RMIF and Moneyway team up
The Retail Motor Industry Federation
(RMI) has teamed up with motor finance lender Moneyway to provide
dealer finance to prime and near-prime customers.
The RMI’s newly-launched RMI Motor Finance division
will offer the Moneyway-created product to its dealer members, to
help them source point of sale finance for non-prime customers.
The product “is designed to fill the gap that has
been left by many subprime lenders leaving the market”, and will
help dealers to sell more cars, the RMI said.
Stricter credit underwriting standards among prime
customers have also contributed to the lack of available funds for
non-prime customers, the RMI added.
RMI Motor Finance will also provide a point of sale
finance product to prime customers. Its online portal will give
dealers a “one-stop shop” finance offering, according to the
federation. The RMI will market and promote the product via its
website, literature and field sales teams, while Moneyway will also
promote the product with its own sales team.
David Nield, head of asset finance and lending at
Moneyway said: “When considering our entry into the motor finance
market a year or so ago, we were very determined to avoid being
just another ‘me too’ proposition.
“We have invested in a new, simple to use, online
registration and application process which we hope can help RMI
members in this difficult economic environment.”
Head of RMI Commercial Services, Julian Phillips
said: “When the financial crisis was at its peak and RMIF CEO Rob
Foulston stated that the RMI was looking at alternative ways to
access finance for its members, Moneyway approached Rob and the
product was jointly developed from there.
“We chose Moneyway as they are reputable and we
were very impressed by their system, which is simple to use, very
fast and innovative with an excellent interface. We are keen to
ensure the product’s success in the market and believe it will be
very popular across a wide sector of our membership.”
The response so far has been “excellent”, Phillips
noted.
“We believe there will be substantial take-up, both
from RMI members who do not currently offer a finance product and
also from RMI members who might use RMI Motor Finance to complement
their existing finance offering,” he added.
RMI Motor Finance does not have a set lending
target, Phillips said; regarding underwriting, “the key thing is to
be able to see stability in the profiles and sufficient evidence
that the payment can be supported – the pricing therefore reflects
this level of risk”.
He added: “RMI Motor Finance’s aim is to support
customers with good intent and offer a pricing that enables a
regular dealer to construct a deal as opposed to a subprime
specialist.”
RMI Finance also offers the new RMI Warranty
‘Reassure’, motor trade insurance, health care insurance, banking
and card processing, and has other products in development,
Phillips said.