Americans haven't just been taking out risky mortgages for homes in the last few years; they've also been signing larger automobile loans for significantly longer terms than they used to.
As a result, people are slipping into a perpetual cycle of automobile debt that experts think could lead to a new credit crunch extending from dealerships to driveways and all the way to Wall Street.
Gone are the days of the three-year car loan. The length of the average automobile loan hit five years, four months in October, up more than six months from 2002, according to the Federal Reserve. And nearly 45% of loans written today are for longer than six years. Even some staid lenders owned by the car makers, such as Toyota Financial Services and Ford Credit, are offering seven-year financing. And a few credit unions, particularly in the West, are tinkering with the eight-year note.
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Next year's end year headline: Debt slavery puts the U.S. working class into Third World standards of living. In Australia, the average home "owning" family is $250,000 in debt to their lenders. In America, well...you can see the meltdown on the daily news. Add that to the credit card debt attached to what used to be known as 'usurious rates' that SO many workers carry every month--$8,000 is not uncommon--and you get PANIC as next year's Boxing Day recession tsunami heads for shore.
And all this in a U.S. Presidential election year. Lots to look forward to, LOBsters.
And now back to party-on to Clifford Brown's version of "Night in Tunisia".
Mike B)
"Would you have freedom from wage-slavery.." Joe Hill http://www.shelfari.com/o1516968161
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