A unique new funding program offered by Advantage Funding, an independent transportation lender, is helping more automobile dealerships expand customer financing by reducing roadblocks to credit approvals.

“The largest hurdle for dealers looking to enter the subprime lending space is access to capital,” Ed Kaye, president of Advantage Funding, told members of the National Vehicle Leasing Association (NVLA) at NVLA’s annual conference here. “With the Lease Here Pay Here Program, we are removing that hurdle for many dealers across the country.”

Advantage Funding worked with LHPH, LLC, a San Diego-based lease service provider, for more than one year to develop a dealer finance model that is profitable and easy for dealers to use. “The Lease Here Pay Here (LHPH) finance structure works for both subprime loans and leases,” Kaye said, “enabling dealers to fund the cost of the vehicle, plus a small mark up, at below-market interest rates.”

Lease Here Pay Here is considered an affordable, legal, and highly profitable vehicle lease program, notes Kaye. “Using this program, dealers no longer have to deploy their own capital to fund sub-prime transactions,” Kaye said. “They can also generate positive cash flow on every subprime deal, every month.”

LHPH features short-term financing and low monthly payments. Dealers retain ownership of the vehicles throughout the lease period, and customers return the vehicles to the dealer at lease end. As a recourse line of credit, any default on the underlying contract is guaranteed by the dealer and must be paid off within 30 days of the default.

“The Advantage Funding LHPH program allows dealers to receive quick funding, drive positive cash flow, and maintain control of their customers—all in an affordable, consumer-compliant environment supported by industry experts,” Kaye said.

Advantage Funding is a leading non-captive lender to the U.S. ground transportation industry.  It is a subsidiary of Marubeni America Corporation, the multibillion-dollar, multinational general Japanese trading company.