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| Economy |
| Auto Loan Defaults Are Soaring |
| 2017-07-18 |
| [Bloomberg] It’s classic subprime: hasty loans, rapid defaults, and, at times, outright fraud. Only this isn’t the U.S. housing market circa 2007. It’s the U.S. auto industry circa 2017. A decade after the mortgage debacle, the financial industry has embraced another type of subprime debt: auto loans. And, like last time, the risks are spreading as they’re bundled into securities for investors worldwide. Subprime car loans have been around for ages, and no one is suggesting they’ll unleash the next crisis. But since the Great Recession, business has exploded. In 2009, $2.5 billion of new subprime auto bonds were sold. In 2016, $26 billion were, topping average pre-crisis levels, according to Wells Fargo & Co. Few things capture this phenomenon like the partnership between Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV and Banco Santander SA. Since 2013, as U.S. car sales soared, the two have built one of the industry’s most powerful subprime machines. Details of that relationship, pieced together from court documents, regulatory filings and interviews with industry insiders, lay bare some of the excesses of today’s subprime auto boom. Wall Street has rewarded lax lending standards that let people get loans without anyone verifying incomes or job histories. For instance, Santander recently vetted incomes on fewer than one out of every 10 loans packaged into $1 billion of bonds, according to Moody’s Investors Service. The largest portion were for Chrysler vehicles. More at the link |
| Posted by:badanov |
| #5 How does the Subprime Student Loan meltdown grab you? Personally, I'm looking forward to picking up a cheap Something-Studies major to do chores around the house for next to nothing. |
| Posted by: gorb 2017-07-18 23:49 |
| #4 I think it's different with student loans because there is no collateral, no car or house that can be repossessed and resold. IIRC, I read an article recently to the effect that if you have outstanding student loan debt they will take it out of your Social Security. One way or another, somebody is going to get the money. Somebody might get the shaft, typically the taxpayers as in the 2008 bailout, but somebody else will get the money. It doesn't just disappear. |
| Posted by: Abu Uluque 2017-07-18 18:28 |
| #3 Been watching this unfold on Zerohedge. Looking forward to picking up a cheap, used F-Type in the next couple of years. And after Carmageddon? How does the Subprime Student Loan meltdown grab you? |
| Posted by: Iblis 2017-07-18 15:34 |
| #2 It’s classic subprime: hasty loans, rapid defaults, and, at times, outright fraud. When the bubble pops, the dust can always be blown off the failed Obumble "Cash for Clunkers" program and sell it as "hope and change" to the rubes. After all they're still buying Global Warming. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2017-07-18 11:10 |
| #1 In 1999 Banco Santander merged with Banco Central Hispano, which had in turn been formed through the 1991 merger of Banco Central and Banco Hispanoamericano. The combined bank, known as Banco Santander Central Hispano, or BSCH, was designed to be a "merger of equals", in which the top executives of the two pre-existing firms would share control of the merged entity. Soon after the merger former BCH executives accused Banco Santander chairman Emilio BotÃn of trying to push his own agenda and threatened to take legal action. This post-merger disagreement was resolved when BCH executives Jose Amusátegui and Angel Corcóstegui agreed to accept severance payments, retire and pass control to BotÃn, at an expense to shareholders of €164M. The large termination payouts generated negative press and BotÃn was eventually brought to trial on criminal charges of "misappropriation of funds" and "irresponsible management." However, in April 2005 the court cleared him of all charges, the €164M retirement payments made to the two former executives were legal, "made as compensation for the services provided to the bank." Also that year, the anti-corruption division of the Spanish public prosecutor's office cleared BotÃn of all charges in a separate case, in which he was accused of insider trading. In 2007 the bank officially changed the official name back to Banco Santander S.A.. (above from Wikipedia.org) Banco Santander SA has banks in many countries around the world. When fraud is rampant in a country, Banco Santander SA takes large hits, such as the Petrobras and contaminated meat sales both in Brazil. The fallacy that these Spaniards believe most all Americans are good for a loan is the reason for such loose and fast approval is most likely the reason for the defaults. The economic landscape in the US is changing drastically and unless Congressmen of all parties get their heads out of their asses soon, things will get more unstable. |
| Posted by: Black Charlie Snager3683 2017-07-18 03:11 |