BATON ROUGE, La. — Wolters Kluwer Financial Services

announced Wednesday that Credit Union Acceptance Company (CUAC), a credit union

service organization that represents 130 credit unions in the indirect auto

finance market, has joined its AppOne credit union platform.

AppOne provides risk mitigation, compliance and

Internet-based workflow automation technology to auto dealers and auto lenders.

Using the AppOne platform, CUAC can enable participating credit unions to

originate auto loans from AppOne’s network of auto dealers while helping to

minimize risk, comply with applicable law, and reduce overall lender

operational costs.

“Sometimes there is a misconception that independent auto

dealers are only looking for subprime lenders,” said Lee Domingue, CEO of

indirect lending at Wolters Kluwer Financial Services. “But many prime

customers are buying used vehicles, particularly in the current marketplace.

Working with CUAC, we help our dealer customers connect with more credit union

lending sources.”

In April, the number of independent auto dealerships rose

for the first time since 2006, according to CNW Marketing Research. The firm

attributes the increase to growing strength in the used car market and layoffs

at franchised dealerships. Independent dealers are focused on maintaining

positive relationships with lenders as they continue to look for ways to build

their business.

“Not only does AppOne help CUAC’s participating credit

unions build a new growth channel with independent dealers, but it also helps

mitigate the compliance and operational risks credit unions face every day,”

said Kurt Howard, executive vice president at CUAC. “AppOne’s platform

simplifies the auto lending process from start to finish, which ultimately

benefits our credit unions’ business.”