprime auto financing in Canada consists of $15 billion within an industry that is both structured and stable.

And the company is poised for a successful 2020 and beyond.

“Considerable thought has gone into the OCM structure as well as the business and investor governance model,” said Justin Fogarty, an Ottawa-based lawyer and one of four directors of OCM.

“We anticipate OCM exceeding a quarter billion dollars’ worth of sub-prime auto financing within the next five years,” Fogarty went on to say.