Kelly Hamer, SVP and chief banking officer at Farm Bureau Bank, a financial institution with $769 in assets, sat down with us to describe her experience working with Open Lending. She outlines a change of direction in their lending business that serves all 50 states, which forced Farm Bureau to take re-evaluate how it would continue to support its auto lending business. She states that the bank’s challenge was, while working with 2,500 agents as of 2016, Farm Bureau found it was “too open, and had to find a solution to remain profitable.”At that time, the bank partnered with Open Lending’s Lender’s Protection™ program for growth and risk mitigation. Kelly is pleased with how it has been working for the bank, sharing that in the first year, Farm Bureau’s auto lending portfolio grew to about $300M dollars. Results she were extremely pleased with, but that isn’t the only highlight of our relationship with Farm Bureau.

Watch this video in Kelly Hamer’s own words!

Kelly recounts the early days of our relationship, when we were working together to set up Lender’s Protection within Farm Bureau Bank. We implemented our solution to be used by their 150-person operations team in San Antonio, TX, and she goes on to say, “I’ve been a part of many implementation processes with other partners, and while it sounds simple, you’re like ‘Where’s the surprise going to be?’ It went very smoothly.” Farm Bureau Bank’s implementation team of 6 people was well utilized. Team members were not distracted from their day-to-day responsibilities and were only involved when their expertise was needed.

Kelly’s been extremely pleased with her bank’s partnership with Open Lending and is looking for ways to grow it further. She loves how Farm Bureau Bank has been able to take so many would-be ‘no’s’ and turn them into ‘yeses’ – growing the bank’s portfolio and strengthening relationships with its customers.

Kelly relates that the Open Lending partnership has been an opportunity for the Farm Bureau Bank to take more risks safely and grow its auto loan portfolio successfully. She feels this program has helped her prove not only herself, but also her organization’s value by taking some chances. We look forward to continuing our relations to see how Open Lending and Farm Bureau Bank can continue to grow on the program’s success at the bank.

See how Open Lending's Lenders Protection can help you grow your auto loan portfolio and contact us today!