In a recent episode of “The Credit Union Connection,” host Sarah Snell Cooke sat down with iLending’s President, Nicholas Goraczkowski, and Director of Lender Relations, Cedric Moore, for a compelling discussion on the current landscape of auto lending and the significant role of auto refinance. The conversation offers a glimpse into the strategies iLending employs and the trends shaping the market, providing a teaser for the full video interview.
Cedric Moore highlights a “definitive shift” in the lending environment, noting that lenders are becoming more aggressive in capturing auto loan volume, especially as credit card balances and delinquency rates rise. He emphasizes that auto refinancing is a crucial way for borrowers to tighten their budgets and achieve immediate savings. Credit unions, in particular, are looking at auto refinance as a means to provide savings and enhance member loyalty. Moore points out that many consumers are locked into high interest rates from 2022-2023, and a substantial number could benefit from a rate drop, extended terms, or both. The demand for auto refinance is real and the market competitive, with partners like PenFed and American First Credit Union leaning heavily into this space for growth.
Nicholas Goraczkowski expands on the broader economic impact, stressing that in today’s high-cost economy, saving $100-$200 a month on a car loan is a “game changer” for families, providing a lifeline for essential needs like keeping lights on and putting food on the table. He also reveals that many credit union re-buy programs allow borrowers to skip one or two monthly payments, offering immediate cash flow relief. iLending leverages real-time credit bureau data, lender-specific requirements, and proprietary vehicle data to identify high-probability borrowers, ensuring efficiency and high conversion rates for their lending partners.
The discussion also touches upon the speed and security of iLending’s processes. Cedric Moore notes that credit unions are prioritizing speed in integrations, and iLending’s platform is 100% API friendly, SOC 2 compliant, and designed for easy integration with major LOS systems. He even mentions the rollout of their AI Task Force, dedicated to approaching new technology safely and deterring fraud through automated tools. Nicholas Goraczkowski concludes by emphasizing the importance of “responsible growth” in the auto refi space, focusing on creating opportunities for both borrowers and credit union partners.
To delve deeper into these insights and learn more about how iLending is navigating the evolving auto refinance market, be sure to watch the full video interview below.
Disclosure: Transcript below is automatically generated
Sarah Cooke
Welcome everybody to The Credit Union Connection. I am Sarah Snell Cooke your host. I am here today with two glorious gentlemen from iLending, and the first one to my left is Nicholas Goraczkowski , hopefully I said that right. Who’s the president of iLending? Welcome Pleasure to meet you. You as well. And below us and but certainly well above us is Cedric Moore, who is director of lender relations. Welcome to you as well.
Cedric Moore
Hello, hello. Thank you for having me. I appreciate you. Absolutely.
Sarah Cooke
Love ya. So let’s get started. So let’s start generally the trends in lending, what’s going on? Because I know everybody wants to know, and you have that crystal ball, I’m sure
Cedric Moore
that is the question, and we are in the trenches, right, so we’re certainly seeing a definitive shift, right? Lenders are getting more aggressive. They’re looking at capturing that auto loan volume, especially as credit card balances are hitting record highs and delinquency rates are certainly rising. So borrowers on the you know, on the fly right now, they’re looking at ways to tighten their budget anyway, to provide immediate savings. And an auto refinance is certainly one of the ways to do it. And credit unions are looking at that particularly as a way to provide those savings and improve member loyalty,
Sarah Cooke
yeah. I mean, that’s been the bread and butter of credits for a long time. Is Used Car Loans, for sure, and the values are going up again.
Cedric Moore
Yeah, just saw the report recently. They report on that. Yeah,
Sarah Cooke
absolutely. And so specific. Cedric to the refis, what are where do you see those trends going, among crimes, among their competitors? What have you? Yeah,
Cedric Moore
great question. So as far as trends go, right now, auto refinance is certainly having a moment, as I talked about with, you know, those rising delinquency rates, but for the most part, borrowers, or consumers, excuse me, were really locked into high interest rates from 2022, 2023 right? And there’s a huge wave of those borrowers that can really benefit right now from a rate drop, an extended term, or even both. So people are really retaining vehicles longer, and lenders are looking to capture maybe higher LTV, higher mileage vehicles, and kind of stretching their loan terms to capture that and to make their loans suitable, right? So there’s really that huge amount of underserved borrowers that are ready to refinance, and our partners just need to capitalize that, and they’re looking for ways to increase their loan volume month over month. So right now, the demand, it’s real the window, it’s competitive. But as of right now, we’re talking to our current lenders, some of our partners, long term partners. We have pen fed, we’ve got American first credit union. We were talking with them recently at the auto finance summit in Nashville, and both of them are leaning heavily into that auto refinance space to provide growth and really, you know, offset some of their internal, internal, internal use right now. So they’re really trying to lean into indirect partners that are proven to do just that. Yeah,
Sarah Cooke
I was offered, I think it was an eight year car loan when I bought one last year, and I was shocked. I was like, no, no, you know. But for some
Cedric Moore
Yeah, if that makes sense, and that’s comfortable, and that’s not going to put you in a in a uncomfortable financial situation, that that’s going to get you to work, then that’s what you got to do, right? Exactly?
