SAN FRANCISCO —CUDL, administrators of the nation’s largest auto lending network for credit unions and the CUDL AutoSMART vehicle shopping Website, premiered its new dealer portal Website at the 2011 NADA Convention and Expo.

The new CUDL Dealer Portal helps dealers secure credit union financing for their customers and access pre-qualified credit union members, increasing dealership opportunities through CUDL’s credit union lending platform. The portal allows dealers to view the status of loan applications, and access a variety of other tools that help them monitor lending activity on the CUDL Lending Platform and improve their overall operation.

Features of the new portal include the ability to easily search credit union member loan pre-approvals; a Dealer Queue for viewing and tracking all pending and funded deals; and view CUDL’s national, regional and credit union message boards that are displayed on the CUDL System, providing enhanced communication between dealers and credit unions. Dealers can also monitor data through the CUDL AutoSMART website, such as vehicle inventory being promoted to credit union members through the AutoSMART website.

“Our goal was to deliver an advanced site that provides all the tools dealers require to enhance their efforts to grow sales through the CUDL system,” stated Jerry Neemann, CUDL’s executive vice president and chief sales officer. “The portal is an integral part of overall efforts to help dealers add to their bottom lines and to further enhance the dealer-credit union relationship in the marketplace.”

Dealers have the ability to access important data from the CUDL lending platform through the new dealer portal, including:

• Number of participating credit unions and credit union members on the CUDL platform in their local region

• Database of preapproved customers (credit union members)

• National CUDL credit union lending data

• Number of visitors to the CUDL AutoSMART vehicle shopping website, as well as the number of members viewing their dealership’s inventory and store information

• Number of loans and total loan amount funded through the CUDL lending platform

The new portal site also offers dealers a number of educational tools, including online video training guides for CUDL’s full suite of products, streamlining the training of new store staff, and helping improve their store’s overall process efficiencies.

“Providing our auto dealer partners with a state-of-the-art site that enhances their ability to access more credit union member opportunities, process loans faster, and track important lending data on our platform is key to growing their overall success using the CUDL System,” added Mike Federoff, director of dealer solutions at CUDL.

Regional marketplace rollout of the new CUDL Dealer Portal is scheduled to begin in the second quarter of 2011.

CUDL continued to experience growth with its national auto lending network in 2010, signing 151 new credit unions and 1,158 new dealerships, reinforcing the important role credit union and dealer relationships are playing within today’s industry.  Currently, CUDL’s national lending network includes 6,900 dealerships and 935 credit unions, representing 27.5 million members, nationwide.