Veros Credit LLC made its debut in the secondary market with its latest auto asset-backed-securitization, the first in the lender’s 19-year history.
The $165.2 million ABS closed yesterday, and consists of subprime automobile loan contracts that are secured 99% by used vehicles, according to a new-issue report from Kroll Bond Rating Agency.
Veros, a Santa Ana, Calif.-based auto finance company, was founded in 1998 as Credit One Corp. and rebranded as Veros Credit in 2010. Veros works with subprime borrowers and has 1,139 dealer partners in 21 states, mostly independent dealers. The company’s overall loan portfolio is $268.1 million as of July 2017, according to the report.
The weighted average Fico score in the ABS is 557, and 29% of loans in the security have no Fico. The pool has an average weighted current loan of $10,000, and average original term of 53 months, according to the report.
Additionally, the ABS includes approximately $9.88 million loans from Federal Emergency Management Agency-declared disaster areas due to Hurricane Harvey and Irma. Harvey-affected loans represent $1.4 million of the total collateral pool, while Irma-affected loans represent $8.5 million of the total pool.
From 2012 to year-end 2016, Veros has consistently originated approximately $30 to $40 million in auto loans quarterly, according to the report. The company has also ventured into expansion outside of the California area; it added sales representatives to the team in North Carolina and Florida in August 2014. In November 2015, Veros opened a regional dealer center in Texas.
