Capital One Auto Loan Tools

Auto Loan Tracker

Problem

In 2017, over half of Capital One auto loan customers reaching the end of their loan term discovered a remaining balance on their account ($200 on average). This was typically due to deviations in their repayment history resulting in additional accrued interest over the life of their loan. As you can imagine, this led to frustrated customers calling in trying to understand what caused a balance to remain after they made, what they thought, was their final payment. My team and I were tasked with developing a set of features focused on educating and helping customers prevent events that would lead to a balance at the end of their loan.

Skills

  • Wireframing
  • UX/UI Design
  • Prototyping

My Role

My role included working closely with the research team to conduct a series of empathy interviews, building a foundational understanding of customer perceptions regarding simple interest loans and identifying gaps that could be addressed within the digital experience.
I was then tasked with concepting, designing, and testing solutions then supporting our engineering team’s build and shipment of the experience.

Solution

We designed and developed a loan tracking feature that gives customers information to answer the question of “How am I doing?” when it comes to their repayment plan. With this tool, customers can easily find out if they are ahead, behind, or on schedule with their payment plan. If they are behind, the tool shows them how much is projected to be due at the end of their loan. Inversely, if they are paying extra or early, how much they will save and possibly, how much earlier they would pay off the loan.

Impact

  • 5MM in annual savings for customers using the tool
  • 12% yearly reduction in calls related to remaining account balances

Auto Account Servicing

Homepage account tile design and account details view with Auto Loan Tracker feature.

Auto Loan Tracker States

Possible Auto Loan Tracker states including New Loan, Default, Early Payoff Projected, Extra Due at Payoff, Paid Off, Paid Off Early, and Extra Due.

Loan Tracker Details

Possible Auto Loan Tracker detail states including Default, Early Payoff Projected, and Additional Balance Projected.

Get Current

Problem

Life happens. Customers fall behind on payments and, in many cases, they need help keeping their vehicle and getting back on track with their loan.
How might we offer a digital tool that allows customers who get behind financially to create a repayment plan that works with their situation while avoiding embarrassing phone calls with customer service representatives or worse, repossession, collections, and negative credit reporting?

Skills

  • Wireframing
  • UX/UI Design
  • Prototyping

My Role

My role was to lead the design work, working closely with our product, analyst, content, and research teams to understand what was best for customers, keeping them in their cars with payment plans that worked within their budgets. This had to be done while mitigating overall risk to the business and navigating the regulatory environment around consumer auto lending.

Solution

  • We first conducted a series of empathy interviews to understand the choices customers made during financial hardship and why they made them.
  • We then designed a digital self-service tool based, in part, on an existing repayment plan administered over the phone through call-center agents but with added flexibility to account for customer needs discovered during our interviews.
  • This tool allowed customers to create a personalized payment plan and spread out their past due amount over a few months, getting current through manageable increments. Customers have additional configurable options including changing payment dates and adjusting payment amounts.
  • Regarding the content throughout the experience, starting from a place of empathy in how the options were communicated resonated in early concept testing and was validated in subsequent call listening sessions after the tool launched.

Impact

  • We saw a 30% increase in the use of our loan repayment plans once this was made available online.
  • Customers who commit to a custom payment plan are twice as likely to get current on their loan.
  • Over half of the customers using the tool online have been previously unreachable by phone despite numerous attempts.
  • This feature freed up over an estimated 300 hours per week of collections agents’ time, allowing them to focus more on customers who prefer to speak over the phone.
  • The launch of this feature resulted in over $8MM a year in loss reduction for the business.
  • On average 800 more customers keep their cars every year using this tool, remaining Capital One customers and preventing the negative effects of collections and repossessions.

Past Due Account Status

Customer is informed at the highest accout level of the status of the account and the information that options are available. They are then presented with a detailed status view with multiple payment options to help them get back on track.

Creating A Payment Plan

After the user confirms the can make a payment that day, they then plan out the rest of their payments. The next step is to confirm a payment account and submit the plan. Additional context is provided to help inform customers as they progress.

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