Credit Acceptance chief executive officer Brett Roberts approached the topic of competition from three different angles when the subprime auto finance company took questions from investment analysts who wanted more details about its second-quarter performance, which included a year-over-year rise of more than $10 million in consolidated net income.
The first way Roberts described how Credit Acceptance is tackling competition stemmed from how the finance company watched its active dealer network jump by 18 percent to 7,181 stores that originate at least one deal during a quarter. However, active volume per dealer softened by nearly 2 percent, a trend Credit Acceptance has seen previously.
“I think from an environment standpoint, it's pretty much consistent with what we would have said last quarter,” Roberts said. “Volume per dealer is probably the easiest number to look at just to get a sense for the competitive environment. It was down this quarter, not down a lot but 1.8 percent.
“So looking at that number I don't think you can conclude the environment got a lot easier, so I would probably say more of the same: a difficult environment but not changing a lot from last quarter,” he continued.
When the Wall Street observer immediately asked whether an active dealer base above 7,000 should be Credit Acceptance’s “new normal,” Roberts added, “We had nice growth in active dealers but yes, sequentially second quarter tends to be a little bit tougher of a quarter to grow, but I think you’re right that having a sequential decline isn't something that has happened in a long time.
“Attrition was higher this quarter and again, we’d probably attribute that to the competitive environment,” he went on to say.
The attrition Roberts mentioned came in at a decline of 17.2 percent in Q2. In the year-ago period, it was 13.9 percent. Credit Acceptance explained that attrition is measured according to the following formula: Decrease in consumer loan unit volume from dealers who have received funding for at least one dealer loan or purchased loan during the comparable period of the prior year but did not receive funding for any dealer loans or purchased loans during the current period divided by prior year comparable period consumer loan unit volume.
Later in the call, the competitive environment Credit Acceptance is facing was approached from another perspective: whether the finance company would have to price a little “more aggressively,” and if Q2 levels for average term and advance rate would be a good benchmark. Credit Acceptance’s average term for contracts originated in Q2 was 53.2 months, up from 51.3 months a year earlier. Meanwhile the finance company’s advance rate was 44 percent in Q2.
To answer that question after Credit Acceptance originated 76,520 installment contracts in Q2, Roberts said, “We look at pricing. We look at loan performance. We look at where our volume is coming from every quarter or every month, and we make changes where we see opportunities. There was a change in the mix of loans in the second quarter. We did more purchase loans, which tend to be larger, and then both within dealer and purchased loans we did a little bit larger loan, little bit longer term. Again, that’s just based on our pricing algorithms and where we think the best opportunities are.”
In yet another way of approaching competition, Roberts responded to finance companies modeling their business structure similar to Credit Acceptance's. The investment analyst coupled the question by inquiring about whether Credit Acceptance has seen any additional activity with companies such as GO Financial and Dealer Funding opting to depart the industry. GO Financial made its decision back in May while SubPrime Auto Finance News learned about Dealer Funding’s plans in late June.
“It’s such a big market that what one player does really doesn’t impact us so much,” Roberts said. “It’s really just such a large market that as long as the flow of the capital is there, there’s going to be plenty of competition, and what one player does isn't going to impact us too much.”
Used-vehicle price impact
The Manheim Used Vehicle Value Index moved higher for the fourth consecutive month. Wholesale used vehicle prices (on a mix-, mileage- and seasonally adjusted basis) increased in July by 2.3 percent, leaving the latest index reading at 127.0. It’s the highest point for the monthly reading in more than five years. The last time Manheim put its index mark at 127 or higher was June 2011, when it came in at 127.5.
With those metrics in mind, Roberts replied to inquiries about any used-vehicle price projection Credit Acceptance has and how the finance company leverages that metric into its underwriting scorecards and more.
“We really don’t have an outlook for used vehicle prices going forward. We take into consideration anything that's happened to date, but we really think it's very difficult to predict where the prices are going to be,” Roberts said.
“If you think about it, you write a loan today, it’s a 50-month loan. The price of the vehicle over the next 50 months is really almost impossible for us to predict,” he continued.
