Claire Ballentine, Bloomberg »
It’s a major shift from the pandemic years, when relief measures for consumers meant repos largely dried up, leaving many agents out of a job. Now repossession companies are struggling to find enough workers to meet repo requests. “As the economy curves down, our industry curves up,” says Ben Deese, vice president at North Carolina-based Home Detective Co. and a member of the American Recovery Association, the industry group that hosted the Orlando conference. In March, the percentage of subprime auto borrowers who were at least 60 days late on their bills was 5.3%, up from a seven-year low of 2.58% in May 2021 and higher than in 2009, the peak of the financial crisis, data from Fitch Ratings show. While not all of those borrowers will face repossessions, the risk is high.
Last Updated on June 7, 2023