Exeter Finance launches new dealer portal

Exeter Finance last month rolled out a new dealer portal, designed to streamline the funding process and offer ease of access to its team of underwriters.

The portal, which launched nationwide March 8 to Exeter’s network of about 12,000 franchised and independent dealers, allows auto dealers real-time access to a loan’s application status, automated rehashing capabilities and a live chat function with Exeter’s underwriting team, Jerad Brown, senior vice president of loan originations, told Auto Finance News.

“All of our dealers want [and] need to interact with us through the loan origination process, and they need to do it at various times through that process,” Brown said. “The dealer portal gives them a self-serve option if things are really busy, or they just need a piece of information, or they need an easy way to interact with Exeter.”

The portal is designed as a supplement to traditional dealer-facing call centers, Brown said. “During the afterhours, or if a dealer just prefers not talking to a human and self-servicing, the dealer portal offers a couple of different features that make it easier to do business with Exeter,” he said.

Of the new features, the automated rehash function is the most popular among dealers, Brown said.

“A dealer can submit a new [deal] structure and work through scenarios on a particular loan right there with the dealer portal. They type in just a few pieces of information and can get a response back from us in seconds,” he said.

However, the most innovative feature is the portal’s real-time chat ability, which allows the dealer to speak with their Exeter dedicated buyer or funder, Brown said. “It shows when the buyer or vendor is available,” he said. “So if they’re off for lunch, the dealer can see that, and they’ll know when that person is available to chat.”

Dealers can also use the portal to track loan funding status in real time, view all documents they submitted, upload new documents as needed, and receive a status update when the deal is ready to fund, Brown added. Exeter funds about 70% of loans within the same day or the next day, he noted.

Developed in-house, the portal expands Exeter’s digital capabilities for dealers. The lender already offers e-contracting through Dealertrack and RouteOne. And in February, Exeter also expanded its partnership with software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider Solifi to offer automated approvals and decisions to its dealer partners within seconds.

The technology is especially helpful for dealers who “really like to follow along with the [funding] process,” Brown said, adding that Exeter’s most active dealer partners immediately started using the portal upon rollout.

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