CPS announces new FinTech-driven automotive financing platform enhancements

By Edlyn Cardoza

Consumer Portfolio Services, Inc. (‘CPS’), an independent specialty FinTech that provides indirect automobile financing to individuals with past credit problems, low incomes, or limited credit histories, is continuing its robust rollout of artificial intelligence, machine learning solutions to provide greater payment flexibility and more efficient processing of auto loans. The company has closed out the year with three significant partnerships to improve efficiencies, dramatically reduce funding time, and offer more payment options for borrowers.

The company has chosen Informed.IQ to automatically calculate income, collect and clear credit stipulations and dealer docs, creating a better dealer and consumer experience throughout the auto lending process. CPS expects Informed.IQ’s AI tools to significantly reduce the funding time.

For decades, CPS has focused on bringing improved intelligence to auto lending, becoming a leader in FinTech initiatives that enhance the front-end review and financial decision-making process. Now, CPS is also helping automate the backend servicing experiences and has partnered with Prodigal to better manage the collections and servicing workforce and process. Prodigal is a Consumer Finance Intelligence solution that uses AI to analyse agent and borrower conversations and enhance profits, experience, and compliance.

From a customer standpoint, CPS named PayNearMe as its primary payments partner. This partnership will accelerate the auto lender’s digital transformation and deliver a frictionless customer experience across all digital payment types. PayNearMe will eliminate onsite cash payments, dramatically reduce the number of customers who pay by check, and transition most customers to electronic payments through greater pay options.

“Our whole business has become artificial intelligence and machine learning driven, from credit to servicing,” said Mike Lavin, Chief Operating Officer with CPS. “Adding these three partners to our backend and front-end system at the start of the new year enables us to make the loan funding process easier, provide more accessible payment options for our customers, and use AI to effectively improve collections by reducing the workload.”

Since the company began operations in 1991, as of September 30, 2022, it has purchased over $19.7 billion in contracts and serviced a total managed portfolio of approximately $2.7 billion with approximately 185,000 active customers. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning have taken the company’s loan decision-making process to new heights.

In late Q1 of 2023, the company will introduce a new AI credit decision model to improve fraud detection, lessen credit losses, and increase approval rates. Later in the year, CPS will introduce an AI-focused scorecard for its recovery and repossession system that will combine delinquency data with machine learning allowing the company to better analyse when the right time is to recover a vehicle.