Warning: you are not going to like what you read in this blog.
You won’t like it because I am starting to fear that auto financiers — arguably the most responsible of all consumer credit providers during the drunken credit boom of the 2000s — could be the next target for consumer advocates criticisms of recipients of federal funding.
In reading a review of the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility (TALF) to date, I came across the following frightening comment posted on March 22 by someone with the alias final4ncaa:
CBS, could you look closer at NISSAN MOTOR ACCEPTANCE CORP (NMAC)? They were the first in line to get TALF money, a little over a BILLION $$$$! This money if for auto loans AND floor plan financing for Nissan dealers- yet I am seeing in the news that NMAC is closing down Nissan dealers by taking away the floor plan financing!
I have heard that NMAC has closed several Nissan dealers in the West Coast by taking away their cars. I can’t believe that a financing arm of a Manufacturer can shut down a Nissan dealer AFTER getting money from the US Taxpayers. What did they do with the Billion dollars that they got? Here we go again, If we don’t follow to what happens to the money, how can we know if it is being used for what it is intended? If NMAC is a financing arm, they should be in front of Congress answering questions about where the Billion dollars went- just like when the Bank CEO’s went before Congress. One Billion of TALF money is a relatively small amount in comparison to the BIG BANKS, but let us not let it slip away without any kind of accountability! CBS, please call NMAC and get some answers! We need Nissan Dealers to stay in business>to sell cars>to employ people>etc. etc.
What scared me about this comment is that clearly the writer appreciated the need for a healthy car market and the role dealers play in that. Yet, the writer still offered a largely irrational critique of an equally important player in the automotive economy, namely a captive finance provider. Obviously, we have no idea who this person is nor can I say the commentator’s view is anything close to prevalent. Still, I share it with my fellow AutoFinanceNews.net members as a heads up. In this crazy, post-Madoff credit-crisis world, no criticism should be assume to be inconsequential.