“So instead of trying to be experts at predicting the future, what we try to do is just structure our business so that in the event we have periods where our loans don’t perform as well as we’d like, whether it’s because of macro factors or used-vehicle prices or the competitive cycle, that the loans that we did write are likely to be very profitable. That’s more how we approach it,” Roberts went on to say.
In light of that explanation, Roberts then explained why Credit Acceptance slightly modified its forecasted collections.
“I think used-car prices is probably a factor there," Roberts said. “I think the competitive environment is the other factor that we talked about last quarter.
“If you look at that table where we show variance by year of origination, the best performance versus our initial forecast was in 2009; that was a year that was very favorable from a competitive perspective,” he continued. “Since 2009, the environment has gotten more competitive, and you can see that positive variance has narrowed.
“And for 2015 we have, for the first time in a while, a negative variance. So it’s really just following the competitive cycle, which is pretty much as expected,” Roberts went on to say.
Metrolina Credit Co. recently made a significant addition to its senior management team by naming Todd Brister as director of branch operations.
For the past two years, Brister served as senior executive manager and portfolio director at Michael Wayne Investment Co. out of Virginia Beach, Va., overseeing the financing services division of The Auto Connection.
Brister previously spent more than 13 years with Coastal Credit, also based in Virginia Beach, filling several key corporate management positions including corporate operations manager.
Brister brings more than 20 years of dedicated subprime auto finance experience specializing in the decentralized branch model, originally beginning his career with Mercury Finance Co. in 1996 before joining Coastal Credit in 2001.
While at Coastal Credit, Brister oversaw the operations of a 17-branch network with receivables of nearly $150 million.
Brister holds a bachelor’s of science degree in business administration from the University of Southern Mississippi.
“Todd Brister’s extensive experience and proven track record in the branch-based, subprime auto finance industry is an excellent match for the current and future growth objectives we have underway at Metrolina,” said Doug Marohn, president and chief executive officer of Metrolina Credit.
“We believe the addition of Mr. Brister to our management team will allow us to continue to grow and expand our proven business model not only in the Carolinas, but throughout the Southeast and beyond,” Marohn continued. “Once again, the early success we have enjoyed is making it possible to attract top-level talent to our company.”
Metrolina Credit, owned by ML Credit Group, operates a network of branch offices throughout North and South Carolina, providing lending and financing solutions to the local markets. Each office is a full-service lending and collection facility. Metrolina acquires and services automobile and light truck installment contracts that it purchases from dealers in the local market.
More information about the company can be found at www.MetrolinaCredit.com.
If you ask White Clarke Group’s technology innovators what blockchain is, their eyes will light up, and they will spend the next hour telling you about all the possible legitimate uses of this new technology that they contend “is set to revolutionize” a whole range of industries, including financial services.
As a complement to an extended version White Clarke Group offered, auto finance professionals looking for a high-level assessment of what blockchain could mean to vehicle transactions got it from the top two leaders at loan origination system (LOS) provider defi SOLUTIONS.
Chief executive officer Stephanie Alsbrooks related blockchain technology back to a piece of underwriting that’s probably as basic as the applicant’s name.
“When I read about it, to me it made me think of bureaus back in the day,” Alsbrooks said in a message to SubPrime Auto Finance News. “Credit bureaus, as well as they could, tried to get everything into a centralized ‘source of truth.’ When something happens that is credit related, it updates the bureau.
“The difference to me seems to be this is not just around credit or transactions. It’s a full-on ledger of ‘transactions’ and a one source of truth that everyone can pull from and use,” she continued.
“So if it comes to be, it definitely impacts auto. Will it come to be? Well, we have been waiting for a paperless process for 20 years and are finally taking it into our own hands,” Alsbrooks went on to say.
Georgine Muntz, chief operating officer and strategy leader at defi SOLUTIONS, chimed in on the subject of blockchain technology. Muntz noted that initially blockchain could be best used in ownership tracking and vehicle titles.
“The best news about this technology is that it will enable lenders to lower operating costs and possibly legal costs,” Muntz said. “If you want to think about blockchain in a simple way you can equate it to Excel versus Google Sheets.
