Auto sales to prosper as loan requirements are relaxed

The auto sales industry is poised for recovery, according to George Magliano of the economics organization IHS Global Insight, as reported by CNN. In a recent presentation, Magliano predicted that auto sales would total 14.7 million in 2012 and continue to climb, reaching 17 million in 2015. He attributed this to a pattern of normal economic growth and job recreation, which will lead to an increase in consumer spending. Additionally, auto loan lending requirements will be loosened in response to declining credit scores, and used car inventory will decline because of lower new car sales in the past few years. However, new research by the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) indicates that consumers who financed a car through a dealership in 2009 will pay more than $25.8 billion in extra interest over the lives of their loans because of dealer interest rate markups - a figure that is set to rise unless dealers offer greater transparency, which would lead to consumers making more informed credit decisions. The research found that undisclosed markups increase the odds of a sub-prime borrower defaulting by 12 percent and having his or her car repossessed by 33 percent.