

If you’re struggling financially, it’s critical to call your lender before you miss a payment. What To Do if You’re Struggling With Auto Loan Payments This is especially the case when the economy is fragile. When people have more debt, there’s a greater chance they’ll default. Overall, household debt jumped by $148 billion to $17.05 trillion in the first quarter, the report said. That’s a long-term trend: Auto loan balances have been on an upward swing since 2011. also jumped by $10 billion in the first quarter of 2023, according to the New York Fed. The total amount of auto loan debt in the U.S. By the end of April, the typical price of a new car had cooled a bit-averaging $48,275-but was still up 5% from a year ago. In December 2022, the average price of a new vehicle hit a record high of $49,507, according to Cox Automotive, which owns Kelley Blue Book, the auto industry bible. Cars are more expensive now, owing to the aftereffects of Covid-era shortages caused by high demand and supply chain disruptions. Higher car loan debt isn’t just about higher interest rates. Americans Are Saddled With More Debt Overall What’s more, consumer loan rates have skyrocketed over the past year as the Federal Reserve has continued to hike the federal funds rate-which it’s done 10 times since 2022-in order to combat rising inflation.

“In a way, this couldn’t be happening at a worse time.” “Even the anticipation of these problems does have consequences on the economy and does have consequences on the financial markets,” said Chicago Federal Reserve Bank President Austan Goolsbee during a May 28 appearance on Face The Nation. government breaching its debt ceiling have added to the recession fears.

Indeed, top economists have predicted at least a small recession could hit as soon as later this year. Higher delinquency rates do not always foretell a recession but can be a strong indicator that the economy is waning. The report noted that auto and student loan debt had the highest increases in the first quarter of 2023, rising by $10 billion and $9 billion respectively for the quarter.ĭoes a Rise in Auto Loan Delinquencies Mean a Recession Is Coming? But the increase was far larger among young adults-a group more likely to struggle with debt overall, as they tend to be paid less than older workers and, in many cases, are saddled with student loan debt as well. Their delinquency rate in the first quarter is up 1.56 percentage points from a year earlier, boosting it to the highest level since late 2009, when Americans were reeling from the 2008 financial crisis.Īuto loan delinquencies for nearly all age groups went up during the first quarter of 2023. That means they’ve missed at least 90 days of payments. Nearly 4.6% of auto loan borrowers under 30 years old are in “serious delinquency,” according to the study. This case was handled by Assistant Attorney General Michael Sugar, Mathematician Burt Feinberg, and Legal Analyst Maggie Wallace of the Attorney General’s Insurance & Financial Services Division.įor GM Financial to Pay More Than $1.Young adults are struggling to make auto loan payments more now than at any time since the Great Recession, according to a quarterly debt report by the New York Federal Reserve Bank. More than 2,000 Massachusetts residents across the state may be eligible for restitution under the settlement.Ĭonsumers with questions about today’s settlement should contact AG Healey's Insurance and Financial Services hotline at 1-88. “We hope this settlement provides relief to the thousands of borrowers who have been affected by GM Financial's alleged actions.” “We alleged that GM Financial failed to provide borrowers with needed information, and failed to pay interest that legally belonged to those consumers,” said AG Healey. GAP is sold by car dealers as an add-on product and is often financed as part of an auto loan. GAP is a product that is intended to limit the shortfall between the payment on an auto insurance claim and the amount a borrower owes on a car loan in the event a financed vehicle is totaled. The AG’s Office also alleges that GM Financial allegedly failed to provide sufficient information to certain consumers after repossessing their vehicles. The assurance of discontinuance, filed today in Suffolk Superior Court, resolves allegations that Americredit Financial Services, Inc., d/b/a GM Financial, failed to pay legally-required interest after delays in providing refunds of Guaranteed Asset Protection (GAP) enrollment fees. BOSTON - GM Financial, an automobile financing company, has agreed to pay more than $1.8 million to resolve allegations that the company’s business practices violated Massachusetts state consumer protection laws, Attorney General Maura Healey announced today.
