Achieving Multiple Timeliness Goals for Auto Loans: A Case for Process Control

To attract auto loan business from car dealers, credit companies focus on a quick credit decision, quick car payment to the dealer, and quick setup of the buyer’s loan account. Managing loan processing to achieve these timeliness goals for several customer groups is challenging. One credit company found that while dealers were paid within the desired time, some customers waited three times longer than others for their account setup. This company must manage processing for several products with different process flows and with highly varying volume. To help the credit company manage loan processing, I worked with a team of credit company employees to develop and implement a statistical process control approach to monitor the timeliness of car payment and account setup for different customer groups. The loan-processing department now uses this approach weekly to help it identify dispatching, labor assignments, and other operating procedures that cause excessively fast or lengthy times. By modifying its staffing and operating policies, the company has provided customer groups with comparable response times, reduced the duration of poor service, and improved labor productivity.