Your members come to you first. So why does the dealer keep winning the loan?
New — 2026
Credit unions win the member’s trust, win the application, and then lose the loan in the last hundred feet — inside a dealership built to flip it. Your dashboards count the approval and never count the loan that walked. Pre-Approved names that leak, explains why auto-buying services never fixed it, and lays out how to get to the member first, keep the loan you approve, and run it all with a lean team and an AI engine.
Illustrative funnel from the book. Your approval rate looks great; your funding rate is the number nobody runs.
A two-minute estimate of what the gap between approved and funded is costing your credit union every year. Adjust the numbers to match your book.
Most credit unions have never measured this. It is usually far lower than the approval rate.
Net interest income over the life of one auto loan. Edit to your own assumption.
0 approved loans lost each year
An estimate for discussion, not an audited figure. The book shows how to measure it precisely on your own portfolio.
Build the one report nobody runs — approved versus funded — and size the income walking out the door.
Flip the sequence: pre-approve and let members shop and lock financing with you before the dealership.
The five structural reasons concierge and Autoland-style programs never closed the gap — and what to require instead.
Win on the one thing the dealer’s finance office never can: aligned incentives and genuinely better service.
Capture, defend against refinance poaching, and recapture the next car — retention as a system, not a hope.
The engine that lets a lean team deliver pre-approval, follow-up, and retention to every member — plus a 90-day pilot.
Available on Amazon. Order author copies in bulk for your team or your next conference.
6×9, the edition to mark up and pass around the lending team.
Case laminate. The copy to hand a CEO or leave on the boardroom table.
Christian has spent his career on every side of the car-and-credit transaction. He has worked the dealership floor and the finance office, run a credit union auto-buying service for nearly a decade, and built and operated automotive businesses spanning brokerage, repair, and used-car retail.
That combination — dealer-side and lender-side, sales floor and back office — gives him a rare, unsentimental view of where auto loans are really won and lost. He works with credit union lending teams to close the gap between approved and funded, and he is an early, serious builder of AI-driven automation across the businesses he runs.
A keynote built for credit union leadership — conference main stages, board and executive retreats, league and CUSO events, and lending team workshops.
Why approved keeps turning into funded-elsewhere, and what it costs.
Capturing, defending, and recapturing the auto loan for its full life.
Delivering pre-approval, outreach, and retention to every member without a new department.
A practical 90-day pilot leaders can run without betting the institution.
Get “The Leak You Can’t See on a Spreadsheet” in your inbox, plus occasional notes on credit union auto retention.
“Chris and his team have been amazing — to our members and to our management. Two years into the partnership, our members are happy, and we hear it from them every week.”
Ehab Nawar, CEO — Glendale Federal Credit Union
“We’ve tried other auto-buying services; none came close on loans funded or member satisfaction. It improved our pre-approval pull-through rate and helped members avoid the dealership shenanigans.”
Scott, VP of Lending — CBC FCU
“My experience with Power Auto Buying has been great! I have nothing but positive things to say about this organization, and I highly recommend them.”
Roisin Gavon, Operations Officer — MCE FCU
Speaking inquiries, bulk and author copies, or a conversation about closing the leak at your credit union.