AURORA, Colo.–The first half of 2022 has been a record-setting six months when it comes to lending on the CU Direct/Origence platforms.
The next six months also look promising, although rising rates do make things more “iffy,” according to the CUSO’s CEO, who also introduced a number of product introductions and changes the company is making.
As CUToday.info reported earlier, credit unions lending via Origence made $39 billion in loans over the year’s first half, representing approximately 1.2 million loans. Overall, about 75% of those loans have been indirect to date, according to CEO Tony Boutelle.
In remarks to Origence’s Lending Tech Live meeting here, Boutelle walked attendees through the volume the company is seeing and how its offerings are changing and evolving.
Given what Origence has seen in the first half of the year, Boutelle said the company is on track to do $78 billion in loans for credit unions overall in 2022, but he cautioned volume could slow. Nonetheless, the lending is a big jump from 2021 when it did $57 billion in loans
“We are definitely engaging on our platforms. We are able to make loans to your members in a lot of ways,” Boutelle said.
Overall, Origence/CU Direct has relationships with 1,146 credit unions (114 of which are owners in the CUSO) and 15,700 auto dealers, he said. While primarily associated with auto lending, the company has expanded its POS presence to dealers of boats, motorcycles, trailers and more. It has also grown to include mortgage lending and auto leasing.
Product Rebranding
In addition, Boutelle introduced attendees to some rebrandings the company is now announcing, all of which are being rolled out under the “arc” umbrella.
"We chose the arc name because it symbolizes continuous progression and transformation – qualities that have always been at the heart of Origence’s DNA,” Boutelle stated.
According to the company, its new platform, Origence arc, brings together Origence’s two applications—its consumer loan origination system (LOS), and marketing automation—and combines them with a new digital member experience that will "offer significant benefits for both credit unions and members."
The new brands include:
- arc OS, formerly known as Lending 360
- arc DX. This is a new product that offers members a digital experience that delivers both online loan application and online account opening functionality, Origence said.
- arc MX. This was formerly Intuvo Marketing Automation, and is a "marketing automation platform built for credit unions, which includes digital, mobile, email and SMS marketing communications."
According to Boutelle and Origence, arc DX is a:
- Unified platform for membership, accounts and consumer lending
- Real-time decisioning platform
- Stipulation management and borrower communications solution
- Support for online and mobile prefilled application experience
- Support for e-sign
He said there are three CUs now live on platform and nine in the platform.
Arc OS
Boutelle said new enhancements include:
- 13 product releases YTD
- Release of document upload API
- Improvements to HELOC functions and M|HMDA
- New auto lease loan type
- New calculations, risk models and SSN verifications
The Key Thing
“The key thing isn’t about the name of the products, but how they work,” said Boutelle. “What we really want to do is invest in them and make them better. We are investing $44 million in our products this year.”
According to Boutelle, it is putting that $44 million into:
- Positioning top of funnel with arc DX
- Modernizing arc OS.
- Expanding partners and integrations
- Scaling Origence Lending Services
“We are modernizing the platform,” said Boutelle, pointing to a big release around an upgrade to 64-bit processing. “The biggest investment we are making is we are moving the database to the cloud. We have been working on that for a couple of years, and on Aug. 17 we are moving all of our products to the cloud.”
New Partnerships
Despite those investments, Boutelle noted Origence “can’t build everything” and to that end it has sought to also focus on APIs and partnership integrations.
Two of those integrations include partnerships with:
- Zest AI. This partnership is designed to increase approvals, manage risk and control loss, drive operational efficiency, and improve borrower experience, Boutelle said. “They do a custom scorecard for each credit union based on your membership and your data,” he explained.
- Informed IQ. Boutelle said the company uses machine learning to turn documents and data into decision. Focus on automated verifications of consumer credit applications in real time per a CU’s lending policies with 99% accuracy. The solution is likely to roll out in Q4.
API Partners
Finally, Boutelle updated credit unions on relationships Origence has built with six companies around refinancings. The CUSO has done $2.6 billion in auto refinance business to date with an average loan amount of $25,173 refinanced. Borrowers have had an average 701 credit score.
In addition, Boutelle said the suite of services now available through Origence Lending Services (formerly CUDC) include:
- Indirect auto loan and leases
- Recreational Vehicles
- Retail merchant lending
- Refi and direct auto
- Mortgage processing
The Vision
“This is our vision. It’s what every teammate is focused on--how do we create the ultimate origination experience for you and, more importantly, your members?” said Boutelle.