“In this example, current database technology would be Excel. I have an Excel sheet that tracks what I owe my vendors. My vendor has a separate Excel sheet that shows what they owe me. I could have a mistake in mine and they could have a different mistake in theirs. We would have to reconcile that at some point (costly and inefficient),” she continued.
“Google Sheets is the blockchain data store,” Muntz went on to say. “If my vendor and I had a single Google sheet that we shared security access to, we can both edit that single document, and if we had a variance it would not be accepted as a valid entry. Only when correct would we agree that is the amount due to/from each other.”
The possibilities that Alsbrooks and Muntz mentioned are part of the reason the American Financial Services Association’s Vehicle Finance Conference earlier this year in Las Vegas dedicated an entire keynote presentation to blockchain technology. Haskell Garfinkel, fintech co-lead at PricewaterhouseCoopers, made the presentation, which can be watched here or at the top of this page thanks to sponsorship by White Clarke Group.
Officials from White Clarke Group reiterated why they’re so passionate about blockchain technology and auto financing.
“At present, there are very few applications of blockchain specifically for auto finance, so some auto finance providers may be forgiven for thinking there is not much call to watch the video. They would be wrong,” they said.
“There is of course the obvious opportunity to create registers which will more efficiently track ownership and related finance of assets like cars. This may be used, for example, to prevent or track their fraudulent sale,” White Clarke Group continued. “But it seems likely, however, that a range of other uses will emerge.”
White Clarke Group also mentioned that Toyota Financial Services recently joined R3’s consortium to explore “distributed and shared ledger tech,” which prompted White Clarke Group to emphasize, “That’s blockchain to you and me.”
Firm officials added, “They are seeking to identify ‘potential applications in auto financing.’ So you need to watch this space.”
GWC Warranty, a provider of used-vehicle service contracts and related finance and insurance products sold through dealers, has set a new record for the number of dealers who have qualified for its top dealer reward programs — The Elite Dealer Program and The WealthBuilder Program.
The company recently highlighted close to 650 dealers nationwide have qualified for either the Elite Dealer Program or the WealthBuilder Program — a nearly 50-percent increase in participation since the programs’ inception in mid-2014.
Members of the Elite and WealthBuilder Programs can receive exclusive benefits designed to make GWC’s top dealer partners even more successful. Some benefits include:
—Concierge claims service
—Free access to online virtual training
—Lead generation tools
—Profit sharing programs
“At GWC Warranty, we are committed to providing our dealers best-in-class service, products, training and technology, and this commitment is amplified for our top, most loyal dealers,” GWC chief executive officer and president Rob Glander said.
“The tremendous growth these programs have experienced is affirmation that the exclusive experiences they provide are helping dealers sell more cars and be more profitable,” Glander continued.
In addition to the record number of dealers who have earned Elite and WealthBuilder status, the company mentioned all new GWC enrollments are eligible for a three-month trial of the Elite Dealer Program. Trial Elite status is also available to former GWC dealers who have not written a contract in the past six months.
For more information about GWC’s top dealer rewards programs, visit www.gwcwarranty.com/elite.
In the executive boardrooms at automakers and finance companies, challenging conversations are being conducted. With sentiment intensifying about “plateauing” new-vehicle sales and institutions consistently looking for yield in light of where the Federal Reserve has kept interest rates, deciding whether to crank the incentive machine or buy a contract a little deeper down the credit spectrum to maintain originations on an upward trajectory are just some of the decisions to be made as we get deeper into 2016.
At the outset of the third quarter, Cox Automotive chief economist Tom Webb described auto financing by connecting it to the 10-year Treasury yield as well as stating that $12 trillion in sovereign debt trading at negative interest rates “is not normal.”
Webb continued, “That indeed is the major reason why about a year ago I wrote, ‘Reporters, financial analysts and regulators who are focusing their concern on auto lending are looking at the tree, a healthy tree. Meanwhile the forest, the global financial market, is encircled in flames and infected with parasites.’
