Trident Funding was a new presenter this year at Brown & Brown’s F&I school. The correspondent lender is a direct lender, rather than the indirect lenders most RV dealers do business with today. James Barron, RV director, and Nate Richard, senior director, said their goal is to complement RV dealers’ programs rather than compete with indirect lenders.
To do so, the duo highlighted aspects of Trident Funding’s RV lending program that may fill in gaps other lenders cannot fund. One area is adventure trailers and overlanding vehicles. Overlanding vehicles might not qualify as RVs, so indirect lenders may not be able to provide purchase funding in this space, while Trident can.
Another area is custom Type B motorhome conversions. Because many custom conversion manufacturers’ vehicles are not listed in the National Automobile Dealers Association guides, indirect lenders cannot provide a value to the vehicle bought.
“They may not be RVIA certified,” Barron said. “We have some relationships with manufacturers who are not RVIA certified. They are working towards that but it may take time.”
Another major presentation focus was Trident Funding’s ability to refinance loans.
With RV loans’ interest rates soaring in the past 18 months, Barron and Richard said their lending program can provide options to dealers and consumers when interest rates fall. In addition, Richard stressed the refinance solution benefits to potential buyers today.
“This is a tool to help you sell your units today,” Richard said, “because you are able to tell the customer, ‘I know you might feel like this payment is high today. Guess what, when it makes sense, we can help you facilitate the refinance and get you into more affordable monthly payments. Don’t miss out on a camping season because you are waiting on rates to drop.’”
Richard said creating a sense of urgency with the refinance option later can be a powerful incentive to consumers seeking an RV purchase today.
Trident Funding also will work with RV dealers to provide marketing messages to consumers who have bought at higher interest rates in the past two years. The customers can benefit from refinancing when rates fall.
Other program highlights include the ability to fund RVs on consignment—Baron said because the dealer does not own the collateral, indirect lenders should not be making such loans—funding LLCs, including Montana LLCs, unsecured personal loans to pay for items such as major parts/service and Member Interest Purchase Agreements (MIPAs).
MIPAs are agreements to buy an entire LLC rather than creating an LLC to purchase an RV, then needing to buy the RV from the LLC. Baron said MIPAs streamline paperwork to complete a purchase.
