Some lenders are seeing an uptick in used-car loans in the wake of rising new vehicle prices.
Huntington Bank has seen used-car loan originations grow relative to new-car loans since 2020, Consumer Finance Director Rich Porrello told Auto Finance News.
“We’re originating [loans for] more used cars than new in a pretty big way,” Porrello said. “That’s a sign of the cost of vehicles going up.”
Huntington’s new-vehicle originations historically made up around half of the bank’s total auto loan originations, Porrello said, noting that new-car loans have made up 35% of Huntington’s auto loans for most of 2025. Huntington focuses on lending vehicles for prime and super prime consumers, so concerns over increasing vehicle prices have not caused the Columbus, Ohio-based lender to shift its underwriting standards, he said.
While used-vehicle originations have increased, Huntington’s credit performance has stayed relatively stable, Porrello said. The bank’s delinquencies rose year over year in the third quarter, though its credit losses are “normalized” compared to 2019, Porrello said.
Huntington’s auto loan delinquencies of 30-plus days sat at 0.96%, up 4 basis points year over year, and 90-day delinquencies came in at 0.07%, flat YoY.
Credit Performance
While auto delinquencies are up across the industry YoY, the rate at which delinquencies are climbing has slowed, Strati Papageorge, Senior Vice President of Auto Lending at PNC Bank, told Auto Finance News.
“We are seeing signs of stabilizing. … The overall market is not seeing the big drop in performance that many expected earlier,” he said.
PNC, which primarily focuses on prime and near-prime consumers, has seen declining credit losses and an increase in average auto loan applicants’ credit scores compared with a year ago, he said. The lender’s full-year auto originations are on track to have grown 19% from 2024.
However, in the wake of growing affordability challenges, the Pittsburgh-based lender made “targeted adjustments” to underwriting, which have contributed to an uptick in auto loan approval rates, Papageorge said.
“When affordability challenges or shifts in credit show up in certain segments, we adjust terms carefully instead of making big, across-the-board changes,” he said.
PNC’s used-car sales “have slowed compared to the pandemic-era boom, but that boom was historically high,” Papageorge said.
Looking ahead
On the heels of the Dec. 10 Federal Reserve interest rate cut, consumers could benefit from lower interest rates in the future, Papageorge said.
While “lower rates could make monthly payments more manageable for buyers,” he said, vehicle prices could also increase in the coming year.
“We’ve seen new-vehicle sales start to slow over the past few months compared to earlier in the year, suggesting some consumers may take a wait-and-see approach on their next purchase,” he said.
As long as unemployment rates remain stable, though, auto lenders should be able to grow in 2026, Huntington’s Porrello said.
“There will be plenty of opportunities for banks and lenders to finance vehicles,” he said. “The economic conditions are good.”
