Auto-loan stress spreads across US households and lenders

 Trends in the US consumer-finance sector are flashing warning signs. Auto-loan delinquencies recently rose past 5% for the first time since the early days of the pandemic; credit-card delinquencies have surpassed 12%.

The youngest drivers are having the most trouble paying their car loans, as is usually the case. But perhaps more concerningly, a prime working age cohort (age 30-39) has seen more steady deterioration through 2025.

Automotive trends provide an important perspective on the consumer given the centrality of vehicle ownership to US lifestyles and access to employment.

CEIC offers a wealth of datasets that focus on various aspects of the industry and related financial services. Our users can click through to visualizations that track auto pricing datasets from Cox Automotive, sentiment surveys from the University of Michigan, perceptions of household lenders’ creditworthiness from the CDS market and much more.

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