The online and mobile financing app AutoGravity has added a new subprime lender to its suite of lenders with the addition of Global Lending Services LLC, the company announced in a press release today.
The Atlanta-based lender is small, especially compared with some of the other captive partners already operating on AutoGravity, but it has been growing fast. Global Lending Services originated $115.3 million worth of auto loans in the first quarter, up 40% from $69.8 million during the same period the year prior, according to Kroll Bond Rating Agency’s report on GLS Auto Receivables Trust 2017-1.
Consumers shopping for a vehicle on AutoGravity’s platform will now be served qualifying offers from Global Lending Services alongside loans from other partners, including First Investors Financial Services, Hyundai Capital America, Mercedes-Benz Financial Services, VW Credit, and Westlake Financial Services.
“As we look to improve consumer experiences while increasing the value we deliver to car dealerships, partnering with AutoGravity makes perfect sense,” Bill Nemecek, Global Lending Services’ senior vice president of marketing and sales, said in the release. “Our partnership with AutoGravity positions us to reach shoppers, help them with financing, and guide them to dealerships, which can deliver on this value proposition through state-of-the-art technology.”
Global Lending Services has had a fraught history with regulators since the company’s founding in 2011. In fact, earlier this year the financial institution was one of several subprime issuers served a subpoena from the Department of Justice.
The regulator requested documents and communications relating to its marketing, originations, underwriting, and securitization of subprime automobile loans, according to the Kroll report. More specifically, the DOJ requested underwriting criteria used to originate automobile loans and the representations and warranties relating to the underwriting criteria when the loans were securitized.
In April 2016, Global Lending Services was one of several subprime lenders investigated by the Massachusetts Attorney General regarding the financing of guaranteed auto protection agreements. The lender has since remediated the affected accounts, according to the Kroll report.
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