The same subprime lending practices in the mortgage industry that fueled the run-up toward the Great Recession have found a new market to infect: used-car auto lending.
According to The New York Times , state and federal authorities are investigating used-car dealerships who finance subprime consumers by creating liar loans, loans where an applicant’s information is misrepresented, such as inflating one’s income or falsifying their employment information.
Thus far, the investigations have found hundreds of such loans, including a case in Odessa, Texas where two employees at a dealership created over 300 liar loans; the employees are now serving time in federal prison. Meanwhile, 15 states — including Florida, New York, Alabama, Ohio, Texas and Tennessee — have lawsuits pending against dealerships whose subprime lending tactics have financially damaged borrowers who would have otherwise been passed over.
Liar lending also damages lenders and investors — the latter including public pension funds and insurance companies — who buy the loans from the dealerships who commit to such tactics, eroding confidence in the securities generated by the loans. That said, more lenders are falling head over heels to have more loans in their portfolio — sometimes paying dealers in full immediately for them — fostering the sin that led some mortgage companies to the guillotine years ago.
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