The College of Automotive Management in Santa Ana, Calif., announced Oct. 2 an agreement with Credit Union Direct Lending (CUDL) to add training for the CUDL system to their four-week F&I management curriculum.

"We believe that the CUDL system is an important and necessary tool for every F&I manager to understand if they are going to compete in this lending market and provide the most competitive financing options for their dealership and customers," said Eric Andersen, president and CEO of the College of Automotive Management. "CUDL has made tremendous progress in gaining market share and provides access to key credit union lending programs that otherwise are not accessible through conventional channels."

According to Anderson, dealerships and F&I managers who are not using CUDL are working with a handicap. "We are very excited to add this technology and decisioning system to our curriculum," Anderson said. "It is part of our continuous effort to be on the cutting edge with our F&I training programs."

The Credit Union Direct Lending system allows participating dealers to input applications on-line and provide instantaneous loan decisions to credit union members at the dealership. Currently the CUDL program includes 1,644 dealerships and 222 participating credit unions in California, Nevada, Texas, Oregon, Washington, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island. In 2001, CUDL credit unions funded 140,294 contracts for more than $2.5 billion in credit union auto financing.

The College adds CUDL to a list of other mutual agreements with various service providers in the automotive industry such as CREDCO merged credit reporting system and ADVENT F&I computer software systems to help students benefit from a real world and hands-on experience in a classroom environment.

About the College of Automotive Management

The College of Automotive Management, since 1993, has been specializing in helping students become F&I managers by providing more than 163 hours of classroom F&I education. Graduates of the College of Automotive Management also earn up to 28 educational credit units good at Northwood University towards any of their AA or BA degree programs.

The College of Automotive Management has released its latest edition of Automotive Finance Management, a 400+ page, hardbound reference guide to F&I. This publication is now available to the public at special reduced rates and includes much of the information taught in the four-week F&I curriculum offered by the College. For more information on this resource go to www.collegeofautomotive.com/spoffers.htm or call (714) 755-6835.