CU Direct’s aggregate of credit unions expects to originate “in excess of” 1.2 million indirect auto loans through its CUDL platform by yearend 2016, Senior Vice President of Sales John Carrington told AFN.
“Credit union lenders on the CUDL platform are experiencing the highest loan origination growth rate — 15.4% — of any auto lender among the top nine lenders in the nation,” he said.
The growth in originations has helped its credit union partners collectively become the second largest auto financing source in the U.S., Tony Boutelle, CU Directs’ president and chief executive, said in early November.
“For the first time ever, we just surpassed Ally Bank as the No. 2 lender in the country,” Boutelle said. “We only have Wells Fargo a few thousand loans away, to hit No. 1.”
Through September, CU Direct’s credit unions collectively originated 825,712 auto loans, compared with Ally, which originated 814,691 auto loans, according to AutoCount’s data. Wells Fargo Dealer Services was still the top auto financier, with 897,578 loans originated during the same time period.
However, CU Direct anticipates growth to slow in 2017, Carrington said. “Since overall new car sales are projected to be flat — or even decline a percent or two — in 2017, CU Direct credit unions anticipates similar volume levels, with no real overall growth projected,” he said.
CU Direct isn’t forecasting a “negative impact” to delinquencies, barring a slowdown in the economy or an interest rate increase of more than 1%, Carrington said. “Rate increases of 0.25% to 0.75% overall should not have an impact,” he added.
