PALM DESERT, Calif.–The face of lending is changing and Origence is making significant investments to change with it, according to the company’s president and CEO.
In remarks to Origence’s Lending Tech LIVE event, Tony Boutelle said lending through auto dealers remains central to Origence (and its subsidiary, CU Direct Lending or CUDL), but the company is also focused on other avenues and lending channels.
Credit unions on the CUDL platform remain, in aggregate, the number-one auto lender in the country, although, as the CU Daily reports separately, many banks are getting much more aggressive, Boutelle said.
While 80% of auto lending is being done at dealerships, Boutelle said the trend lines are clear as loan opportunities for credit unions expand into new areas.
“The new blue ocean area that our board and management is really focused on is embedded finance,” said Boutelle. “There are all these new places that we can’t make loans. The national dealer groups are all shrinking how many lenders they want to work with. We have a program that most of you know; we can aggregate all of our credit unions behind us. We do that with Tesla now in the EV car company category.”
Boutelle said solar loans are among the areas into which Origence has sought to diversity lending.
“Again, we’re trying to diversify to make it so wherever your members are starting their loans, we want to be there for you and help you have the technology to get that loan back,” Boutelle told the meeting.
Numerous Areas Highlighted
Boutelle provided an overview of numerous initiatives at Origence, including:
Document Processing Automation
Three years after entering a partnership to improve document processing automation, Boutelle said it has now used DPA to produce about a million applications and 25-million payments. The result has been process improvements from 20% to 50% as well as faster payments to dealers.
Origence Lending Services and FI Connect
Boutelle said Origence is continuing to make considerable investments into Origence Lending Services and FI Connect, both of which are in Denver. He said both companies continue to see strong growth.
E Contracting and FedNow General Availability.
“If there is one thing you hear from dealers, it’s ‘Give me money as fast as you can.’ We’ve done 1.5 million loans funded via Smart Fund (97% of indirect loans). We have 500 new eContract dealers and 13 credit unions on the system. This is the number-one thing dealers are asking for.”
Boutelle said 26 credit unions are doing real-time payments to dealers via FedNow.
Origence Data Access
Boutelle said credit unions have been asking for their data, which is why it has launched Origence Data Access, an open, AI-ready lending data platform.
It is available in Microsoft Fabric and Snowflake and as real-time APIs through other providers.
“This is important for all the analytics you do and how you market to your members,” Boutelle said.
CUDL Rate Hub.
Origence has launched the CUDL Rate Hub, which Boutelle said can reach every deal and every system, everywhere. It was created internally in one night using Claude.
“The current system of static PDF rate sheets is pretty much antiquated,” Boutelle said. “Now you will be able to manage through CUDL Rate Hub, which can offer different rates in different markets and different programs. You will be in all the CRMs the dealership uses, and you will be able to benchmark yourself against others. Look for that soon.”
The Big Players and the Captives
Boutelle said the biggest players in auto retailing are making it more difficult for credit unions. CarMax and Carvana, for example, largely use their own finance units.
“We’re seeing some of the big publicly traded auto dealer groups are buying finance companies,” Boutelle explained. “Just since February AutoNation has communicated that they are moving in that direction with just AutoNation Finance. They said that as of June 22 they are not going to have any regional banks or credit unions and will work with only the top eight lenders. They say they can make 2.5x what they make on a third-party loan (through their own financing).”
Seat at the Table
Boutelle said the company is also working with Rivian and Lucid.
“In the last month volume with Tesla is up dramatically. We’ve become their top lender,” Boutelle said.
Overall, Boutelle told the meeting, “Our goal remains to create the ultimate origination experience. We are going to get a seat at the table with these national organizations that just look for national banks right now and we will keep that credit union value proposition out there.”
