Consumer Portfolio Services can verify loan information more reliably with the help of an upgraded system, SVP of Sales Curt Powell told Auto Finance News.
The original data feed was continually interrupted because it was “not compatible” with the pace and volume of information coming in, Powell said. After moving the feed to more dedicated and higher-volume servers, CPS has been able to scale while capturing the data more reliably. The completeness of the data also improved, Powell said, adding that “maybe 40% of the prior records had full employment and income data, and that number is now closer to 70%.”
In fact, CPS modified parts of its loan-decisioning logic so that data points — such as full-time or part-time status, working permits and background documents — could be accepted or denied based on certain patterns. In other words, some data coming from third parties for job time and income is acceptable to use even if it’s incomplete. “We have found it usable without all these pieces and some data we need the full picture in order to accept it into our decision logic,” Powell explained.
A major push for Irvine, Calif.-based CPS this year is to speed the loan funding process while maintaining disciplined verification procedures. Already, the lender has shaved off 0.3 days, or 20%, from funding time compared with last year.
Looking forward, CPS is working to enhance its internal modeling with artificial intelligence to further streamline the verification process. “We are able to model ‘like’ job types and determine average incomes for certain job types,” Powell said, adding if the customer fits a certain employment type and has other credit and payment characteristics, the volume of verifications could decline. “In other words, verify more thoroughly on higher risk loans and spend less time on better profile loans,” he said.
