GrooveCar Direct Adds Three More Credit Unions

Credit unions in Georgia, New Jersey and Washington became partners in the fourth quarter of GrooveCar Direct, an online auto shopping and lending platform.

The platform is offered by GrooveCar Inc., a Farmingdale, N.Y., company launched in 1999 to help credit unions manage auto lending. Its website said it now has more than 350 credit union clients.

GrooveCar Direct is a white-label platform that allows credit union members to go to their credit union’s website to shop for cars — and hopefully get their loan directly through their credit union.

The idea is similar to CarSaver. CUNA Mutual Group announced earlier this month it has made an investment in CarSaver to provide credit unions with another tool to counter the marketing weight and technology prowess of a growing number of online sellers that usually bypass credit unions for lending.

Those new online selling models have cut into credit union auto loans, which account for about a third of credit union portfolios. CUNA estimated that new car balances for all credit unions fell 2% and used car loans grew 9.4% in the 12 months ending Nov. 30.

The three credit unions, which together had $366.4 million in assets and 33,545 members as of Dec. 31, had declining auto loan balances last year. Their new car loan balances fell 5.2% to $21.7 million, while used car balances fell 0.5% to $61.5 million.

The three credit unions were:

1. Marshland Credit Union of Brunswick, Ga. ($202.2 million, 17,256 members), where the balance for new car loans ended 2021 at $8.9 million, up 21.6% from a year earlier, while used car loans rose 9.7% to $36.2 million.

2. Healthcare Employees Federal Credit Union of Princeton, N.J. ($143.8 million, 16,289 members), where new car loans fell 18.8% to $10.6 million, while used car loans fell 16.4% to $23.4 million.

3. Community Healthcare Federal Credit Union of Everett, Wash. ($20.4 million in assets, 1,416 members), where new car loans fell 12.7% to $2.2 million last year, while used car loans more than doubled to $2 million.

With the three credit unions, GrooveCar Direct added 24 credit unions in 2021, following additions of 25 credit unions in 2020 and 71 in 2019.

The company said GrooveCar Direct “enables credit unions to easily engage their auto shopping members and drive auto loan growth through a customizable platform that is easy to implement and completely scalable. Members can browse local dealer inventory, research vehicles within their budget and apply for credit union financing — all from the comfort and safety of their homes.”