In what may be a sign of an improving auto financing market, TransUnion.com says the number of consumers who are behind on car and truck payments fell in the first quarter.
The national 60-day auto delinquency rate was down significantly between the fourth quarter of 2007 and the first quarter of 2008, falling nearly 18 percentage points (from 0.79 percent to 0.65 percent).
Year over year, auto loan delinquency rates have remained essentially flat, moving from 0.64 percent to 0.65 percent. Historically, there is a decrease in 60-day auto loan delinquency between the fourth and first quarters, but TransUnion.com says the 18 percent drop is the sharpest in four years.
Auto loan delinquency (the ratio of borrowers 60 or more days past due) was highest in Louisiana at 1.19 percent, followed by Alabama at 1.07 percent. The lowest auto loan delinquency rates were found in North Dakota (0.30 percent), Montana (0.35 percent) and Wyoming (0.37 percent).
In another sign of a potentially better auto finance market, average auto debt nationally rose 0.75 percent in the first quarter of 2008 to $12,833. Year over year, the increase is even greater (1.88 percent) as the national average has risen nearly $240 from $12,597 in the first quarter of 2007.
The steepest increases in average auto debt occurred in Alabama (4.2 percent growth), Louisiana (2.9 percent) and Maine (2.6 percent), while the District of Columbia experienced the sharpest drop in average auto debt (-4.0 percent) followed by Hawaii (-2.2 percent). For auto debt, the largest state average was in Nevada at $16,034 followed by Arizona at $15,272. The lowest average auto debt was in Michigan at $10,610.
– By Ed Coury, senior editor and Midwest bureau chief for the Wall Street Journal Radio Network, Dow Jones & Co., and a reporter for WWJ Newsradio 950
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