June 22, 2015—Equifax Inc. announced that it has expanded its partnership with the National Independent Automotive Dealership Association (NIADA) to support independent and buy-here-pay-Here (BHPH) dealerships.
For the 2015 NIADA Used Car Industry Report, Equifax provided insights on subprime auto lending trends and partnered to conduct the latest edition of the NIADA Quarterly Business Confidence Survey, which presents independent dealers’ sentiment on the current state of the industry.
One of the key statistics from the latest NIADA Quarterly Business Confidence Survey is that the number of dealers who expect their customer traffic to decline over the next quarter has doubled, from 8.3 percent to 17 percent, since the survey was last conducted. This reflects the heightened competition in the used car market from large dealer groups. To help combat this, Equifax offers loan reporting for BHPH dealers.
"The growth of franchise dealers in the used car space is not the only concern independent and BHPH dealers have expressed," said Angelica Jeffreys, vice president and dealer leader for Equifax. "Because many of these dealerships do not report their accounts to a credit bureau, we've heard anecdotally that some consumers may opt to default on an auto loan since their credit score may not be affected. To help dealerships avoid these situations, mitigate strategic defaults and reward positive consumer payment behavior—we are working with the NIADA to enable dealers to report consumer auto loans and payments."
BHPH dealers who are NIADA members can report their consumer auto loans and payments to Equifax without having to pass traditional barriers such as holding a certain number of accounts. Reporting trade lines not only improves the data available to dealers for qualifying future potential buyers, but it also encourages customers to make timely payments because their credit rating may be directly impacted by how they perform on their loan. In addition, dealer reporting will add tradelines to a consumer's credit file to more accurately reflect their handling of debt, which may grant them even more opportunities to competitive terms based on their credit history.
