Subprime Auto Loans Crushed Worse than in 2009, Auto Industry Bleeds, Knock-on Effects Commence
by Wolf Richter
WolfStreet.com
Mar 24, 2017
After the credit bubble comes the credit bust.
Subprime auto loans, a big force behind booming car sales in recent years, are getting crushed by defaults, particularly those originated between 2013 and 2015 when the proportion of subprime loans began to surge while underwriting standards became loosey-goosey, as private-equity-backed auto finance companies with a ravenous appetite for risk, subprime, and securitization elbowed into the market, amid the exuberance of the greatest credit bubble in history.
“Bad deals are made in good times,” says the old banking saw.
Auto lenders package their loans into asset-backed securities (ABS) and sell them as bonds to yield-hungry institutional investors. Fitch Ratings, which rates auto lenders and auto-loan ABS, just reported on the state of the industry.
The Fitch Auto ABS Indices show that 60+ day delinquencies were relatively low for prime auto loans at the end of Q4, but for subprime loans they’ve surged to 5% of outstanding balances, the highest since at least 2008, during the depth of the Financial Crisis!
Net charge-offs show a similar scenario, only worse. Net Charge-offs from prime loans ticked up to a still low 0.75% of outstanding balances. But net charge-offs from subprime loans surged to 10.5%, the highest since at least 2008!
Subprime is “particularly vulnerable,” Fitch says. It expects credit performance to deteriorate further.
The Rest…HERE
