Loan Zone: How to drive auto loans forward

Toby Hayes and his family were shopping for a new car a few months back. “We went to a dealership and never said anything about being a member of or working at SAFE Federal Credit Union,” explains Hayes, VP/marketing for the $1 billion CU in Sumter, S.C. “As we were picking out a car and finalizing the details, the finance guy came to me and said, ‘We’ve got a great deal for you, and it’s with SAFE Federal Credit Union. We’re going to sign your paperwork and you’ll be out of here in 20 minutes.’ To me, that was remarkable, because the program we’ve built here at SAFE is really a testament to convenience and growth of our loan portfolio.”

Indeed, leaders of SAFE Federal Credit Union attribute its considerable success with auto lending to the CU’s behind-the-scenes work to establish great relationships with dealers and also to the way it ensures its indirect program protects members and supports the credit union’s success.

What kind of success are we talking about?

During its spring 2017 “Drive You Forward” promotion, SAFE FCU set an auto loan record of $79.4 million, generating more than 3,000 loans and adding almost 2,000 new members. The total volume of new loans during the 10-week campaign was 13 percent higher than the previous record of $70 million, set in the spring of 2016. For the promotion period, the CU offered interest rates as low as 2.24 percent for up to 60 months, well below its usual 2.99 percent auto loan rate. And, $50 million of the total loan volume was in the form of indirect lending through SAFE FCU, but initiated at the dealer.

 

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