There is a lot of talk here about the Fiat Chrysler of America group (Chrysler, Dodge, Fiat, Jeep and Ram) so I’ll hopefully clear up some confusion about the various lenders that lease those products.
FCA uses Santander Bank as their captive lender (DBA Chrysler Capital). They won the bidding war to get the captive status for 10 years. A big pile of money goes to help support the leasing through their captive. At the same time, FCA management created an incentive program called IDL (independent lease or independent dealer lease) that has a separate budget to help non-captive lenders lease FCA models.
Ally, US Bank and credit unions qualify for the IDL program (large cash incentives) while the captive uses the money to buy the MF down and help offset losses when they increase the RV.
The incentive programs change monthly and if you pay attention, you’ll see some trim-specific deals going to the captive while other trims go to the non-captives with IDL money. They switch things up all the time trying to see what sticks so it is hard to see the strategy behind FCA’s decisioning.
Ally Bank is the rebranded name for GM’s former captive (GMAC) which lost the GM captive status when GM Financial started (this was formerly the subprime lender Americredit). Ally’s MO is to set very high RVs with very high rates. They don’t use a MF and the standard monthly payment calculation that other lenders use but instead have what they call Smart Lease which has a different math equation. You can find their residual guide on their website which has the RVs and equation but doesnt have the rates. Those are posted in bulletins to the dealers so you’ll need to find someone to look up the latest ones which are model-specific. Ally is based out of Philly but is national with pockets of very strong dealer networks. Michigan is one of their strongest areas.
US Bank tends to sets lower RVs than Ally but has fairly low MFs that are brand specific. Their lowest MF is on 24-27mo and and it goes up slightly as you move to the longer terms. They offer dealers large flat fees to finance through them ($800 on current FCA brands) if the dealer doesn’t mark the MF up. If the dealer marks the rate up various amounts, US Bank pays 1-4% of the net cap cost to the dealer. US Bank is known to nickel and dime customers on the back end of the lease so only contemplate leasing through them if you take pristine care of your car. There is a long thread on here about US Bank lease turn in horror stories.
Last, but not least, are the various credit unions. There are roughly 35 around the country that are actively leasing and the FCA group of products make up a sizeable chunk of their volume, thanks to IDL. They tend to have much lower cost of funds than the banks and captives so they can set lower MFs. The RVs are set strong on the models they are targeting so their monthly payments are often times the lowest. For FCA that is products that have the IDL money and the Wrangler which doesn’t have any incentive support. You’ll need great credit to get the best MF from the credit union but they pride themselves on the member experience which is up there with the best captives in terms of customer experience. The MF is specific to each credit union and that can vary quite a bit. They include gap insurance and include a $1k excess wear and tear waiver.
To lease through a credit union you have to see if there are any in your area that have a program. You can go to CULA.com to see about 21 they work with. MI, WI, IN, CO, NY, PA, FL, OH, MA, NH and NJ are the big credit union states that are leasing with them. You’ll need to find a dealer that is signed up with them, just like ally and us bank. But if you are shopping an FCA model and live in a credit union are, chances are they have signed up all the FCA dealers already.