General Motors Financial Co. reported net income of $161 million for the quarter ending Sept. 30, up from $123 million for the same quarter last year. GMF had $19.3 billion of retail receivables and $5.2 billion of commercial receivables outstanding as of Sept. 30.
Lease originations at the GM captive skyrocketed 143% year over year, to $727 million, while consumer loan originations shot up 67% year over year, to $2.5 billion.
As for loan performance, 3.8% of the consumer finance portfolio was 31-to-60 days delinquent, as of Sept. 30, down from 5.2% at the same time last year. Meanwhile, net credit losses improved to 1.9% of average receivables for the quarter, down from 2.5% in 3Q12.
Frank, most auto lenders track the information you pointed out in a great detail, but it gets loose at the dealer end. Additional, lenders industrywide cap the rate participation, which means even if there is some wheeling and dealing by dealers — and it would be by dealers — it is only within a 200 to 250 basis point band. I don’t think price fixing is the answer, not just on principle, but in practice.