Auto Loan Delinquencies Hold Steady in Q2

The national auto loan delinquency rate (the percentage of accounts 60 or more days past due) remained relatively flat in the second quarter ended June 30 compared with the year-ago period, moving from 0.79% to 0.80%.

On a quarter-over-quarter basis, the auto loan delinquency rate experienced an 8-basis point drop from 0.88% in Q1 2013.

Auto loan balances continue to increase, jumping more than 4% between Q2 2012 ($12,875) and Q2 2013 ($13,435). Every state except for Michigan experienced an increase in average auto loan balances during this timeframe.

The data provided is gathered from TransUnion’s proprietary Industry Insights Report, a quarterly overview summarizing data, trends and perspectives on the U.S. consumer lending industry. The report is based on anonymized credit data from virtually every credit-active consumer in the U.S.

“Our second quarter data are favorable for the auto loan market, as delinquencies remained largely unchanged while auto loan debt rose once again in the last year,” said Peter Turek, vice president of automotive for TransUnion.  “It’s encouraging to see consumers take on more auto debt  while delinquencies remain low.  Consumers clearly are more confident in managing additional debt.”

While subprime borrower debt increased more than 7% in the last year, delinquency levels for this segment remained about the same, moving from 4.94% in Q2 2012 to 5.02% in Q2 2013. As a percentage of borrowers, the subprime group did not change from last year, still constituting 14.9% of all new accounts.

“This is a positive sign since increased balances for the subprime group indicate that they are receiving new loans. The fact that the increase in delinquencies is only a minor one is especially important, as we often find that borrowers who have problems making payments do so within the first year of a loan,” added Turek.

TransUnion’s Industry Insights Report also showed a continued increase in total auto account volumes, with a 4% rise observed in the last year.

“As we’ve observed in recent quarters, total auto account volume continues to increase,” said Turek. "We expect to see volumes rise in line with overall auto sales and other demand drivers, like replacement of older vehicles  and improving employment numbers.”