Tom CollinsExecutive Vice President and Managing Director Freedom Road Financial, is committed to driving the growth of OEM partners of powersports lenders with a leadership approach centered on quality of work and attention to detail.
Collins began his career as a branch banker. Comerica Bank Before moving to Chicago and running an indirect automated loan program at a community bank.While there, Collins said he launched an indirect motorcycle lending program auto finance newsthen took over Harley-Davidson Financial Services‘ Operations Center in Carson City, Nevada. Evergreen Bank Group.
“My passion has always been motorcycles,” said Collins, noting that his enthusiasm was the initial motivation for launching an indirect motorcycle lending program in Chicago.
Collins continues to combine his passion and expertise to launch new programs on FreedomRoad. in June, The lender has launched a loan program Eugene, Oregon-based electric vehicle manufacturer Arcimot To finance consumer loans for manufacturer tricycles. Founded in 2007, the manufacturer offers two of his three-wheeled models, the Fun Utility Vehicle (FUV), which is currently shipping, and the Deliverator, which is available for pre-order.
Auto Finance Excellence We spoke with Collins about his career and current outlook for the powersports industry. Below is an edited version of the conversation.
Auto Finance Excellence: What is your company?Describe your goal in 10 words or less.
Tom Collins: Facilitate the growth of our partners in the powersports market.
AFEs: What’s your favorite piece of leadership advice you’ve ever received?
TCs: Don’t avoid difficult conversations. Tackle problems quickly with empathy. Use uncertainty, deadlines, and workload anxiety as catalysts for success.
AFEs: What do you think are the most undervalued lending trends?
TCs: Leverage non-traditional data to make better credit decisions. Investigate adoption of broader payment channels, such as: Venmo, Zell, cash app and text message exchanges. Proceed with caution as the industry promotes voluntary customer service. It basically eliminates customer service as we have traditionally known it. Other industries are fine but we in the powersports market are in a fun business. We prefer to talk to us about our purchases because we are part of it. We truly share their enthusiasm. It is good for our customers to have these conversations, and it is good for our employees to participate in them. You need to balance self-service and personal service.
AFEs: Who has had the biggest impact on your career?
TCs: Personally, it was my parents who exemplified the value, satisfaction and reward of hard work. Professionally, I was a bank manager named Patricia Darden. She was a year away from my manager training program. Comerica Bank in Detroit. After my training, I was assigned to work as a branch bank clerk in an inner-city branch on the west side of Detroit. Mr. Darden taught us the importance of quality and attention to detail. This laid the foundation for all my other skills and learnings in my career. I didn’t realize how important it was to my development until many years later. She didn’t even get a chance to thank her. Thank you Mr. Darden.
AFEs: What surprises your employees to find out about you?
TC: My wife and I stood in line for nearly three hours to secure tickets to a Clay Aiken concert. This was the peak of his post-American Idol fame.I was a little out of place among the self-proclaimed “claymates”,But it was a great concert and it was worth the wait. What can I say, he has a great voice.
The Powersports Finance Summit, the premier event for companies involved in RV financing, will be held October 25-26 at Wynn Las Vegas. Find out more about the 2022 event and registration here. www.PowersportsFinance.com.
https://www.autofinancenews.net/allposts/auto-finance-excellence/operations-afe/5-questions-with-freedomroad-financial-evp-and-managing-director-tom-collins/ Five Questions… FreedomRoad Financial EVP and Managing Director Tom Collins