“I’m afraid that the healthy tree might become infected,” he went on to say. “That’s not necessarily suggesting a collapse in the credit environment. But as I listen to lenders, and more importantly their investors, almost unanimously they are now saying we’re at the point in the cycle where as the saying goes, ‘You manage your book; you don’t grow your book.'”
As more finance companies share their second-quarter performance, it appears they haven’t just abruptly cut off originations. Webb acknowledged that the saying he referenced “could be wise advice,” but he countered it by noting activity in the wholesale market and what’s to come.
“We know what the coming wholesale volumes look like. The volumes will need to be retailed — the vast majority with financing attached. We need for the book to grow,” Webb said.
Growing that book could certainly be the pressure some finance companies are feeling, especially from the entities that control how much liquidity they have. Earlier in his career with organizations such as Wells Fargo, Equifax auto finance leader Lou Loquasto participated in the conversations about how institutions should proceed.
“It’s challenging because if you grow 15 percent per year for three or four years straight, it’s hard to go to your investors or to the holding company and say, ‘Well, the cycle is turning so we have to change expectations from 15 percent growth to 5 percent growth, but we’re still going to be very profitable.’ Those are conversations you have to have,” said Loquasto, who, like Webb, will be sharing analysis and observations during Used Car Week at the Red Rock Resort and Casino in Las Vegas from Nov. 14 to 18.
Loquasto described how finance company executives can discuss the possibility of backing off the origination accelerator without upsetting too many stakeholders.
“You have to be vigilant in telling the story, showing the data and backing up why there might not be as much growth coming as there had been in previous years,” he said. “You have to be disciplined in what you buy. You have to be able to tell the story that this is our area of the industry that we buy. We know it best. We have the best experience with it. It’s how our models work. I can grow more than I’m telling you but I’m going to have to get away from what I know best.
“There’s big dangers and plenty of examples in history where auto lenders were forced to grow more than they wanted to and went into areas where they didn’t have the data or have the experience, and it doesn’t always turn out well,” Loquasto went on to say.
A wide array of industry observers discussed earlier this week when July new-model sales figures began to arrive about how OEMs are pushing incentive figures higher in an effort to keep turns from “plateauing.” One analyst even went so far to say that current activity is putting the industry on an “unhealthy path.”
Kelley Blue Book analyst Akshay Anand noted, “It's clear the industry is plateauing, as we're now seeing signs of SUVs slowing down for several brands, while sedans continue to struggle.
“With incentives continuing to rise faster than (actual transaction prices) combined with the slowing growth, the industry is in a tricky spot,” Anand continued. “Still, sales are near all-time highs, and should continue to remain strong regardless of the flattened growth for the rest of 2016.”
AutoData Corp. reported that the new-vehicle seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) in July was 17.88 million units versus 17.59 million units a year ago. Industrywide, 1,522,297 light vehicles were sold in July, compared to 1,513,901 in June, according to the AutoData information distributed by the American International Automobile Dealers Association.
“Several automakers struggled to increase volume last month, despite two extra sales days in July and rising incentives on many models,” said Kelley Blue Book senior analyst Karl Brauer. “The industry’s six-year sales streak is clearly plateauing, though plateauing at a rate above 17 million annual sales isn’t the worst place to be.”
So if the industry isn’t in the worst place it could be, what might be ahead? Loquasto closed with this thought with respect to the auto finance space.
“I think auto lenders will stick to their knitting better this time than the last run-up in the cycle,” he said. “I think we all remember what happened when lenders got away from their particular niche.
"I think when those conversations happen with shareholders, investors or holding companies, I think even those executives and stakeholders will still have the memory of what happened just recently. At least that’s my hope,” Loquasto added.
Reynolds and Reynolds continued to build its resources for dealerships by recently releasing the Reynolds LAW Utah F&I Library, which is a comprehensive catalog of standardized, legally reviewed finance and insurance (F&I) documents for franchised dealers throughout the state of Utah.
