Submitted by Mike Krieger via Liberty Blitzkrieg blog [4],
Is anyone surprised that the poorest and least credit worthy of Americans are being saddled with piles of debt in order to buy new cars? It’s not enough that a generation of our citizens will toil pointlessly to pay off more than $1 trillion of student loans, we may as well add some other form of debt burden on top of it.
It’s hard to even imagine this is happening so shortly after the last credit bubble train wreck, but happening it is. Creative ways for people to purchase cars they can’t afford have been on my radar screen for some time now, and if you recall, I posted an article last April titled: Just Keep Dancing: Introducing the 97-Month Auto Loan [5].
Well the dancing has continued, and now we have Americans borrowing at all-time record levels to buy cars. USA! USA!
From CNBC:
A combination of higher prices for new cars and relatively low rates for auto loans means Americans are borrowing a record amount to pay for their new rides.
According to Experian Automotive, which tracks millions of auto loans written each quarter, the average amount borrowed by car buyers last quarter climbed above $27,000 for the first time ever.
According to Experian, the average auto loan in fourth quarter 2013 was $27,430—an increase of $739 compared with the same period of 2012. The average used car loan was $345 higher, coming in at $17,974.
Those with non-prime credit ratings—or credit scores between 620 and 679—had the highest average auto loan. For these borrowers, the average new car loan rose more than $1,500, to a new high of $29,385.
Not surprisingly, those with subprime credit ratings—credit scores between 550 and 619—had the highest average monthly payment, of $499.
Yep, no doubt this will turn out just peachy.
The payments are rising despite an increasing number of car buyers opting to stretch their loans over six or seven years. According to Experian, a record 20 percent of all new car auto loans in the fourth quarter were more than six years in length.
J.D. Power said last week that February was on track to have one-third of new car auto loans last at least six years.
Oh, and in case you forgot, we are also bringing back subprime home loans [6].
Full article here [7].