Associated Banc-Corp. plans to sell its consumer loan portfolio, which includes auto and home-improvement loans, according to a published report.
Green Bay, Wis.-based Associated Bank operates the consumer loan business via its Riverside Finance affiliate. The unit has offices in Illinois, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.
Though the bank’s financials exclude specific auto finance data, first-quarter earnings mention that $61 million of non-core consumer finance installment loans were transferred to “loans held for sale,” resulting in a $10 million charge-off in the quarter. The sale is expected to close this quarter.
Mike – I got really excited when I read your post and was so over caffeinated while typing my response that I failed to mention one of our most important features that speaks to your point. 😉 Our members have detailed profiles with the particular guidelines you mentioned. In addition, buyers are alerted when loans of interest to them are for sale.
We are also moving toward more sophisticated alerts for sellers when buyers submit their requests to our seller market.
Also, we share your big idea – we have been working with other service providers (loan origination software providers, DMS systems, etc) with whom we could integrate to eventually create a much more seamless model for regular buyers of loans that you are talking about, but with a lot of flexibility – some buyers want flow agreements to their specs and private marketplaces, and others buy – and turn around and sell – more sporadically.
Thank you for starting this dialogue – it has been very helpful to me already! Look forward to hearing more from you and everyone else.
I’m certain that with the uncertainty in the market and the new requirements the federal and states governments are setting up will create the potential for many small or mid size lenders to leave the market.
Imagine if you were a lender that is now responsible for some of the acts of a dealer during the loan approval process, then compound this with the potentail legal expenses.
This is one of the reason I developed E-nets Auto Loan Origination system, which is designed to bring all parties into the origination process while the applicant and dealer are on line with the lender for the final decision process.
It helps all parties to comply to the new State and Federal requirements without much change to their present system.
Bill Fowler