LAKE SUCCESS, N.Y. -

Recent automotive retail growth is among the factors cited by DealerTrack as contributing to the company’s achievement of a milestone in number of lenders.

On Thursday, DealerTrack announced that more than 1,200 U.S. lenders are now connected to its credit application network.

Surpassing this mark sets a new standard in the company’s history, officials said, and marks significant growth from just five U.S. lenders in 2001.

“Our credit application network continues to be the leading platform to support a dealership’s sales and F&I workflow,” said Robert Granados, vice president and general manager of DealerTrack’s Sales and F&I Solutions.

“The combination of the recent automotive retail market growth, the strength of our industry partnerships, and recently introduced functionality has allowed us to continue to expand the size and value of our network for dealers and lenders through the first half of the year," he continued.

Mercedes-Benz Financial Services joined the DealerTrack credit application network earlier this year, the company reported.

The network allows dealers to electronically submit credit applications to its network of banks, independent finance companies, captives and credit unions, DealerTrack said.

Also, introduced this year is DealerTrack Mobile, a mobile application the company said is designed to help dealers and lenders manage finance and consumer credit application activities in real-time from their mobile devices.