Sarah Cooke
Yeah, for sure. Because cars are so ridiculously expensive anymore, new or used,
Cedric Moore
100% Unfortunately, though, they are so ridiculously essential, right to everyday.
Sarah Cooke
Nick, this could really be a huge boon for consumers with the economic uncertainty at hand, right?
Nicholas Goraczkowski
Absolutely, like you said, Sarah, the cost of vehicles right now is just to the roof, right? But it’s not just cars. In today’s high cost economy, you got your food, your insurance, just the day to day living expenses. The ability to save one $200 a month on a car loan is a game changer for families. It’s more than just helpful. It’s a lifeline. It’s keeping lights on. It’s putting food on the table. So it’s not just a smart financial move, it’s a powerful way to for credit unions to help protect their members and show loyalty to their members. You know, they’re showing them that, hey, we care about you as a person, as a family, not just trying to get on the road, on the book, right? Yeah. On top of that, it’s not just about the lowering the monthly payment, right? So many of these credit unions look at these rebuy programs, and they can allow the borrowers to skip one or two monthly payments, so as opposed to saving on a monthly basis. You know, they’re providing immediate cash flow release when families need it most. So the ability to skip a few payments, but creates breathing room for families, right? So the smaller, more immediate wins that big impact, and that’s why more and more of these lenders and lead partners are coming to us to help them find families that you. Are facing financial pressure and looking for some relief. And so what
Sarah Cooke
sort of data are you looking at when you’re suggesting that a refi is on behalf of your lenders?
Nicholas Goraczkowski
Yeah, at lending, we leverage a combination of a lot of real time credit bureau data, lender specific buy boxes. You know, what do they want? What kind of borrowers they looking for? We look at proprietary vehicle data to help us identify the high probability borrowers. So we don’t want to just send folks to, you know, throw names out and see if they get it. We want to connect credit unions and connect borrowers with folks who are likely to convert and take advantage of that opportunity in front of them. You know, we don’t want to waste marketing leads. We don’t want to waste marketing dollars. So we like to refine our funnel the best we can before the applications are sent to the lending partner. That allows us to be as highly efficient in converting for people as we can, right? And we’re looking to continue to grow, as Cedric said, that market’s growing a ton this year, and as demands continuing, we’re scaling our efforts accordingly as well. I mean, last month alone, we increased our marketing investments by over 20% just a reflection on, you know, what our model can do and our confidence in it,
Sarah Cooke
and the timing is right for sure. It seems like nobody knows the stock market’s way up way down, you know, or egg. Eggs are $12, a dozen and gas to put in that car. That refinancing changes every day. Yeah, and those cars, I mean, they, like you said, it’s a lifeline, because not only you know that saves them a few dollars, but that also gets them to or a few $100 Excuse me, but that can, you know, that gets them to work, that gets them their kids to soccer practice I get, you know, car, it’s more than a loan that credit unions make, and I wish they would see it that way too. A lot, I don’t feel like a lot do, but, but anyway, so, um, what are the top cranes Nick that the crane leaders are asking you?
Nicholas Goraczkowski
I think when we talk to credit unions, the standard questions are, you know, how do we grow without being a big lift on our internal systems? I mean, everyone’s limited with resources now, whether it’s employees or data, just, you know, financial resources. So how do we grow without doing that? What is the risk profile to borrowers? How do we know that we have control of the borrowers we want? You not just going to throw us people that don’t fit our buckets. And then, of course, once we get through that, it’s how fast can we get on the platform, you know? So for that, I, like kind of said, I lending our processes. You’re built for speed without sacrificing any precision, right? And we want to handle that integration to their ll los, we want to align on what their underwriting criterias are, and customize any workflows to fit, you know, what their internal teams already doing. We don’t want to make it a lift. We want to kind of just slide into what they’re currently doing. Right? You don’t need to overhaul the entire internal process or add extra bodies and head counts. We’re here to do that heavy lifting so they can just kind of start receiving those high intent, pre qualified applications fast. And you know, our goal is to make their entry into the rebuy market seamless and revenue positive, starting on day one, right?