“Regulatory scrutiny will be a continuing and ever-present demand automotive retailers will have to face," said Jerry Kirwan, senior vice president and general manager of Reynolds Document Services. “In response, we’ve developed the LAW Utah F&I Library as one more tool dealers can use to meet compliance obligations and reduce risk.
“The documents in the library are regularly reviewed for compliance with the latest automotive regulations by Reynolds' industry-leading forms specialists alongside Reynolds' outside legal partners,” Kirwan continued.
In addition to helping to minimize compliance risk, Kirwan noted that the documents in the library are designed to streamline the vehicle-buying process and enhance the consumer experience with the dealership. Because the documents are written in consumer-friendly language, they can help to create a clearer, more efficient F&I process for the consumer.
By increasing the efficiency of the F&I process, the overall consumer experience with the dealership can be improved.
The printed documents in the LAW Utah F&I Library also are available in a digital format, which can help facilitate the conversion to laser-printed transactions and e-contracting. Reynolds Document Services maintains licensing agreements with all major providers of electronic F&I (e-F&I) solutions.
Now along with Utah, Reynolds has libraries for:
— Alabama
— Arizona
— Arkansas
— California
— Colorado
—Idaho
— Illinois
— Kentucky
— Louisiana
— Maryland
— Massachusetts
— Michigan
— New Jersey
— New Mexico
— North Carolina
— Ohio
— Oregon
— Pennsylvania
— Tennessee
— Texas
— Virginia
— Washington
— West Virginia
NextGear Capital announced an agreement with CarMax on Wednesday that will allow dealers to use their NextGear Capital lines of credit at all 68 CarMax auction locations.
NextGear Capital floor plans are currently accepted at more than 1,000 live and online auctions, and may be used with inventory sources such as trade-ins, off-street purchases and loan payoffs.
Officials anticipate that NextGear Capital floor plans will be accepted at all CarMax auction locations as of Aug. 8.
“We recognize CarMax as a company with high integrity and a reputation built on strong values and exceptional customer service,” said Randy Dohse, senior vice president of sales and operations at NextGear Capital.
“NextGear Capital shares these values and service-centric approach to business and is pleased to join efforts with CarMax in providing additional value to our dealers,” Dohse continued. “We are committed to providing our dealers the tools necessary to be successful. The ability for dealers to utilize their NextGear Capital lines of credit at CarMax will enable greater access in sourcing inventory.”
As a non-profit financial counseling organization, our counselors see first-hand the impact a car and a car loan have on the financial security of individuals and their families. The value of a reliable car is pretty clear. It expands employment opportunities, since you’re not limited to the reach of public transportation and it gives individuals more flexibility to meet work demands, which increases their value as an employee. In addition, owning a car often shortens the length of a commute, freeing up time to spend at home and improving the quality of life for the whole family.
Often overlooked is how important the car loan can be for improving an individual’s financial future. An auto loan directly impacts two very important factors of your credit score — payment history and credit mix. Payment history is the most important factor, as it makes up 30 percent of a person’s credit score. Consistently making on-time monthly payments positively impacts your credit score, whereas, one missed or delinquent payment can cause a credit score to drop significantly and remain negatively impacted for years.
As for credit mix, successfully managing various types of credit products strengthens a credit score. A borrower who has paid off an auto loan and responsibly managed a few revolving credit lines will be considered a much better credit risk than someone who’s simply juggled a handful of credit cards. And since a credit score affects lending terms, insurance premiums and in some cases, employment eligibility, maintaining a strong credit score is essential for building financial security.
In an industry where sales quotas and loan approvals are so important, it can be easy to lose sight of the tremendous impact you are having on the lives of your consumers. The impact is especially great for a less than prime borrower.
For them, the car purchase can set them on a path towards financial security or deepen their financial struggles. If they make the right decision, they’ll have reliable transportation, with a loan that’s strengthening their credit history with each successive on-time monthly payment. Make the wrong decision and their stuck with a fixed expense that restricts their ability to save money for emergencies or meet household and living expenses.
At its worst, a bad car buying decision can lead to mounting credit card debt, delinquent payments, car repossession and, in some cases, bankruptcy.
