Informed Intelligence

Straight-Through Lending Insider

Fraud signal, funding speed, and field intelligence for auto & consumer lending leaders

Q3 2026 Issue

For Risk, Lending Ops & Compliance Leaders

Fraud is getting harder to see, funding efficiency is under pressure, and manual verification can't keep pace with either. This issue is a field guide for staying ahead of all three.

In This Issue

→ Customer Spotlight — Desert Financial Credit Union's funding transformation

→ Fraud Insights — what Wells Fargo sees that most lenders miss

→ Survey Data — 2026 Fraud Survey, by the numbers

Customer Spotlight - Operational Efficiency

Desert Financial Credit Union: faster funding, without adding headcount

Phoenix-based credit union · indirect auto lending · five-person funding team scaling against rising dealer volume

66%
Higher Funder Throughput

3 days
Onboarding, Down From 2 Weeks

100%
Routine Overtime Eliminated

2x
Single-Day Funding Totals

Custom workflows and integrated automation from Informed.IQ have helped us strengthen dealer relationships and dramatically improve lending efficiency, all without adding staff.

— Kevin Chavez and Joy Angel, Desert Financial lending systems architect team

Download the Full Case Study

Risk & Fraud Leadership

Fraud used to require a dealer. Now it just needs a device.

In a new conversation with Wells Fargo's Head of Auto Originations Strategy & Analytics, Gaurav Goyal (18 years in auto finance across Ally, Capital One, and USAA), we dig into how the fraud landscape has shifted since the pandemic, from an in-person, dealership-floor problem to an AI-generated document epidemic. His take: hiring more reviewers isn't the fix, and even a well-resourced fraud team can't see what's happening at another lender's desk.

AI can generate a convincing fake ID in seconds. The lenders staying ahead are rethinking when a document should even be required.

Read the full article →

80% of lenders are not confident in their ability to identify AI generated pay stubs.

That's the headline finding from our 2026 Auto Finance Fraud Intelligence Survey — 207 auto lending executives, surveyed January 2026. See what else they told us and what it means for the year ahead.

How confident are you that your current verification systems can detect a sophisticated Gen AI/deepfake counterfeit pay stub?

Slightly confident

55%

Not at all confident

25%

Moderately confident

15%

Highly confident

5%

Source: Informed.IQ 2026 Auto Finance Fraud Intelligence Survey Report

Get the Full Report

Meet the Informed Team

On the road this month

We'd love to connect with you at these upcoming events in September and October.

We'll be there — will you?

defi SUMMIT · Sept 15–17 · San Diego, CA

Informed is heading to defi SUMMIT this September — let's find time to connect.

Oct 5–7AFS West (Auto Finance Summit) · Las Vegas, NV

Oct 7–8FinAi Lending Summit · Las Vegas, NV

Straight-Through Lending Insider is a quarterly briefing for risk, lending operations, and compliance leaders at top banks, captive finance companies, credit unions, and independent auto lenders.