Sarah Cooke
And those have to be, of course, good loans, like you were saying, looking at all that data and making sure those loans are a high probability that they’re going to be paying back. Because, of course, always a big, big deal for lenders to mitigate their risks as much as possible. It is, yeah,
Nicholas Goraczkowski
and you know, to your point, I mean, a lot of folks, it’s different than someone originally buying a new car, because if you’re looking at someone refinancing a vehicle, they’re already paying $500 a month or whatever on that car payment, and they’ve had a proven history of doing that. So we can say, I like that vehicle I’m already paying on. If I can keep the car and pay $150 a month less, that’s a proven, consistent, you know, paying member. So it’s really just it performs a lot better than a brand new origination would at a dealership, right?
Sarah Cooke
Exactly. That makes perfect sense. And what about the credit union tech leaders? How are they looking at this and positioning it within their departments?
Cedric Moore
You know, that’s a great question. And going back to Nick as well, as far as speed goes, speed is obviously a huge thing for a lot of credit unions this year, whether it’s refinancing and getting integration with a partner like us, whether it’s a tech like an AI software, they want to get their their onboarding done as quickly as possible. And obviously, speed is my middle name. I don’t know i Sir, I know you’ve had the opportunity and pleasure of talking with me. I like to talk fast and get things done fast. So, you know, obviously they like to talk about integration. They like to talk about compliance. Compliance is a big one, and data security and rightfully so, right? So our platform is 100% API friendly. We’re soft to compliant, and we are designed to easily integrate with Meridian, Link, dealer, track, huddle, you know, all of the big los system. So we really handle all of the due diligence. We handle all the heavy lifting, and we make on. Putting super simple, fast and secure on top of that data, as I mentioned, data security tools and is a big thing, right? So we have actually just out unrolled our AI Task Force, which is a which is awesome. It’s a big group of us right now internally, executives that are talking about AI in our marketplace. Obviously, it’s a huge driver and how we’re approaching this new technology in a way that really keeps our partners safe, right? So we want to make sure that we’re doing that, as well as creating more automated tools, automated borrower and vehicle verification, all of these things to help deter fraud and things of that nature to really, to really help with our compliance and data security. Yeah, just
Sarah Cooke
to follow up on that too. How long from like signature to implementation,
Cedric Moore
we’re looking at 24 48 hours, right? But at the same time, it really comes down to the credit union, right? We want to make sure that this is a process that works best for our credit union, so we’ll get that application signed, sealed, delivered over to that partner. It’s really up to them to make sure that they get their funding processes in order so that they can turn around quickly. Yeah,
Sarah Cooke
get going right away. So Cedric, then I’m going to ask you, what is keeping you up at night these days?
Cedric Moore
I love that question, and I will, I will honestly say that, you know, I worked this job 24/7, right? I’m invested in this, and right now, credit unions are leaving real member savings and value right on the table. That’s what keeps me up right now, knowing that there’s a lot of people out there that really are paying more than what they need to on their auto loans, and credit unions have the tools they have the opportunity to really help them so and impact their lives on a daily basis. So anything I can do to connect with credit unions and provide those savings, that’s what
Sarah Cooke
I’m going to do, yeah, and so I’m going to ask one final question. I guess this is my usual final thoughts. I’m going to Nick you’re the boss man. I’ll go to you. What do you want to leave our credit union audience with? Um, I’ll
Nicholas Goraczkowski
just say, you know, we all see the growing momentum and conversations about auto revised and the news everywhere you look, and there’s more folks jumping in and seeing the opportunity. And the outlook is, I mean, it’s strong. Things are some things are aligning for the auto refi boom, like you said before, with the tariffs and interest rates and the demand is out there. But it’s not about just chasing volume to grow quickly. It’s about driving responsible growth, and that’s what we really want to focus on, get the responsible growth that creates opportunity for the borrowers, the members, as well as, you know, partners and credit unions. It’s not going to be an easy year, right? I mean, there’s definitely the road ahead is going to have its bumps in it, but, you know, we’re built for the journey ahead and ready to lead the way and help folks that are trying to jump into the refi space do that and kind of help them and point them in the right direction. So if something you’re interested in joining into, reach out to Cedric or myself. We, our emails are in the links, and we’re always on LinkedIn, active and open to conversation. So looking forward to talking to everybody.
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