Pelican Shores Up Recoveries, Collections

Pelican Auto Finance LLC is bolstering its collection and recovery strategies this year by partnering with Digital Recognition Network and Payix, Chris Mitcham, the lender’s senior vice president of servicing and analytics, told Auto Finance News.

The subprime lender has been able to save around 15% per month on impound and storage fees as well as find three to five more cars per month after it began using DRNsights from Digital Recognition Network, Mitcham said.

Pelican piloted DRNsights — a vehicle-location product — in April, before signing on with DRN officially in July.

“DRN assists in 20% of our total recovery activity,” Mitcham said, adding that the service has allowed Pelican to locate a car three days sooner, including legacy charge-offs that otherwise would never have been found. “Three days is not just the gap between Monday to Wednesday, it’s the probability of not picking up the vehicle, and that grows every day,” he said.

Also in July, Pelican partnered with Payix to provide collection tools through a new app, which allows borrowers to schedule payments and communicate with agents via a live two-way chat feature.