E*Trade Financial plans expansion into powersport fields

E*TRADE Consumer Finance Corp., formerly Ganis Credit Corporation, is planning a major expansion of its financial services into the powersports industry, company officials said.
The move follows the acquisition of Ganis in November 2002 by E*TRADE Bank for $101 million. At that time, Ganis serviced about $3.5 billion in consumer loans.
Ganis specializes in consumer lending through dealers.
E*TRADE executives plan to parley the company’s expertise in consumer lending that it has developed over 24 years as a leading lender to dealers in the RV and marine industries.
“We’ve been in motorsports for awhile,” Mitch Shatzen, director of marketing for E*TRADE Financial, said during a recent interview with Powersports Business. “But this year we are looking to dramatically grow (that business.)” The powersports business will be limited to motorcycle lending in the near future, he said.
E*TRADE works with OEMs as well as dealers, said Shatzen. Today, it provides programs with Ducati and KTM.
At this time, E*TRADE Financial services more than 3,000 active dealers, businesses that have funded a contract within the last 12 months. It has about 450 motorcycle dealers.
Even though there is substantial competition for financial services in the powersports industry through GE companies, Shatzen said he’s confident E*TRADE will succeed.
“I believe what we’ve done in RV and marine,” he said, “by the service and the relationships we have with dealers and OEMs, has set a great foundation for what we can do in this business. There are some big names out there, but we believe with our culture — the way we do things — we can grow a significant share (of the market).”
While Shatzen expects to provide dealers with online loan processing later this year; today the processing is done via FAX. Turnaround time on consumer loan applications is about 30 minutes, he said. And a dealer can expect his disbursement check within 24 hours of sending in the loan paperwork, if it is complete and has no errors.
Shatzen says the company uses a “common sense” approach in approving loans and evaluates each application on its merits. psb