Smaller Loans, Longer Terms

The youngest generation of car buyers is more likely to finance less expensive vehicles, more than half of generation Z consumers borrowing less than $25,000.

Auto Lenders, Consumers on a Tightrope

April borrowing data shows that more consumers are bending over backward to buy vehicles, though subprime lending cooled off for the month.

Survey Reveals What Won't Fix What's Breaking Car Sales

AutoPayPlus says extra-long auto loans are trapping consumers and threatening the dealer trade-in cycle, and that the industry is leveraging the wrong tools to combat high MSRPs.

Auto Loan Interest Rates Hit 10-Year High

Edmunds says the average APR for a U.S. new-vehicle loan was 6.36% in March, putting dealers and consumers on the cusp of a ‘dramatic shift’ toward the used-car market.

CFPB Accused of Using ‘Junk Science’ to Regulate Auto Lending

Wells Pulls Back, Chase Sees Thinner Margins

SAN FRANCISCO and NEW YORK — The country’s largest auto lender, Wells Fargo, tempered its auto lending activities during the first quarter of 2015, officials reported during a conference call this week. Also reporting quarterly earnings was J.P. Morgan Chase, which saw solid loan and lease growth in the automotive space. Auto originations at Wells ... Read More »

Wells Fargo: Subprime Cap Part of ‘Ongoing Risk Management’

IRVINE, Calif. — A statement released by Wells Fargo Dealer Services didn’t deny the bank has placed a cap on subprime auto loans for this year, but it stopped short of saying the move was the bank’s response to media claims of an overheating auto finance market. Citing unnamed executives from Wells Fargo, The New ... Read More »

TransUnion: Auto Loan Growth Driven by Millennial Originations

CHICAGO — The millennial generation is the fastest-growing segment of auto loan consumers, according to TransUnion’s latest auto report. Millennials — consumers born in 1981 or after — represented 27% of total auto loan originations in 2014, up from 16% of total originations in 2009. Millennials’ total outstanding auto balances have increased 23% in the ... Read More »

‘Great Deleveraging’ Has Ended, Equifax Reports

ATLANTA — Based on consumer credit data collect by Equifax through November, the five-year run of debt deleveraging might be over. The credit reporting agency reported this week that nonmortgage credit balances reached their highest level since the Great Recession in November, totaling $3.1 trilling. Showing the biggest increase were credit balances for auto loans. ... Read More »