An open letter to auto dealers from Exeter Finance CEO Jason Grubb

We’ve heard it all before: Subprime customers are poor. They’re deadbeats. They shouldn’t be able to buy new things if they can’t afford them. Wrong, wrong and wrong. Each one of those statements is completely false. And we’d like to tell you why in three short thoughts.

Consumer Reports examined years of test data and hundreds of thousands of survey responses to find the best used cars for under $20,000.

It may seem counterintuitive to think that auto finance companies, like Exeter, are happy to lend less money. In fact, you might think it would hurt us to lend less money. The truth, though, is that it helps. It helps the consumers who borrow the money and purchase the cars, automobile dealerships where cars are sold, and lenders like Exeter...

When a customer is looking for a new or used car, you don’t have to automatically rule them out just because they have filed for bankruptcy in the past...

At Exeter, one of the ways we try to stay on top of our game is through extensive training. Our Dealer Sales Managers (DSMs), for example, recently spent a full week together learning more about our industry and our dealers.

Do you know what a “subprime” credit score is? The answer is that it depends on whom you ask. Each of the major consumer credit bureaus defines it differently. Here’s how the bureaus define the categories. FICO credit scores range from 300 to 850; higher scores mean better credit.