by Wolf Richter
Wolf Street
Surge of delinquencies not caused by unemployment, but by taking Big Risks, hoping for Big Profits, and getting slapped, just as in 2019.
Delinquencies of subprime auto loans have bounced off the stimulus-fueled low levels during the pandemic, when borrowers got caught up on their auto loans with the money they got from stimulus checks and extra unemployment benefits, and from not having to make mortgage payments because they’d entered their mortgages into a forbearance program, and from not having to make rent payments because of the eviction bans. Most of this has now ended, and the money is gone, and subprime delinquency rates are surging.