Prestige Financial Services strategically tightened up its risk modeling earlier this year, which resulted in a 15% year-over-year decline in loan originations, Chief Operating Officer Rich Hyde told Auto Finance News.
Prestige is making a conscious decision to “not make a big push” to absorb the business others have pulled back from, he said.
“We consider ourselves a company that takes advantage of opportunities in the market, so when we see an opportunity — for example, when others pull back originations — we will press forward,” Hyde said. “However, right now we have stayed pretty static; we were off last year’s volume by about 15%.”
Next year the lender still hopes to grow, but at a less aggressive rate of 4% to 5%. “Losses and delinquencies are higher, so we are watching that closely and waiting to ensure the market is stable,” Hyde added. “We do have a record number of applications coming in, so there is plenty of opportunity out there, we have just chosen to be selective at this point.”
Prestige Financial Services makes loans for 3,200 dealers. The lender ended 2016 with $1.1 billion in outstandings and $597.4 million in originations, according to Big Wheels Auto Finance 2017.
