CMSS internet news...
Saturday February 6, 12:01 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
SOURCE: Credit Management Solutions, Inc.
CMSI Announces New Internet Lending Solution for Dealerships; CreditOnline(R) Allows Dealers to Tap New Source of Pre-Approved Leads
SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- At the National Automobile Dealers Conference, Credit Management Solutions, Inc. (CMSI) (Nasdaq: CMSS - news) today introduced its Internet lending solution -- CreditOnline® -- a service that enables automobile dealers to originate indirect auto loans over the World Wide Web. Designed as a complete automobile financing solution, CreditOnline harnesses the power of the Internet to provide dealers with a real-time, online mechanism to offer their customers the ability to submit a credit application electronically through the dealer's Web site and forward that application electronically to lenders. Applications can be directed to any dealer finance source seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day, and decisions can be received in minutes, unlike other Internet financing services which can take days.
Dealers benefit from CreditOnline by generating additional pre-approved customers, while retaining direct control over the financing options the dealership offers via the Internet. With more consumers researching and shopping over the Internet before visiting the dealership, convenient and affordable dealer financing is increasingly important in order to draw the customer into the showroom.
Consumers can access CreditOnline in one of several ways, either directly from the dealer's own Web site or from the Web site of an affinity group. CreditOnline can also be accessed indirectly through the dealer's affiliation with an aggregator (a Web site that offers a variety of vehicle-related products and services). CMSI is currently in discussions with several of the largest aggregators regarding the incorporation of CreditOnline as part of their services.
Consumers visiting a dealer's site can click on a finance icon to bring up a credit application, complete the application, and submit it to the designated dealer's financing sources -- all from the comfort of their own home. CreditOnline forwards the application to both the lender and the dealership electronically. Optionally, the F&I manager can choose to analyze the application first and then forward it electronically to the most appropriate lender, based upon the consumer's credit qualifications. A credit bureau can even be retrieved and analyzed automatically.
''We recognize the importance of the F&I office as a significant contributor to the dealership's bottom-line profit,'' said Peter M. Leger, CMSI's president and COO. ''That's why, when developing CreditOnline, we took special care to ensure that control of the loan application process remains in the hands of the dealership. The F&I manager can choose the lender's program that is most beneficial and profitable to the dealership.''
The consumer's completed credit application can be routed electronically to any one of the lenders on CMSI's CreditConnection® network. The credit application will be loaded directly into the lender's credit underwriting system. At present, there are 22 lenders live on the CreditConnection service, including AmeriCredit, Bank of America, Bank One, Compass, GMAC, Key AutoFinance, NationsBank, NMAC, Wachovia, and WFS Financial. These lenders can return a decision to the dealership electronically in a matter of minutes. The application can be automatically faxed to lenders who are not yet part of the CreditConnection network. Once the decision reaches the dealership, CreditOnline can inform the consumer electronically with dealer configurable e-mail messages. When the decisioning process is fully automated by the lender in question, the decision can, at the dealer's option, be transmitted to the consumer virtually instantaneously.
Although initially it will be implemented for automobile financing, the technology that powers CreditOnline is suitable for many types of consumer financing, including recreational vehicles, marine, home equity, mortgages and any other lending that is done through a point-of-sale Web site.
About CMSI
Founded in 1987 and headquartered in Annapolis Junction, Md., Credit Management Solutions, Inc. provides consumer credit automation and loan marketing software and services to major financial institutions and non-bank financial companies. Its flagship product, CreditRevue® is a credit origination and processing system used by financial institutions to automate and speed the processing and decisioning of all types of consumer loan products. CreditRevue clients include NationsBank, Banc One, Wells Fargo, The Associates, Wachovia, WFS Financial, and Nellie Mae, among others. In July 1996, CMSI's subsidiary, Credit Connection, Inc., introduced the CreditConnection®, a combined electronic network and service which electronically connects auto dealers with multiple financing sources for the submission and decisioning of loans and leases. In the automotive sector, CMSI has entered into strategic alliances with Automatic Data Processing (ADP) Dealer Services Group, and Universal Computer Systems, Inc. (UCS), the nation's leading providers of products and services to auto dealers and manufacturers' captive finance companies. In the commercial credit sector, the company has entered into a strategic alliance with Dun & Bradstreet, Inc., the world's leading provider of business-to-business credit, marketing information, and receivables management services.
Press releases and other CMSI information can be found on its web site: cmsinc.com.
This press release contains forward-looking statements. All forward- looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, including, without limitation, the risks detailed in CMSI's filings and reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Such statements are only predictions and actual events or results may differ materially. |
