The Situation: Last Sundays issue of the New York Times, had a front page article about how subprime lenders may be overcharging credit impaired consumer for auto loans. The article continued on two full newspaper pages with photos of beleaguered borrowers with stories of repossessions and misleading lending practices.
The ominous title of the article was Easy Credit, Hard to Repay and the subhead read Exorbitant Rates in Subprime Boom for Used Cars
The Significance: Here is a listing of some of the red flagging content in the article:
The surge in subprime auto lending & lack of caution resembles the subprime mortgage market of years past.
Subprime auto loans have increased 130 % in last five years
Investors are pouring tons of money into the subprime market
Loans are then bundled as bonds & securities for sale to insurance companies and mutual funds
The NYT article cited several loan cases where interest rates exceeded 23%
In spite of warnings, subprime loan volume was up 15% to $146 B in 1st Qtr.
See just how damaging this article may be to the subprime lenders and dealers
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The Article
New Subprime Auto Loan Boom Gets Tarnished in NYT Article appeared first on Automotive Digest.