LenderHub

It seems that rarely a day goes by that we don’t catch wind of a case of identity theft. According to an estimate by the FTC¹, around nine million Americans’ identities are stolen each year. And with so much jargon like skimming, fraud, and phishing, it’s not surprising that many consumers don’t know what to look out for. With fraudsters developing new schemes every day, the fraudulent use of identities to establish credit and banking accounts promises to challenge consumers and financial institutions alike for years to come.

The housing market is quite fickle. It’s impacted by economic factors that are often difficult to understand, and typically leaves consumers and lenders alike on the hunt for information in an attempt to make sense of how it will impact their financial decisions.

The auto loan industry is massive and chances are that if you are a financial institution, you are also in the auto loan lending game. As a lender, knowing ways to maximize your automotive financing portfolio and extending loans to qualified borrowers is of the utmost importance. Having a solid pulse on the auto finance market can help increase your financial institution’s auto loan portfolio.

If your financial institution works with a third-party vendor for your collections efforts, you know how important it is to ensure your partners perform at an optimal level. To properly evaluate whether your outsourced partner is performing at a high level, it’s wise to understand their company procedures and establish agreed upon benchmarks to measure their performance.

Financial institutions and borrowers alike have breathed a collective sigh of relief over the last decade as the U.S. economy has improved from the dark days of the Great Recession. Delinquencies are not what they once were thanks to an improved economy, job growth, and increased credit availability. However, the United States, and in turn, lenders, are not completely immune from delinquency issues.

Historically, there are a few key indicators that can signal a potential rise in interest rates. Perception of a robust economy, increased consumer spending, and high employment levels could all combine to lead to a hike in interest rates. Higher interest rates reduce disposable income (and therefore consumer spending), increase the cost of borrowing, hamper the speed of economic growth, and limit the rate of inflation.

Financial institution auto loan portfolios continue to grow annually. In fact, Experian¹ reported that auto loan balances climbed to $1.18 trillion in the first quarter of 2019, a 6.5% increase from 2018. And, as many lenders know, when your portfolio grows, as does the risk of delinquency.

Lenders face a variety of challenges. When it comes to mortgage origination, some of those challenges include increased turn times and valuation costs. While it’s critical for lenders to demonstrate to regulators that they are valuing the equity in an appropriate and compliant manner, it’s also essential to provide cost-effective mortgages that close in a timely manner in order to meet the expectations of borrowers.

In February 2019, Realtor.com released their 2018 Generational Propensity Report which outlined homebuying trends based on generational groups. Here are the biggest takeaways:

• Millennials passed Generation X as the group taking on the most new mortgages in January 2017.

Our Chairman and Co-founder had the opportunity to sit down with CUInsight's Randy Smith, to chat about some of the most important lessons he's learned in life and business, his dedication to giving back to the community, as well as the culture that he and President and Co-founder, Gary Dudley, have built over the last 43 years for SWBC.