Ford Credit at 65: Continuously working to improve Ford support

Ford Credit this month marks 65 years of serving Ford, dealers and customers through good times and bad. It has delivered higher customer loyalty to Ford, a successful funding program and earned many J.D. Power dealer and customer satisfaction awards.

In the decades before Ford Credit’s 1959 founding, Ford had experimented with U.S. credit products and set up a financial services subsidiary in Germany in 1926 that still operates today. Other credit arrangements popped up, often temporarily, through the decades in other markets.

“Ford Credit was established to offer vehicle financing in the United States and bring Ford's patchwork of finance arrangements in other countries under one global umbrella,” Ford Credit CEO Cathy O’Callaghan said. “The company was charged with establishing financing in new markets; ensuring affordable financing for Ford's dealers and customers; and growing loyalty. 

“Over the last 65 years, we have delivered on all those objectives, while also returning billions of dollars in dividends to Ford and continuously supporting the communities in which we operate.”

The Dearborn team celebrated this week with a picnic. But even as it celebrates 65 years as an industry leader, Ford Credit works constantly to strengthen its support of Ford far into the future.

“We are at a pivotal moment for our industry and our company. The huge advancements in technology and dramatic changes in customer expectations are demanding change,” O’Callaghan said.

“That is why we are working so hard to transform our business, improve our operational speed and build a profitably growing company where future generations of employees will be proud to serve our customers and our dealers.” 

In addition to providing financing and compassionate customer service, including during economic downturns, Ford Credit teams have built a strong culture of community support. They pack food for the needy, play sports for charity, bake for families who are far from home, lead school field trips, protect wildlife and take part in many more activities.

Ford Credit is just getting started.

“We’ve got a lot of change coming, including technical change that’s going to really help propel our business into the next six and a half decades,” O’Callaghan said.