Recognize and embrace the opportunity to impact a life
I have bought quite a few cars in my life and, although I’ve worked with some great salesmen, not one of them ever seemed concerned about how the car payment was going to affect my budget. In fact, even though I always go into a dealership with a very specific monthly payment in mind, the entire sales process seems like a battle to stay within my targeted number. For me, and most prime borrowers, the extra $25 or $50 dollars a month will not have a huge impact on my life, but for the nonprime and subprime borrowers, the difference can be devastating. What a borrower can qualify for is not the same as what they can really afford.
Once you learn that a client has had some challenges with their credit, recognize that, as a sales consultant, you’re in a position to have a very positive or negative effect on your client’s life. For most credit challenged borrowers, the small numbers matter. It can mean the difference between being able to set aside a few dollars in savings each month to handle unexpected expenses or, living paycheck to paycheck whereby the slightest hiccup will set off a series of missed payments, late fees and further damage to a credit score.
For these clients, consider starting the sales process off with the financials. Help the client determine a solid monthly payment that will fit into their budget and then find the best reliable car for that price. Set your client up for success from the start and you’ll have a client for life. The ideal scenario for the lender, borrower and dealership is that the client buys a reliable car at a fair price, with affordable monthly payments that they’re able to pay for the life of the loan.
Who should have this financial conversation?
Option No. 1: Train someone within the dealership to discuss budgeting, goal setting and credit management.
Option No. 2: Partner with a reputable, nonprofit credit counseling agency who you can work with your agency to build counseling into your sales process.
Credit unions are already doing it
Credit unions are already using car loans as credit-building loans. To improve the chances that a borrower will successfully repay their loan, they require the consumer to fulfill certain financial literacy and education requirements in addition to meeting their underwriting standards. It may seem like an additional step that gets in the way of a sale, but the extra time is well worth it if it helps reduce repossessions, strengthen repayment rates and build customer loyalty.
How to implement this new step without hurting sales
1. Market the process: Let buyers know that you care about their long term financial security and you have a process in place that will help them get the “right car at the right price”.
2. Make counseling a pre-requisite: Have clients complete a financial counseling session before they even enter the dealership. They’ll walk into the agency prepared with a budget that includes an affordable monthly loan payment amount.
3. Provide financial education materials: Most non-profits have plenty of educational pamphlets they can provide at little or no cost to your dealership. Making information available to your consumers on such topics as, budgeting, establishing credit, and saving for emergencies shows you care about their financial well-being.
Seeking partners for a pilot
Navicore Solutions is a non-profit financial counseling agency focused on improving the financial health of individuals and families in America.
We are looking to partner with subprime lenders, rating agencies and dealerships on a study to evaluate the impact that financial counseling would have on the repayment performance of subprime and non-prime borrowers. If counseling is shown to be effective in improving repayment rates, then borrowers who complete counseling could benefit from lower interest rates, lenders would have fewer repossessions and investment returns could be more predictable on auto loan asset backed securities.
Phil Getz is the counseling relationship manager at Navicore Solutions, a non-profit financial counseling organization focused on improving the financial well-being of individuals and families through education and personalized counseling. Phil’s experience working for both for-profit and nonprofit financial organizations over the last 25 years has provided him with a unique perspective on personal finance. Contact Getz to discuss how Navicore’s services can be used to benefit your business, your employees and the customers you serve at [email protected].
The fourth significant development coming from defi SOLUTIONS in the past month arrived on Tuesday morning. This time, defi SOLUTIONS finalized a partnership with eOriginal in an effort to bring secure eContracting and eVaulting capabilities to its growing finance company community.
In a blog post revealing the news, defi SOLUTIONS explained that the integration of eOriginal with the defi loan origination system means finance companies can eliminate costly paper processes and accelerate their funding times. The companies pointed out that the new capabilities are designed to help finance companies meet stringent compliance requirements and put them on the “leading edge” of all buying and funding processes by going 100 percent digital.
Georgine Muntz, COO and strategy leader at defi SOLUTIONS, elaborated about what the latest developments mean for both finance companies and dealerships. Muntz insisted the partnership will streamline loan processing and enable accelerated funding cycles through fully digital collateralizations and securitizations.
