Amid a 41% year-over-year decline in originations during the fourth quarter of 2017, Nicholas Financial hopes to get “back to the basics” and reestablish its presence in the deep-subprime market, new Chief Executive Doug Marohn told Auto Finance News.
“Nicholas is a lot of things, and Nicholas has enjoyed a very specific reputation for decades, a positive one,” he said. “We have somehow slowly evolved — or devolved, if you will — away from that over the last several years. We really kind of lost our brand identity, lost our niche, and got lost in the noise of every other lender out there.”
The company’s originations declined to $27 million in the fourth quarter, compared with $46 million the same time the year prior. Nicholas chalked up the drop in originations to a change in underwriting guidelines — including the use of alternative data — that were implemented to improve the quality of contracts being purchased, according to a press release.
