COMPARING CREDIT UNION SOFTWARE PROVIDERS FOR AUTO LOAN SERVICING (2023)

There are dozens of credit union software providers for auto loan servicing solutions. They range from global software providers who offer products for dozens of different industries and U.S. companies exclusively focused on auto lending to software providers whose products, with considerable effort, support some portion of auto loan servicing needs.  

We could develop a lengthy list of criteria to compare the pros and cons of various credit union software providers for auto loan servicing, but for now, we recommend beginning with a few key criteria to help narrow the field. Specifically, look for the following capabilities.

	Finding the Best Credit Union Software Providers for Auto Loan Servicing
Entire Lending Cycle Support	Look for providers that offer solutions for the entire lending cycle because they understand the benefits of having a smooth and secure transition of data and processes throughout the lending cycle.
Easy Software Updates to Meet Your Needs	Search for providers that can easily modify the servicing software functionality and processes to meet your specific requirements.
Integrated Analytics	Scout for providers that offer integrated analytics capabilities so you can benefit from all the data generated by modern auto loan and lease servicing software.
Digital Auto Loan Servicing	Seek providers that offer a digital lending experience, from loan origination to throughout the loan servicing phase.

#1 Support for the Entire Lending Cycle

Even though we’re focusing on auto loan and lease servicing, credit union software providers that offer solutions for the entire lending cycle—loan origination to funding to servicing—are the better choice. They understand the benefits of having a smooth and secure transition of information and processes throughout the lending cycle. They know the importance of an intuitive and consistent user experience for borrowers and servicing agents.

Whether or not the same credit union software vendor provides your servicing and loan origination solutions, all relevant borrower information obtained during origination should flow smoothly into the auto loan servicing software to provide a single and complete view of the borrower. If your loan origination software is from a different vendor than your loan servicing software, ensure the servicing software vendor has proven experience in managing the integration of both systems. 

Building on the information obtained during loan origination, your servicing software should efficiently manage all borrower interactions associated with servicing, including welcome calls, inquiries via phone, email, and post, complaint capture and resolution, and default and collateral management. Details regarding borrower interactions, communications, documentation, payments, and resolutions should all be automatically and securely retained for both compliance and quality of service requirements.

#2 Easily Modify Software to Meet Your Unique Servicing Needs

You should be able to easily modify the servicing software functionality and processes to meet your unique requirements. Look for providers that offer this capability via an extensive set of configuration menus that allow lending professionals to make these modifications. Configuration should cover:

• User roles and access permissions such as compliance regulations that require a secure process to update the borrower’s name and SSN.
• User interface to determine which data are displayed, the sequence, and relevant menu options depending on the role or step in the workflow task.
• Decision rules that translate your policies and processes into workflows that eliminate manual handoffs and help ensure consistent and efficient handling of simple and complex servicing requests.
• Queue prioritization for delinquencies, repossessions, loan or lease types, SLAs, etc., to ensure the most important items are handled first. 

System configuration menus enable business users responsible for the credit union’s servicing operations to quickly modify processes and policies. With configuration, you avoid the delays and costs typically associated with older servicing systems that require code-level programming.

#3 Integrated Analytics to Understand Process Efficiency

Well-designed modern auto loan and lease servicing software generates a wealth of operational data regarding servicing activities. Look for a credit union software vendor with integrated analytic capabilities to obtain the maximum benefit from that data. 

When analytics come pre-integrated with the loan servicing software, you won’t need the skills of a data scientist or SQL programming skills to gain insight into the efficiency of your servicing activities.

Integrated analytics give credit unions up-to-date insight into essential metrics that convey the overall health of their auto loan servicing business, answering questions like:

• What developing trends are we seeing in auto loan servicing requests?
• Which types of servicing requests take the most time to resolve? 
• Where are the servicing process bottlenecks?
• Is there a correlation between welcoming calls and fewer borrower complaints?
• What account attributes strongly predict defaults?

Configurable dashboards allow business users to specify the data to explore, and format reports and graphical representations of the analyses. Users can either explore performance metrics at the summary level or drill into the data from multiple angles to explore the details of an individual transaction. level or drill into the data from multiple angles to explore the details of an individual transaction.

#4 Digital Auto Loan Servicing

Today’s borrowers want greater control over their accounts. They want secure access to current account information and the ability to manage transactions anytime, anywhere. They also want a digital lending experience, from loan origination to throughout the loan servicing phase. These capabilities should be part of your credit union software vendor’s solution.

An intuitive user interface available on desktop or mobile devices is a requisite for any loan or lease servicing software today. It gives borrowers the round-the-clock convenience of managing account information and activities, reducing service center call volumes and allowing your agents to devote more time to members who truly need the assistance. 

Some Credit Union Software Providers Have More to Offer

When you’ve made your initial comparison of credit union software providers using the above criteria, you’re likely to find that some are far better prepared to address today’s auto loan and lease servicing needs. 

Investments in the latest technologies that boost process efficiency, improve the borrower experience throughout the lending cycle, provide flexibility in modifying software to meet changing market needs, and give lending professionals immediate insight into servicing efficiency and trends via analytics is critical to delivering a superior auto and lease servicing experience. When comparing credit union software providers, make sure they deliver on each of those capabilities and maintain a keen focus on the lending industry. 

If you are looking for an industry-leading credit union software provider for auto loan servicing firmly grounded in loan servicing and origination best practices, look no further than defi SOLUTIONS. Our defi MANAGED SERVICING provides a single hub, digital interactions, and intelligent virtual assistants to bring everything together.

With defi MANAGED SERVICES, you can ramp up a new or beef up your existing back office operation with white-label, outsourcing services for:

• Inbound call handling and fulfillment.
• Return mail processing.
• Payment processing.
• Collateral management title work.
• Accounting.
• Cash management.
• Back-office payment processing.
• Default management (collections, bankruptcy, repossessions, recovery).
• Lease maturity management.
• Remarketing.

defi MANAGED SERVICING uses artificial intelligence (AI) and Contact Center as a Service to boost operations and processes related to auto loans, leases, and leased vehicle dispositions, reducing budgetary expenses and improving customer service.