Agora Data announced this week that it is continuing as a National Corporate Partner of the National Independent Automobile Dealers Association (NIADA).

The company, whose suite of resources empowers independent dealers and finance companies to finance more non-prime customers, plans to offer NIADA’s 20,000 independent dealers the same advantages typically reserved for big franchised operations.

Agora said it is committed to “leveling the playing field” for non-prime auto finance originators, a market that has long been underserved and underbanked, according to the company

Agora combines its financial solutions with a technology platform that can calculate the book value of non-prime auto paper. Dealers and finance companies now can determine the value of their portfolios using Agora’s patent pending predictive modeling.

With this information, dealers can track the performance of their portfolios and optimize the capital they need to fuel growth by using a line of credit or by opportunistically selling a portion of their contracts.

“A single objective drives Agora — to remove the barriers dealers and finance companies face when attempting to access needed capital,” Agora Data chief executive officer Steve Burke said in a news release.

“As a former buy-here, pay-here dealer, I know firsthand how tough this industry can be for even the brightest entrepreneurs,” Burke continued. “It is amazing how auto loan originators can grow when the odds are stacked against them, so imagine what they can accomplish if these obstacles are removed.”

Burke pointed out that NIADA has been supporting independent dealers for 75 years, so it was important to remain a strategic industry partner.

“NIADA built its reputation on connecting dealers with the most effective solutions providers in our industry. Agora is honored to continue being counted among those trailblazers,” Burke said.