CU Loan Officers Still Bullish on Auto Lending

Who Said Anything About a Peak?

Numerous economic forecasts have asserted automobile sales peaked in 2015, when they set an all-time record, with dealers and lenders advised to prepare for a decline. But when Credit Union Journal asked lending executives at CU Direct's DRIVE Conference how auto lending is going for their respective credit unions, the responses were nearly universal: "Peak? What peak?"

David Enertson II, consumer loan administrator, Whatcom Educational CU, Bellingham, Wash.

We keep expanding auto lending at an amazing rate. So far this year we are up 350% over last year. We finally decided we had to put the brakes on because we could not keep up with all that volume. To achieve this success we hired a dealer rep, which has helped a lot. We also streamlined our process to fund loans quicker. We use more automation, which the dealers appreciate.

Rich Black, indirect lending manager, Oregon Community CU, Eugene, Ore.

We are still seeing loan growth. We have really good relationships with a lot of dealers, and we hear they are constrained by product. There are good products that are low in inventory, so they actually could sell more if they had more of those autos. We expect to grow loans over the next year. We have not done much in the way of promotions, we just have good relationships with dealers.

Norm Phillips, centralized lending manager, SELCO Community CU, Eugene, Ore.

We have grown a minimum of 10% for the past five years. Last October we assumed the market would plateau or decline, but we have not seen that yet. We just pay attention to the market and then adjust. We do a quarterly check of our competitors not just rates, but also reserves. We also have worked on our efficiency to get money to the dealers faster. We are a $1.3 billion credit union, and indirect for us is about $20 million to $25 million per month.

Rick Loyd, SVP and chief marketing officer, Truity CU, Bartlesville, Okla.

We are still seeing continued success. We see growth on both the direct and indirect sides. We educate our whole organization on our six core products. We want employees to know members need to have one of those six products. We do a couple of car loan campaigns each year. We want people to think of us when they need a car loan.

Laura Roberts, VP of retail lending, Redwood CU, Santa Rosa, Calif.

Lending is still very good. We have had record growth and volume. We continue to focus on improving our efficiencies and expanding how we reach our members. We are expanding mobile applications. We signed up with CU Direct's INTUVO on mortgages and are looking to expand it to the consumer side. We think it is a game-changer.