TD Auto Finance is rolling out capabilities to improve real-time loan decisioning, income verification, credit reporting and compliance to 5,500 dealers across Canada after inking a bank-wide master services agreement with Trust Science.

Trust Science is a licensed consumer reporting agency that uses AI to automate workflows across risk management, fraud mitigation and financial services operations for institutions in the U.S. and Canada.

Trust Science’s platform allows TD Auto to verify and analyze an applicant’s income, expenditures and cash flow, and provide instant decisions, Evan Chrapko, founder, chairman and chief executive of the fintech, told FinAi News‘ sister publication Auto Finance News.

“If you’re not real-time, you’re not actually delivering much service,” he said, adding that virtual loan officers can put together an entire deal including recommended interest rates, loan amounts and, if needed, co-borrower information.

Trust Science also can help TD Auto Finance identify potential borrowers and car buyers by better assessing consumers through data and AI, Chrapko said. The technology also allows for instant credit reporting and extensive record-keeping, which assist with fraud mitigation and if consumers take any adverse actions against the lender, he noted.

TD Auto would not comment on the deal with Trust Science, but executives have previously said the bank is actively investing in technology and process improvement.

In the bank’s second-quarter earnings call in May, TD Chief Financial Officer and Group Head Kelvin Vi Tran said that TD’s expenses rose 6% year over year with continued investments in talent and technology.

TD Chief Executive and Group President Raymond Chun also said on the earnings call that the bank’s structural cost reductions support increased investments in AI and innovation.

“TD is and will continue to be a leader in AI,” he said.

The bank earlier this year was exploring using automated deal structures to offer multiple lending decisions to dealers at once and uses data and machine learning to better price risk, Nadir Jones, head of auto finance, previously told AFN.

Years-long integration process

Trust Science and TD Bank began this process three years ago, Chrapko said, noting that the deal required in-depth examinations and years of due diligence across regulatory compliance, scalability and efficacy.

The bank “took us through efficacy and usability testing [for] almost a year,” he said. “They put it into the field in real-world conditions.”

Auto lending, he noted, adds another layer of complexity with regulatory considerations and indirect lending through dealerships.

“It’s much more complex or nuanced than direct lending,” Chrapko said. “The car dealerships are essentially a distribution channel and [are] partners of TD Auto Finance.”

The financier began the rollout this week with its Canadian dealers and is on track to finish that process by the end of July, Chrapko said.