Keep Auto Loans in the Fast Lane With Multiple Ways to Pay

Borrowers want options when making auto loan payments, including easy, convenient and secure digital payments that suit their needs and lifestyles. Are your auto loans delivering the choices today's consumers expect?

According to the Eighth Annual Billing Household Survey from Fiserv, 90 percent of households use more than one payment method, yet some auto lenders don't make it easy for people to make payments how and when they want.

Auto lenders should keep in mind three key points:

1. Give Customers Options
People expect to be able to easily and quickly make their auto loan payments when and how they want – no matter the size of your institution. Provide multiple ways to pay, including digital options that enable people to quickly make their payments and get on with their lives. According to the Billing Household Survey, 21 million households change payment methods from month to month – mailing a check one month to making a mobile payment the following month, for example. That's up 40 percent from the previous study. Borrowers may prefer one-time or recurring payments, so auto lenders need to support both. The bottom line? Relying solely on coupon books and checks is no longer enough to satisfy today's borrower.

2. Go Mobile
According to the Fourth Annual Biller Mobile Bill Pay Benchmark Study from Fiserv, 24 percent of visits to biller websites are from mobile devices. What are people doing when they get there? They're paying bills. Paying a bill is the top activity for mobile visits to billers' websites and 33 percent of U.S. online households are paying at least one bill through a mobile device each month, according to the same study. To meet the needs of borrowers, make it easy and intuitive for borrowers to access, set up and make their auto loan payments on a mobile device.

3. Promote, Promote, Promote
If you build it, they might not come. Billers sometimes think that if they have a multichannel billing and payment solution, customers will automatically begin using it. What we know is that you have to promote, promote, promote. It takes several touchpoints to become aware of something and billing and payments are no different. From your homepage, to emails to direct mailings, making consumers aware of their auto lending billing and payment options is the key to increased adoption and usage – and cost savings.

Build Satisfaction and Retention
According to the Billing Household Survey, 71 percent of households report increased customer satisfaction with billers that offer multiple billing and payment options. Billers must think about how customers want to make payments on their auto loans and deliver the kinds of digital options people expect.

Interested in learning more? Check out the recorded CBA webinar Are Your Car Loans Stalled in the '80s? from Gary Brand and Monica Orluk, director of sales engineering at Fiserv, in addition to a NowTalk on the same topic at Fiserv Forum 2016.