POWAY, Calif. — First Advantage CREDCO recently announced the introduction of ACT Portfolio Management solutions to help dealers better manage their portfolio, as well as improve their collection and recovery process by monitoring customer financial and credit behaviors.

Basically, the solutions are designed as a powerful suite of automated customer tracking tools, officials noted.

The ACT suite, which consists of ACT Report, ACT Monitoring, ACT Tracing and a unique reporting back feature, ACT Back, are all designed to assist dealers in accomplishing their goals.  

According to officials, the timing of the ACT product introduction is ideal for all segments of the dealer market, including buy-here, pay-here, leasing and new- and used-vehicle sales. Basically, as a result of slower car sales, dealers find themselves retaining and managing more of their own loan portfolios and selling off less to finance companies, which is where these new tools can come in handy.

"In these economic times, automotive dealers across the board are demanding innovative consumer information tools to help them make smarter, more informed lending and account management decisions," explained Eric Rumsey, president of First Advantage CREDCO.

"ACT empowers dealers to more effectively manage their loan portfolios by making decisions based on consumer-specific spending and cash flow indicators. This enables them to proactively manage their accounts to generate maximum revenue and profit opportunities," he continued.

ACT Report: Non-Traditional Credit Information

The ACT Report provides critical information not found in a loan application or standard credit report. It delivers non-traditional credit data that can help dealers assess a customer's overall credit risk.

ACT Monitoring: Automated Customer Tracking

ACT Monitoring notifies dealers about critical account status changes, such as new inquiries, evictions or bankruptcies, in addition to recent skips with other businesses. This means dealers can tailor portfolio management strategies and re-evaluate customer accounts based on new information.

ACT Tracing: Customer Skip Tracing Alerts

ACT Tracing provides new, highly accurate information in real time on customer charge-offs, skips and deficiency balance accounts, as well as updated customer contact information. This means that in the case of a potential repossession, dealers will know exactly where to locate the vehicle for fast recovery, officials indicated.

ACT Back: Report Back Feature

Dealers can now report back key credit data, allowing participation in an industry-wide effort to build and maintain a robust, reliable database of customers and non-traditional credit data.

The ACT Portfolio Management suite has already gained popularity among a select group of First Advantage CREDCO dealer customers, as well as a key partner, who agreed to participate in product testing, according to officials.

Autostar Solutions, a leading provider of software technology to dealerships and finance companies nationwide, has been a valuable business partner to CREDCO since 1996 and helped to test the new product suite for dependability, accuracy and quality assurance, the company pointed out.

"We consistently strive to provide our dealer customers with cutting-edge finance and information solutions," said Allen Dobbins, president of Autostar. "ACT satisfies a long-awaited need in the automotive industry to provide accurate, timely and reliable customer data to help dealers manage their loan portfolios more effectively and protect their profits."

The new product suite is available via the company's online service center, CREDCOservices.com.

For more information on First Advantage CREDCO's ACT Portfolio Management, visit www.CREDCOservices.com/ACT, or call (866) 226-9821.