Prestige Financial Seeks Out Dealer Relationships as It Returns to Growth

SALT LAKE CITY — After making some tough decisions and pulling back on loan volumes approved and dealer relationship numbers, Scot Seagrave, of Prestige Financial, said the company is ramping back up and reaching out to more dealers.

The plan is to double originations this year, SubPrime Auto Finance News reported. Prestige Financial currently funds about $8 million in auto loans a month and is looking to maintain $15-$20 million a month for the rest of the year. The company hit a high of $40 million a month in 2007 and dropped to $3 million in 2009.

"When the year started we were down to 200 dealerships that were actively submitting applications to us," Seagrave explained to SubPrime Auto Finance News. "Unfortunately, we had to make some tough decisions over the last few years and stop doing business with quite a few dealers due to financing constraints. However, we have added about 150 stores in the last 90 days and are looking to add to that number throughout the year. We believe it will take quite a few more dealerships than it did in the past to accomplish the same amount of volume."

Helping to drive this growth is a $150 million securitization deal reached in December.

Discussing this deal and the capital markets as a whole, Seagrave said, "In a way, our December securitization really marked the end of the ABS (asset-backed securities) drought for subprime auto, in that it was only the second deal in about a year and a half to succeed without relying on the government's Term Asset-Backed Loan Facility program or a third-party insurance policy. There's been a lot of ABS auto activity so far this year, including several sizable subprime deals that have gotten attractive prices.

"During the downturn, subprime auto, for the most part, outperformed many other securitized asset classes, as well as the market's expectations. So it proved to be very resilient, even during difficult times," he continued. "As a result, what we're seeing now is increased investor confidence in subprime auto, and with yields so narrow on prime securitizations, investors who are wanting a little more bang for their buck are looking to subprime auto as a place to put their money — even some investors who might not have considered the space a few years ago."

While he clarified that this doesn't mean that money is flowing at the same levels as it was in 2006 and 2007, he said subprime lenders who have "earned their stripes" can now access liquidity.