In traditional frameworks, missed payments boil down to one of two assumptions: either the borrower couldn’t pay, or they chose not to. Couldn’t pay or wouldn’t pay.

As the holiday season ramps up, so does consumer spending…and financial stress. From travel expenses to gift-giving splurges, borrowers often face sharp increases in personal debt as we near the end of the year. These behaviors have a direct impact on loan payment behavior, leading to increased late payments, higher default risk and an overburdened servicing staff.

Auto loan delinquencies are at their highest levels since the Great Recession, reshaping risk for lenders and servicers. Here’s how to protect your portfolio and your bottom line.

Borrowers have changed. Has your payment strategy?

Why Payment Flexibility Matters Now

Consumers expect flexible payments everywhere, from subscriptions to buy-now-pay-later at checkout. For businesses, offering installment plans builds loyalty, improves cash flow and even reduces delinquency rates.

Today’s increasingly complex automotive lending environment presents challenges both new and old for dealerships and their financial partners. While auto loan debt is nothing new, economic hardships for many consumers paired with the rising cost of vehicles is increasing the risk of delinquencies for borrowers of all types. Auto loan debt has reached levels higher than those of the pre-pandemic market, including for prime and midprime borrowers. With interest rates expected to remain at relatively high...

How many times have you used a digital payment method in the past week? Maybe you used a mobile checkout for your latest grocery order. Or maybe you used text-to-pay for your water bill. As these methods become more common, they cease to become a curiosity and become more of an expectation. 

As businesses navigate increasingly complex accounts payable (AP) processes, they face a growing challenge: finding and retaining skilled AP professionals. Recent economic uncertainty has only exacerbated this issue, with many organizations operating lean AP teams that struggle to keep up with the workload.

Auto loan payments shouldn’t be complicated. But for many borrowers (and the lenders serving them) making or processing a simple monthly payment can still involve outdated systems, limited options and unnecessary frustration. In today’s digital world, that’s a serious problem.

Consumer interest in digital banks has risen in recent years, especially among younger generations. As the use of remote services and business operations increases, individuals across age groups are becoming more comfortable with the idea of fully digital, as opposed to in-person, financial services. Up to 91% of consumers prioritize mobile and online access in choosing where to bank, in addition to security and fraud protection, according to Motley Fool Money's 2024 Digital Banking Trends and Consumer...