SAFE Federal Credit Union set an auto loan record of $79.4 million during its spring 2017 “Driving You Forward” promotion, generating more than 3,000 loans and adding nearly 2,000 new members.
An impressive $50 million of the total loan volume was in the form of indirect (auto dealer-initiated) lending through SAFE.
The total volume of new loans during the 10-week campaign was 13 percent higher than the previous record of $70 million, set in the spring of 2016. For the promotion period, SAFE offered interest rates as low as 2.24 percent, for up to 60 months, well below its usual 2.99 percent auto loan rate.
The loan total exceeded SAFE’s goal of $51 million by almost 60 percent. Ronnie Warner, vice president of lending for SAFE, explained why SAFE set a more modest goal for this spring’s campaign.
“After the great success of our 2016 promotions, in the spring and the fall, we believed we had pretty much saturated our auto loan market,” Warner said. “With that, we may have lowered our projections a bit, but we were incredibly pleased and surprised at the results.”
Several elements drove the success of the loan campaign. SAFE offered an attractive rate and advertised heavily, emphasizing loan pre-approvals. Television advertising, which highlighted how SAFE auto loans fit every stage of members’ lives, also appeared to resonate very well.
SAFE generated a total of 3,108 loans, with an average loan amount of $25,546. The credit union’s Bishopville branch turned in the strongest loan performance, achieving 114 percent of its goal.
