Nationwide Acceptance Corporation

In today’s volatile subprime market, it helps dealers to be able to rely upon a well-established finance company that has demonstrated longevity in the subprime market. Since 1954, it has been the goal of Nationwide Acceptance Corporation to help dealers offer financing to customers needing to establish or re-establish credit. Today, it is one of the largest independently-owned finance companies in the country, providing subprime financing services to franchise and independent dealers in 20 states:  Arizona, California, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

“It’s probably old-fashioned to use the word ‘loyalty,’ but we’re here for the dealer, so if they can do two or three more deals a month, we’re very happy to do that for [them],” said Bonnie Herden, senior vice president of credit for Nationwide. In addition to serving both franchise and non-franchise dealers, Herden said they will also work with newly-licensed dealers.

In most of the states it serves, Nationwide offers two programs, a subprime program and a non-prime program. The subprime program has no limitations on a car’s make, year or mileage, and requires the customer to have a minimum monthly income of $1,600. “Because we have no make, year or mileage requirement,” noted Herden, “instead of wholesaling out a car, [a dealer] may be able to sell the car.”

The non-prime program allows a maximum of 100,000 miles on a vehicle seven-years-old or newer and requires a minimum monthly income of $2,000. Due to rate caps in Indiana and Nebraska, only a single standard program is offered in those states, the parameters of which match those of the non-prime program.

Rather than requiring the customer to be at their present job for a set amount of time, Herden said, they look for at least a year-and-a-half of history between the customer’s present job and previous job. They will finance customers with a prior bankruptcy or repossession, but will not look at those with double bankruptcies or multiple repossessions. It is preferred that customers have a minimum of $1,000 down or $500 down with a trade. Nationwide will also finance service contracts and GAP policies from approved providers, lists of which can be found on the company’s Web site, www.nac-loans.com. Electronic funding is also available.

Herden said a couple of the advantages Nationwide offers dealers include flexibility and a common-sense buying philosophy that does not rely on credit scores. “We don’t do any scoring. We carry all of our own paper. We never sell anything off, so … we are looking for collectability,” she stated. “We are flexible. We won’t dopayment calls”  but … we will give the dealer another way to go,” she stated. “We talk to the dealers and work with them to try to put the customer in a car.”

Herden described the current subprime market as “very, very difficult.” She continued, “There just aren’t as many zcustomers buying, so the dealers may have to think about changing their inventory [and] being a little more open to higher holdbacks … the risks are much greater because people are losing their jobs.” She noted that there will be a greater number of subprime customers, giving Nationwide an opportunity to grow its dealer base.

“We are really hoping to expand,” she said. “We have a new application system, we’re now on a database, we’re going on new platforms … this happens to be a very good time for us. We’re happy to take on new dealers.” She added that Nationwide’s programs are non-recourse, and there’s no fee for a dealer to sign up with them. “As long as they’re in one of the states that we do business, we would like to see if we can help them make more sales.”
For more information on Nationwide Acceptance Corporation’s auto dealer services, call Anthony Boun at 800.622.7605 or go to www.nac-loans.com.
 
Vol. 3, Issue 3