LAS VEGAS — Trying to be profitable in a recession is like striving to be an actor in Hollywood at any given time — difficult at best, and impossible at worst.
To puts the odds more in one’s favor, lenders are curbing losses and improving operations by increasing contacts with profitable dealer-customers, dropping unprofitable ones, and all the while, maintaining tighter underwriting on the retail side.
“If it’s not a profitable relationship, those are the ones we will exit,” said Ellsworth Clarke, president of Bank of America Dealer Finance, during an executive panel at the Auto Finance Summit held last month. “It’s a tough conversation, but [it’s] the only way to reel in costs.”
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The folks at GMAC indicate that GM currently holds more than 59% of outstanding common membership interests in GMAC following the completion of a rights offering last January. The Cerberus-led consortium holds the remaining equity, amounting to around 40%. Both Cerberus and GM entered into agreements with the Fed to place theses interests into a trust for sale in connection with GMAC’s bank holding company agreement.