Auto Loans Late Payments Lowest Recorded

As if trying to play down the fears that the relaxation of loans will soon lead to another crisis, similar to the subprime mortgage one of 2009, the numbers referring to the number of people who are late to pay their auto loans in the first quarter of the year have dropped.

In fact, they dropped so much that they are now at the levels recorded in 1999. According to TransUnion, cited by Freep, the number of payments that are 60 days or more past due is the lowest since credit reporting began, 12 years ago. And, possibly, the lowest in history.

According to the agency, the percentage of people who were late on their payments dropped from 0.66 percent, where it was a year ago, to 0.49 percent. This trend is owed, says the agency, to the higher consumer confidence and low interest rates. The other side of the coin is represented by another number, also influenced by the higher consumer confidence and low interest rates: that showing how many people go for a car loan. In the first quarter of 2011, that number increased by a hefty 22 percent.

At the same time, earlier this week, Experian reported that the number of auto subprime loans is also on the rise, 11 percent up (at the same time, says Experian, somewhat contradicting the TransUnion report) the share of loans granted to nonprime buyers increased by less than that, or just 9.81 percent).

The study conducted by Experian also showed that the average loan amount for a used vehicle jumped $397, from $16,239 in Q1 2010 to $16,636 in Q1 2011