How Close Brothers Motor Finance saved £800K in 8 months
Leading UK motor finance provider Close Brothers achieved a 22x return on investment with AI-powered document fraud detection that authenticates documents in under 12 seconds.
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£800K Saved in 8 months
2x Faster review times
22x Return on investment
"Bringing in a sexy tool like Resistant AI has really enhanced our ability... People are talking fraud." Kit Loughlin Senior Fraud Control Manager at Close Brothers
Close Brothers
  • Motor finance provider
  • 5,300+ dealer partners
  • 100,000+ customers anually
Needs
  • Reduce manual review times
  • Reliable fraud detection to prevent high-value losses
  • Streamlined investigations without bottlenecks
Problem Close Brothers Motor Finance found that traditional, manual document reviews were too time-consuming and struggled to keep pace with increasingly complex fraud attempts. Solution

Resistant documents brought speed, precision, and scalability to their fraud prevention efforts. 15 minutes of manual checking became a 12-second automated fraud assessment.

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The £135,000 luxury car that changed everything

In mid-2024, Close Brothers Motor Finance faced a sophisticated fraud that would fundamentally change their approach to document verification.

It looked like a dream deal for the sales team: financing a £135,000 luxury car for  £86,000 with a substantial £50,000 deposit.

Then, four months later, payments stopped.

Investigation revealed the devastating truth:

“The £50,000 that we saw was completely fake. If we'd have had Resistant AI in place, we know we'd have saved that because we obtained the company bank statements, ran them through the system, and immediately it glowed up like a red beacon.”
kit_close_brothers
Kit Loughlin Senior Fraud Control Manager at Close Brothers.

 

That initial £86,000 turned into a £400,000 gross loss.

This type of sophisticated document fraud was becoming increasingly difficult to detect through their existing manual reviews, which consumed 30-35 minutes per application, with 15 minutes dedicated solely to fraud assessment.

When suspicious documents required deeper investigation, multiple team members would get involved, creating bottlenecks that delayed customer approvals for hours. This manual-intensive process threatened to undermine their core mission of making vehicle purchases easy and accessible for customers.

“The vast majority of cases are obviously genuine, and that means that the genuine customers have a frictionless journey. It's quicker, and in the competitive market, people want to finance quickly.”
kit_close_brothers
Kit Loughlin Senior Fraud Control Manager at Close Brothers.

 

12-Second document forensics transforms operations

Soon after the luxury car incident, Close Brothers Motor Finance embarked on a trial of Resistant AI’s Document Forensics across their operations. Team members began dropping documents into the Web interface and the transformation was immediate.

The service immediately revealed 18 additional cases of fraud.

While they recovered some losses through vehicle repossession, the resource-intensive recovery process highlighted a critical truth: prevention is far more effective than remediation.

And prevention had just gotten a lot easier.

Now, they got a document fraud check in just 12 seconds, replacing the previous 15-minute manual fraud assessment process. The underwriting team’s efficiency doubled and they were able to focus on genuine risk evaluation rather than time-consuming document authentication.

Fraud savings without friction

The financial impact has been nothing short of remarkable. Since implementation in August 2024, Close Brothers Motor Finance has achieved results that exceed all expectations:

  • £800,000 in fraud losses prevented in 8 months.
  • 22x return on investment.
  • 2x faster application reviews.

The tool has fundamentally changed how they approach fraud prevention, creating an engaged, fraud-aware workforce.

Close Brother Motor Finance continues to regularly engage with Resistant AI to review difficult cases, expand their knowledge of document fraud and improve risk controls.

“The aftercare support from Resistant AI has been unbelievable. We just haven't had that level of support from others previously.”
kit_close_brothers
Kit Loughlin Senior Fraud Control Manager at Close Brothers.

 

The dramatic transformation and success in motor finance has driven expansion plans across Close Brothers' broader business portfolio, including premium finance, savings, invoice finance, and asset finance divisions.

The only regret? The timing of their discovery: "We met you ten days too late."

The solution was so effective that a two-month gap in negotiations caused an uproar:

“Because of the time it took us to onboard a new supplier, we didn't have Resistant AI for a two month period after the trial. The business was going absolutely bananas on me. When are we going to have this? Why haven't we got it?”
kit_close_brothers
Kit Loughlin Senior Fraud Control Manager at Close Brothers.
Close Brothers
  • Motor finance provider
  • 5,300+ dealer partners
  • 100,000+ customers anually
Needs
  • Reduce manual review times
  • Reliable fraud detection to prevent high-value losses
  • Streamlined investigations without bottlenecks
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Resistant documents

Our document fraud detection software can check your documents for fraud & authenticity in seconds — regardless of what they are or where they came from.

Verify any document for fraud

3x more fraud detected 90% cut in manual reviews 5x faster customer onboarding Thousands saved in seconds
“We're talking significant savings and, more importantly, it's got people talking fraud, got people understanding what's going on.”
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