Mariner Finance — DealerRefresh Vendor Library

Here is the fully sourced sales brief: --- ## Company Research — Mariner Finance --- ### About Mariner Finance Mariner Finance was established in 2002 by Joshua Johnson (President/CEO) and Senior Executive Vice Presidents Scott Frankle and Bonnie Klapaska. The company's main headquarters is located at 8110 Corporate Drive, Nottingham, Maryland 21236. Mariner Finance is a multichannel consumer lender in the United States offering high-touch, relationship-based lending to a near-prime credit customer base through direct personal loans, sales finance loans, home improvement loans, and auto loans. Mariner Finance is owned by private equity investor Warburg Pincus. With a substantial operational footprint, Mariner Finance manages 558 locations and has approximately 1,700 employees as of April 2026. --- ### What They Do Core product lines include: Personal Loans, Vacation Loans, Auto Loans, Home Improvement Loans, Consumer Loans, Mortgage Loans, Retail Sales Finance Loans, and Online Lending. - **Direct Auto Loan Program for Dealers:** Mariner works directly with a dealer's customer to help them complete a loan application and close the loan. No acquisition fee is charged — in fact, Mariner pays a referral fee for every referred customer that funds a loan (subject to applicable state law and program terms). Upon closing of a loan, proceeds can be received as soon as the same day. The referral award is paid to dealers in 22 states including FL, GA, IL, OH, TX, VA, and others. - **Near-Prime Focus:** Mariner is a prominent multichannel consumer lender specializing in high-touch, relationship-based lending solutions tailored to a near-prime credit customer base. Credit scores are only one factor in Mariner's loan application review — they take the entire customer credit profile into consideration, not just a FICO score. - **Dealer Portal:** Mariner operates a dedicated dealer-facing portal (marinerfinancedealer.com) where dealers can register and manage their referral accounts. - **Loan Range & Terms:** Mariner Finance offers personal loans between $1,000 and $25,000, including to borrowers with bad credit or a history of bankruptcy, with loan terms between 12 and 60 months. - **Partnerships:** Mariner also offers auto loans, mortgages, and retail financing through select partnerships, making it more versatile than many personal-loan-only lenders. Mariner Finance also implemented CreditBrowser® from Digital Matrix Systems to optimize consumer dispute resolution. - **Recent News:** In May 2026, Mariner Finance reached a settlement agreement with the State of Tennessee, resolving claims from a legal action brought in 2022. CEO Joshua Johnson stated: "We are pleased to have resolved this matter and remain committed to providing responsible financial solutions." Mariner Finance's latest funding round was a Debt-V round for $44.21M on August 14, 2025. --- ### DealerRefresh Audience Fit Mariner Finance's **Direct Auto Loan Program** is a dealer-facing product that depends entirely on auto retail professionals knowing it exists and trusting the brand. The DealerRefresh audience — GMs, dealer principals, internet directors, BDC managers, and F&I leaders — are precisely the people who influence or decide which financing partners to enroll with. Here's how each product fits: - **Forum Banners** *(Daily visibility to 3,000+ auto retail pros)* Mariner's dealer referral program is an enrollment-driven product. Repeated, daily banner exposure to GMs and F&I directors builds the brand recognition needed to convert a passive viewer into an enrolled dealer partner. These are exactly the decision-makers who sign up a dealership for the program. Mariner works directly with the dealer's customer and pays a referral award for every funded deal — that's a tangible ROI message that resonates with this audience. - **Retargeting Pixel** *(Follow DealerRefresh visitors on Facebook/Instagram)* Most dealers won't enroll on first exposure. Retargeting lets Mariner stay in front of GMs and dealer principals who have already visited DealerRefresh but haven't acted. Given that Mariner Finance operates in 28 states, retargeting can be geo-filtered to only pursue dealers in Mariner's active referral markets — maximizing spend efficiency. - **Demo / Review Video** *(Alex & Jeff deep-dive, 5,000+ views)* The Mariner dealer program has a nuanced story — near-prime borrowers, no acquisition fee, same-day funding, whole-credit-profile underwriting. Mariner takes the entire customer credit profile into consideration, not just a FICO score — a differentiator worth explaining in depth. A video format lets Mariner explain why their program fills a gap that prime lenders (captives, banks) leave behind, directly to the operators who feel that gap daily