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Auto Finance Year End “To-Don’t” List for Better Returns

Could the secret to better returns on your auto loan portfolios be a “to-don’t” list?

As the year comes to a close, we often write our list of resolutions for the New Year. We decided to change it up and give you a “what not to do” list instead. Here is a “To Don’t List” for Auto Finance execs looking for new ways to generate better returns.

1) DON’T CHARGE OFF DEBT

Once you’ve charged-off a debt, you’ve lost.  If you have 200 delinquent loans that charge-off, and each loan is worth $10,000…that is a sizable hit to your bottom line.  What if you could mitigate as little as 10% (or 20 loans) of those losses using vehicle location data? Your charge-off reduction could be $200,000.  Charge-off reductions of this size and even more are becoming a reality for lenders that refuse to accept charge-offs are simply the price of doing business. Vehicle location data is proving to be the missing link for them. What could it do for you?

2) DON’T GET THE WORST RESULTS FROM YOUR BEST COLLECTIONS PRACTICES

More than 1 in 7 adults in America are being pursued by debt collectors and these same adults often owe multiple lenders. Consumers burdened by more debt have become savvy at avoiding traditional collections tactics. Sure the comp report provides value, but what if you could go beyond the comp report. The Top 100 Lenders are fighting to remain competitive and the fight continues to lead them to vehicle location data as being a key factor for the upper hand– data that goes beyond the comp report and leads them to their debtors time and again. What if you knew that the address provided on the comp report was stale but you could have another, better address that could help you to make right party contact? And what if that data was available across the lifecycle of your customer’s loans? That data is vehicle location data and flat-rate enterprise level solutions like the one offered by DRN give you vehicle location data throughout the lifecycle of the loan to help you make contact during servicing, prevent charge-offs and locate cars faster for repossession. Because when you find the debtor, you know what to do.

DON’T GET FINED FOR DISPARATE TREATMENT

Disparate treatment can be overt or subtle, but either way it can add up to big hits to your bottom line and your reputation. And if you are using vehicle location data or other data and adding the cost for that data to the customer’s loan balance, you could be accused of disparate treatment. At the same time, we know that vehicle location data is incredibly valuable in helping you to connect with your customer or to locate a vehicle in repo. So what’s the answer? Enterprise level access to vehicle location data for a flat monthly fee that can be spread across your entire portfolio. Put a halt to the practice of adding fees to the customer’s loan balance and you may spare yourself costly CFPB fines and more.

DON’T THROW AWAY MONEY

Simply put, auto lenders who don’t use vehicle location data throughout their loans’ lifecycles are throwing away money. DRN’s customer studies show that auto lenders operating from a cost-based mindset fail to realize the ROI of vehicle location data and will see full balance charge-off losses increase, will experience more loans going to skip, therefore reducing their ability to write more loans and grow their revenue.

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About the author:

Jeremiah Wheeler

Jeremiah Wheeler

Jeremiah is the President of the DRN & MVTRAC business units for Motorola Solutions Inc. (NYSE: MSI) leading operations, business development, data collection, government affairs and strategy efforts for the automotive, insurance, retail, and financial services industries. Prior to joining the company more than 11 years ago, Jeremiah led one of the largest repossession companies in the US, with more than 65 Trucks, covering 6 states and also had national coverage with the top 20 auto lenders for recovery services. He serves on three committees for the Receivables Management Association International, three committees for the American Financial Services Association, is an advisory board member for the American Recovery Association and is a founding member of the Auto Intel Council with Cherokee Media Group. He is very involved with numerous other organizations helping to promote legislative activities, fundraising and awareness campaigns. Jeremiah has been married for 20 years, has 2 daughters and enjoys spending time traveling with his family, teaching and mentoring students, mountain biking and most anything outdoors.