LJ: credit crunch affecting consumers yet?

[lumberjim]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

I thought you would have a personal view on this; how tight are the bank's assholes right now? Are they still giving out money?

Is anyone coming in to buy right now - are they jumpy?

in a word....... cock.

oh, wait.....

the banks...
yeah.

ok, so, they've mostly changed in some way. HSBC quit the indirect lending business, so we lost them as a source, and a lot of folks lot their jobs. Capital one has tightened up considerably.....they used to buy anyone with a certain minimum credit score, and minimal credit history....

Also, they are limiting advance amounts on SUVs and trucks. they'll lend you 85% of invoice or trade value on a suv, where they'll lend 115% on a car.

Our captive (NMAC) source has just recently held a meeting telling all of the buyers to limit exceptions. They also changed their advance structure for the worse. There are less specials out there on leases, and they are reserving the incentivized rates for those with excellent credit scores.

as an example....we can barely give a pathfinder away at this point due to gas prices.....so, the rate is 0.9 for up to 72 months if you score over 740. if you are 700-739, it's 3.9 660-699 4.9, 630-660 is 7.9.

fortunately, there are banks that have not changed the way they buy or advance and rate sheets. TD Bank, Citizens, M&T, 5th 3rd....all remain unchanged.

the biggest change, obviously is with the sub prime lenders.

We have decided to put our impetus on used cars instead of new. because if nissan is gonna let us twist in the wind...then fuck em...we make more on used cars anyway.