For this episode — our 50th — Nick takes a trip to the “back office” with Anne Holtzman, who is the senior vice president of claim and recovery at Allied Solutions. While Hurricanes Harvey and Irma happened several months ago, some auto finance companies — especially with collateral impacted by the storms — could not begin […] [Read More]

Private equity money is flowing into all aspects of F&I, not just high-level technology involving originations, but also the potentially lucrative vehicle-service-contract segment. Southfield Capital recently announced an investment in APC Integrated Services Group, a provider of consumer marketing of vehicle service contracts on behalf of dealers, manufacturers and other partner channels. A news release […] [Read More]

Senior executives at captive auto finance companies from around the globe recently gathered to discuss and debate the latest developments in FinTech in the auto finance industry at White Clarke Group’s third Auto Captives Summit held at The Shard, London in late January. The Auto Captives Summit 2018 centered on providing attendees with real-world examples for […] [Read More]

Industry experts like Swapalease.com executive vice president Scot Hall are trying to get a handle on the used-vehicle market — a segment that will be influenced by interest rates expected to continually increase in 2018, despite the recent stock market sell-off, and wholesale prices continuing to fall this year, mostly due to rising supply. Sharing additional […] [Read More]

Private equity firms continue to see auto financing as an excellent option to leverage. In recent weeks, Bain Capital Ventures injected $55 million into defi SOLUTIONS, and Fair secured a round of strategic equity funding that is led by Siemens-backed next47 global venture fund and also includes BMW, CreditEase FinTech Investment Fund, Millennium Technology Value Partners, […] [Read More]

Those holiday ads for vehicles — especially for luxury models — evidently stimulated activity not only at dealerships, but also at Swapalease.com. While stores might have moved some extra metal that was a gift, the site's lease-transfer approval rating took a tumble in January. Swapalease.com reported that vehicle lease credit applicants registered a 57.8-percent approval rate […] [Read More]

The Blue Oval’s captive is pleased with how its subsidiary is performing while making inroads to serve consumers who want an alternative to securing a vehicle without the commitment of a retail installment contract or leasing agreement. Executives from Canvas — the Ford Motor Credit subsidiary offering what they believe is a convenient and hassle-free […] [Read More]

For this episode, we get back to basics — as in the fundamentals of auto-finance underwriting that include credit, character, capacity and collateral. In light of a changing market impacted by sales trends and technology, Brett Collett, who is strategic automotive consultant for Equifax, shared a conversation with Nick about how these four basics remain vital […] [Read More]

The proliferation of smartphones and potential buyers seeking financing at places nowhere near dealerships are combining to drive more investment into mobile platforms. The latest development came on Wednesday as Santander Consumer USA announced that it will invest and work with AutoFi with the intention to streamline and simplify the vehicle-buying process for consumers, while […] [Read More]

It would seem automotive financing and retail activity is not immune to unscrupulous behavior, especially activity that originates online. Experian discovered six out of every 10 businesses are experiencing the same or more fraudulent losses online compared with a year ago. According to Experian’s "Global Fraud and Identity Report," analysts found that fraud trends and patterns […] [Read More]