RVBusiness, January/February 2018

Amanda Pope and Beth Elliott at Northpoints information booth during a recent trade show delays in getting loans approved Mariscal said two of companys lender partners started using electronic signature technology during the second quarter of 2017 but she anticipates that more lenders will adopt the technology by early 2018 Electronic signature technology is attractive to consumers because it provides flexibility to sign the loan documents at a place and time that is convenient for them whether its at home on their cellphone or when they are at the dealership J A N U A R Y F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 8 RVBusiness 91 Its a pretty exciting technology Mariscal said It really changes the way closings will be done Some lenders are also stepping up their provision of dealer education We relaunched our dealer training group to call it Ally Academy said Thomson of Ally Financial The company provides F I sales and compliance training at industry tradeshows both on wholesale and retail This year at the Recreation Vehicle Dealers Association in Las Vegas we brought in trainers for three different classes Thompson said providing dealer training is good for Allys business development while also helping dealers avoid problems A dealer that remains in compliance stays away from issues he said We cover F I compliance to make sure customer information is properly protected and to make sure that all regulations are followed Looking to the future the most apparent limiting factor to continued RV industry growth is the growing consumer debt load While the RV market is obviously ro Haymond the banks senior vice president for business development Bank of Americas Lambright Coker said its important for lenders serving the RV industry to maintain high standards You dont want to loosen policies she said When that starts happening thats when you start getting losses because they arent as strong of a customer Bank of America for its part looks for customers with a good track record of stability We look for customers that are stable that have installment experience she said Do you have a mortgage a car or just credit cards Or is your mortgage so large that if there was a downturn youd be struggling to keep the mortgage going But while stability has always been attractive to lenders Bank of America is willing to consider applicants who have frequently changed jobs so long as they stay in the same line of work If you stay in your profession I dont think thats as much of an issue she said adding that Millennials seem to be wanting to avoid overextending themselves in debt All of this is good news for lenders who have seen consistent growth in their RV loan portfolios Our business is up year over year by a long shot said Lax of Bank of the West Weve grown our market share considerably in towables according to Statistical Surveys Inc Weve also taken some market share in motorized vehicles Lenders are also stepping up their competition with one another by investing in automation to improve their loan application and approval processes Bank of the West is investing a lot of money on automation and digitization to improve the overall process for our dealers and customers Lax said adding that automating loan application and approval processes results in faster credit turnaround times faster alternative offers and counteroffers The salesperson has already made the sale and the customer is sitting with the finance desk and they submit the application to Bank of the West We want to be able to give F I managers the tools to quickly close the loan with advantageous and flexible terms for the dealer and customer Mariscal of Priority One said her company has also been making significant investments in automation Our IT department has been working to bring electronic signature technology to our database she said The consumer and the dealer can go online to do it It really speeds up loan processing It also eliminates missed signatures and reduces bust there are limits as to how much debt consumers can take on said Haymond of Medallion Bank which has specialized in providing near prime non prime and subprime loans for RVs for the past 15 years He noted that American consumers have 1 trillion in outstanding auto loans and 1 trillion in credit card debt and that eventually their debt load will limit their discretionary spending All that debt has come on peoples balance sheets since the last recession he said Thats going to have an impact on luxury buys including trailers Indeed Bloomberg reported in June 2017 that total household debt including mortgages and credit cards had grown to a record 1275 trillion during the first quarter of 2017 surpassing the previous peak in 2008 just before the housing market collapsed Bloomberg also noted that the percentage of overdue debt had risen over two consecutive quarters and that two credit card lenders Synchronicity Financial and Capital One Finance were setting aside more money to cover bad loans The RV industry also faces competition from other recreation industries Haymond said Youve got travel youve got cruises Youve got trips to Disneyland RV dealers tend to think their competition is the dealer down the street But the competition is a hot tub or a boat or a trip to Florida or a cruise All of these things are really the competition he said So far however consumer interest in RVing continues to grow and lenders RVB spoke with who attended the National RV Trade Show continue to be optimistic We dont have any concerns about the market space at this point said Parish of Wells Fargo Capital Finance There is nothing on the domestic horizon that poses a near term threat RVB Heather Mariscal