Balances on auto loans grew 11 percent year-over-year, or $101 billion, in the third quarter, according to report this week from TransUnion, a credit reporting company. The total for auto loans is now $1.008 trillion. Nearly 75 million consumers have an open car loan account, 5 million more than the same period last year.
The average car loan balance also rose to $14,515, up 2.7 percent from the second quarter, while the delinquency rate remained flat at 1.16 percent.
“When people feel good about their job prospects and finances, they go on vacation, they buy a new car,” says Ezra Becker, vice president of research and consulting in TransUnion’s financial services unit. “When balances go up, it’s not necessarily a harbinger of doom.”
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2 comments:
Haven't bought a new car since 2003. New cars now cost almost as much as my house did in 1989!
Can't afford the payments, so I buy used and hope for the best! Can't see financing beyond five years at the most and incomes are going down.
If it becomes an issue of putting food on the table, I will keep my old clunker! A vehicle to me is no longer a status symbol, its just a means to get back and forth to work and basic transportation. I've been priced out of the market. I'm sure I am not alone.
Try to buy a used car. Prices for used have shot up so much in the last several years that it is difficult to justify buying a car that "will do" when for a few hundred more you can get what will actually work best for you. Trucks and minivans are an exception and still seem to be a decent deal used. When I bought my last car 2 years ago I paid $12,000 for a new Ford Fiesta. Used cars in the same size range and 5 years old were going for $10,000 to $11,000!
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