“defi’s software enables lenders to respond quickly to loan applications and improve their existing auto lending programs," she said.
“The partnership with eOriginal will accelerate funding, while eliminating costs associated with paper processes and allowing lenders and dealers to meet stringent compliance requirements,” Muntz continued. “Moreover, it lays the vital foundation for lenders and dealers as they prepare for the inevitable move into a fully digital buying and lending process.”
Muntz went on to mention that defi’s loan origination system (LOS) allows finance companies to focus on the “actual lending part of business” by taking care of the more technical aspects of processing and decisioning applications.
In addition, the technology can offer the speed and performance to make the loan origination process as simple as possible. With its new digital financial transaction solution, the partnership empowers customers to better address regulatory compliance and optimizes lenders’ flexibility to move assets on to the secondary market via collateralization or securitization.
“eContracting and the automotive industry go hand-in-hand,” eOriginal president and chief executive officer Stephen Bisbee said.
“By connecting digital loan origination systems and dealer management systems, funders can more rapidly link with dealers and, in some cases, complete the financing process before the borrower even drives off the lot in their new vehicle, which empowers dealers to improve operational efficiencies and reduce floor plan costs,” Bisbee continued.
Randy Crow, senior vice president of sales at eOriginal, added, “With eOriginal, loans can be executed in minutes and dealers are funded by lenders in hours, not days.
“Taking paper out of the vehicle buying processes improves the customer buying experience, reduces dealer overhead costs and expedites funding cycles,” Crow went on to say.
The relationship with eOriginal comes on the heels of defi SOLUTIONS announcing that the company will be expanding its product offerings to include a full-service analytics and reporting platform. The company also landed a new finance company client, completed an integration with another industry service provider and promoted one of its executives to be the chief technology officer — all since the end of June.
Dealer Marketing Services, the makers of ProMax Unlimited, recently released the third solution in a line of three consumer credit soft pull products. The latest addition is the Instant Auto Credit App, an Equifax-powered version of the popular online soft pull solution.
Since the entire trio is now available, ProMax Unlimited indicated the three products can be deployed by dealers individually or as an entire product suite.
The Instant Auto Credit App can allow visitors to a dealership’s website to pre-qualify for auto financing. Consumers who wish to be pre-qualified are required to fill out a short application and verify their identity, in exchange for an offer that includes a maximum loan amount and a range of possible interest rates.
The dealership in turn can receive a pre-qualified lead.
“Leads are the lifeblood of the auto business,” ProMax chief operating officer Shane Born said. “This powerful soft pull tool goes a long way toward converting anonymous website visitors into auto sales and can be used for customers already at the dealership, showroom walk-ins and service lane customers.”
Instant Score, which was the first of the three Equifax-powered credit solutions to be released, can function as a simple plug-in to any page on a dealership’s website. Using Instant Score, visitors to a dealership’s website are able to see their Equifax credit score free of charge. This simple process only requires consumers to fill out a short form and verify their identity, but does not require some personally identifiable information, such as a social security number.
Upon completing the form and having their identity verified, the consumer may view their credit score, and the dealership receives a high quality authenticated lead.
“Our dealership customers highly value prospects that are sourced from their own websites and service lanes,” ProMax chief executive officer John Palmer said. “The PowerLead service from Equifax enables us to help validate consumer identities and performs a soft pull of a customer’s credit file to assess customers quickly and easily. This is why we are so excited to offer our dealerships the valuable services of each of these three products.”
Back in April, the company highlighted Instant Screen powered by Equifax; a solution that can enable dealers to provide a firm offer of credit at the dealership level. Customers shopping for a vehicle or in for a service appointment can be prescreened according to finance company’s predetermined credit criteria.
“The release of these three solutions solidifies our status as the industry leader in automotive dealer soft pull credit products,” ProMax chief technology officer Darian Miller said. “No one else boasts as wide a variety of automotive pre-screen tools.”
For more details, go to www.ProMaxUnlimited.com.
