Powersports finance lenders must meet rigorous requirements and focus on three key risk areas. These include customer relationships, risk mitigation, and streamlining day-to-day operations. These three areas are interrelated. Understanding and implementing each one is crucial to minimizing risks and ensuring customer satisfaction. In this blog, we will discuss three key approaches to reduce credit risk in powersports financing deals.
Powersports Financing: 3 Key Approaches to Reducing Risk
There are three important approaches to reduce powersports financing credit risk. These include the following:

Dynamic Credit Scoring
Powersports financing is a sector that carries several risks, so it is critical to conduct proper asset checks and comprehensive credit assessments. Using a dynamic credit scoring model ensures that the credit score is accurate and reflects the risk associated with a given borrower. This means that it is essential to replace manual procedures with a state-of-the-art platform that parses credit reports, parses DIC valuations, and assists manual re-scoring and updated debt-to-income estimates. Ideally, such a platform should provide a configurable model. Moreover, it should offer an intelligent scoring engine that parses the credit report and loan application and incorporates an automated decision-making tool.
Powersports financing lenders have a number of strict requirements. They must focus on three areas: strengthening customer relationships, mitigating risk, and streamlining day-to-day operations. The scoring engine should incorporate information from the loan application, credit bureau reports, and debt-to-income calculations to come up with an accurate score.
Powersports financing also faces regulatory and documentation requirements that are similar to auto lending. To be compliant, powersports lenders should consider software solutions that ensure documentation compliance. The software should store key transaction documents, such as contracts, disclosures, and titles. In addition, it should be compatible with the Electronic Fund Transfer Act, which regulates the use of electronic funds transfers. The system should also store transaction history, payment pre-authorization, and adverse action notices.
Debt-to-Income Calculations
Debt-to-Income (DTI) calculations for powersports financing are calculated based on a borrower’s monthly income minus any monthly debt payments. This figure includes credit card bills, auto loans, student loans, alimony, and child support payments. It does not include expenses such as groceries and rent. Moreover, many powersport lenders do not consider mortgage payments in DTI calculations. As a result, it is advisable to reduce your debt before taking out a powersports loan.
When determining whether or not you qualify for a loan, it is crucial to understand your current debt-to-income ratio (DTI). This measure of your monthly income versus monthly debts indicates whether or not you are a low or High-Risk borrower. High DTI ratios are considered high risks for lenders, so a low DTI ratio is preferable.
Auto-Decisioning
Powersports financing organizations are turning to smart software to enhance the loan application process, including automated form completion. They also make use of open banking technology to leverage historical data and process the information automatically, which increases the efficiency of underwriting. With such tools, customers can tailor deals to suit their individual needs, and finance organizations can fine-tune risk associated with various equipment and vehicles.
When choosing a powersports finance platform, look for a scoring engine that is integrated into the platform. This engine should evaluate the loan application, credit report, and debt to income calculation. It should also be able to handle manual re-scoring and refreshed debt-to-income estimates.
Powersports financing transactions will inevitably face regulatory and disclosure requirements. While lenders have a small window to prepare for these requirements, dealers should consider adopting software solutions that support regulatory compliance. For instance, origination software should store key transaction documents like contracts, disclosures, and titles. The software must also be able to support the Electronic Fund Transfer Act and store transaction history.
For lenders, auto-decisioning is useful for both very good and very poor credit scores. It complements FICO scores with other data to paint a more accurate picture of applicants’ creditworthiness. Lenders can use this additional information to make confident decisions and reduce the risk of bad credit decisions.
If you want to get loan and still have bad credit, you can reach out First Nation Powersports. We will provide you a powersports financing plan that will solve your problem!