Grits. Country music. Auto loans?
A USA Today article notes the ten cities where customers have the most auto loan debt, six of them are in the south, led by Shreveport, La.
The data came from personal finance site Manilla.com
Shreveport loan balances are at $18,603. Other cities on the list include number three Houston, Tex. at $17,281 and number nine Las Vegas at $16,257.
The article notes that the many cities in the South were not hit as hard by the recession, allowing consumers there more access to credit in the past several years.
Selling (and financing) vehicles the way the consumer wants to buy (and finance) is actually gaining more traction lately and the technology to do so is evolving rapidly. RouteOne is in the thick of it to provide dealers the ability to connect consumers to indirect lenders (preserving the dealer-customer relationship) and actually provide consumers applying for financing via the dealers website an electronic approval in real time. The consumer can then schedule a delivery at the dealership or at any mutually agreeable location. I’m sure direct lenders will soon be entering this space with a consumer-directed approval and EFT process, however RouteOne is primarily concerned with protecting the dealer’s position in the buying and financing process. Auto purchasing and financing needs to be sexy!