A Compendious Auto Lease Software Guide for 2021

If your auto lease software is preventing you from achieving your goals of greater efficiency and profitability, it’s time to take a look at the capabilities of modern auto lease software solutions. 

Greater processing power, faster communication speeds, and innovative algorithms can accelerate lease decisioning without increasing risk. Mobile applications give lessees greater control of their accounts and reduce servicing costs. Technology advancements enabled by cloud platforms facilitate rapid implementation and scalability. If it’s been years since you’ve evaluated available lease software options, this compendious auto lease software guide will get you up to speed fast. We’ll highlight the key capabilities and features that give banks, credit unions, captives, and fincos significantly greater efficiency in managing the end-to-end lease cycle.

Deliver an Impressive Lease Origination Experience 

Providing a lease origination experience that is convenient and intuitive creates a positive impression (especially for a new lessee) about you as a lender. More importantly, it boosts your chances of booking the lease. The best auto lease software guides a customer through the lease origination process with a user interface that works across desktops and mobile devices to provide the convenience of anytime, anywhere origination. A well-designed interface:

• Prompts the borrower for data and uses masking and validation rules to reduce data errors that could delay application review and approval.
• Allows a borrower to start, stop, and restart the application without losing any information already entered. 
• Supports the electronic capturing of documents. 
• Employs e-contracts and e-signatures to facilitate a rapid response rate to lease applications and quick confirmation by the lessee.

A completely digital lease origination process delivers current and potential lessees a superior experience that prioritizes efficiency and effectiveness. 

Why Data Verification Is More Important Than Ever

After you’ve captured an applicant’s data digitally, your auto lease software should provide the appropriate capabilities to ensure the data is accurate. While banks, credit unions, captives, fincos, and all their customers are benefitting from the advances in information technology, fraudsters too are using technology to their advantage.

However, with the information sources available in a modern auto lease software solution today, you’ll be able to identify and eliminate fraudsters from the get-go. In addition to verifying credit ratings via automated calls to a bureau or accessing alternative credit data for applicants with “thin” credit records, your auto lease software should have the ability to access cloud-based information sources that can:

• Verify income and employment information, as well as any vehicle value. 
• Access services that use machine learning to identify information inconsistencies in the application that indicate likely instances of fraud.

Data verification and fraud detection are essential in ensuring applicants represent themselves truthfully. Consider the capabilities that focus on reducing risk as critical components of any modern auto lease software solution.

Provide a Single, Secure Source of Lessee Information

One of the biggest challenges in managing leases has been the difficulty of accessing all relevant lessee information acquired throughout the life of the lease. Poorly-integrated software systems for lease origination, servicing, and accounting are typically the root of the problem. 

Modern auto lease software solves this problem with seamlessly integrated modules that facilitate secure access to lessee information, from the initial lease application through the final documents and communications confirming the end of the lease.

Tight integration between lease origination and lease servicing modules provides a smooth flow of lease information. Look for auto lease software that can capture and securely retain the following in a digital format:

• All relevant information generated during the lease origination process, including:
  • Identification, insurance, employment records, and income statements
  • Quotes and signed contracts
  • Email and SMS communications

• Transactions, documents, and communications generated during servicing, including:
  • Invoices, payments, and account statements
  • Email and SMS communications
  • Call center inquiries/complaints and their resolutions

A single source of lease information also facilitates better compliance. In the event questions come up regarding lease decisions or transactions, the information can be easily and securely accessed. 

Secure 24/7/365 access via desktop or mobile device to relevant information also enables lessees to better manage their accounts. Look for auto lease software that guides the user in establishing automatic payments, allows a lessee to cure the lease with a one-time payment, calculates the current payoff amount, confirms receipt of payments, and provides electronic account statements. In addition to providing a better lease experience, you’ll also be reducing the number of calls to your service center.

Automation Is the Cornerstone of Efficiency

Software continues to evolve in its ability to automate. Modern auto lease software guides the process with automation capabilities that can now be implemented by knowledgeable lending professionals. There’s no longer a need to employ programmers. Modern auto lease software should offer extensive automation capabilities that boost efficiency and consistency in every phase of the lease cycle. When you’re evaluating auto lease software alternatives, look for these capabilities: 

• Configuration menus that allow lending professionals to design, implement, and modify the workflows, decision rules, and user interface.
• Auditable decision rules based on simple and/or complex formulas that evaluate applicant information and determine the next step(s) in the lease process.
• Auto-approval and auto-decline workflows that respond to lease submissions in seconds and require no intervention from a lending officer to reach a decision.
• Configurable scorecards that define credit policies and use decision rules to determine creditworthiness.
• Menu-based integration with external, pre-integrated cloud-based information sources such as data verification, vehicle valuation, fraud detection, and alternative credit data.
• Automated real-time general ledger account administration and payment posting to provide lessees and servicing agents with current and accurate account information.

Easily Handle End-Of-Lease Volumes and Complexities 

Automation is particularly powerful in improving the efficiency of end-of-lease processes. The number of steps involved can be orchestrated with workflows that calculate final payments—including outstanding charges such as fines, tolls, and damages—create the final documentation and instructions, and send them electronically to the lessee.

Once the lease has been terminated, workflows coordinate the service providers for vehicle inspection, storage, and remarketing. And here too, the decision rules available in auto lease software guide the process based on vehicle type, location, and residual value. When you’re dealing with hundreds to thousands of leases ending in any particular time period, automation can have a dramatic impact on productivity.

Auto Lease Software Guided by Integrated Analytics 

Auto lease software that offers tightly integrated analytic capabilities helps maximize the value of your software investment. You don’t need to be a data scientist or SQL developer to explore and mine valuable insight from the wealth of data associated with hundreds of thousands (or in some cases, millions) of leases. Out-of-the-box reports can be run against the data to quickly gain insight. Those reports can even be easily modified to deliver a more focused level of analysis relevant to your unique lease practices.

Analytics also provide insight into process (in)efficiencies and decision risks. Analytics can clearly show metrics that characterize the efficiency of key steps in the lease process. You can view queues to track workflows throughout a day, week, or month. Analytics can help answer questions like:

• How quickly do you respond to lease applications submitted through mobile devices?
• What are the most time-consuming aspects of early lease terminations?
• Which type of call center inquiries require the most time to resolve?

Analytics also allow you to explore your lease portfolio at the macro- and micro-levels. You can track lease trends—volumes, geography, vehicle types, and delinquencies—over any time period. You can also easily calculate metrics—average profit for leases, percentage of fraudulent applications, and characteristics of lessees who renew—to see how your strategy is impacting performance. 

We mention cloud frequently in this auto lease software guide; that’s because we encourage you to implement auto lease software that is cloud-based. The adoption of cloud platforms across all industries over the last ten years has firmly demonstrated the value. You’ll enjoy faster implementation, lower operating costs, easy scalability (up or down) as lease volumes change, and frequent software updates that ensure you’re taking advantage of the latest software improvements. 

Let Modern Auto Lease Software Guide You to Greater Efficiency

The evaluation process for a new auto lease software solution is a significant undertaking for any bank, credit union, captive, or finco. While your evaluation process will involve a far more granular review of software capabilities, we recommend intuitive user experiences, fully integrated modules, a single secure source for lease information, extensive automation, integrated analytics, and a scalable cloud platform as all critical features to look out for when selecting a new modern auto lease software that will guide you to greater efficiency.