Year over year outstanding balances on auto loans grew by 9.7 percent in August 2013, from $760.8 billion to $834.4 billion according to an Equifax National Consumer Credit Trends report issued today. Equifax said the total balance of auto loans is at the highest it’s been in more than five years.
Among those, $432.7 billion were funded by auto finance companies, a 56 month high.
The report which looks at auto and credit card portfolios said both segments saw rising balances as well as improved delinquency rates. Sixty-day plus auto-loan delinquency rates, as a percentage of total balances outstanding, fell more than ten percent, from 1.28 percent to 1.14 percent.
“Our data consistently indicates that the American consumer is being very disciplined in their use of credit. It’s like they’ve gone on a debt-diet and they are really sticking to it, with modest increases in line with capacity to repay,” said Equifax Chief Economist Amy Crews Cutts in a release.
