General Motors Financial Co. is focused on improving its “speed to market” in 2017, Will Stacy, senior vice president for digital and technology services, told AFN.
“Customer expectations change every six months,” Stacy said. “Now, they expect to be able to ask Alexa, or Google Home: ‘What’s my car loan amount? How much is my payment? How do I apply for another car loan?’ And they want to get a proper answer, so while we’re not there yet, the goal for us is to be that technology leader.”
To that end, the captive worked closely with its parent company General Motors Co. to give credit decisions directly to consumers, with the launch of auto decisioning for online credit applications in mid-January, Stacy said.
“We launched what’s called the Decision Browser, so when you apply for credit online, in a lot of cases you get a decision right there, in real time, in the browser,” he said. Certain applications may still have to be manually reviewed by a buyer, but would still be decisioned in “a couple minutes,” Stacy added, or if it’s after business hours, the decision will be returned by the next business day.
Previously, the decision would come back in about 10 minutes, on average, Stacy said, but it was sent directly to the dealers, who would then have to reach out to the consumer. In December 2016, GMF added online functionality called the Affordability Check, which allows consumers to gauge if they can afford a 2016 or 2017 Chevrolet Cruze model, without entering their Social Security number, Stacy said.
“You can go to the Affordability Check on the Chevrolet site, put in your basic information — not a full credit app — and see if you can afford a Cruze,” he said. The two initiatives are similar examples of how GMF is working to improve the overall consumer experience, Stacy added. “The Affordability Check is less information, whereas the Decision Browser is a robust application,” he said.
