JJ Hornblass's Blog – October 2008 Archive (6)

Chase Offering 50 Basis Point Discount to Its 'Premier' Customers

Chase Auto is offering its Chase Premier Checking customer a discount of 50 basis points on car loans.

The discount is only available if the borrower agrees to make automatic payments. Chase says the discount can save their customers up to $325 on a $24,000 loan listed at 7% APR.

Chase Auto, the unit of JPMorgan Chase & Co, is promoting the new offer on the homepage of its chase.com website. Click… Continue

Added by JJ Hornblass on October 29, 2008 at 9:30am — No Comments

Cap One Sees Its Auto Lending Business Stabalize in 3Q

Richard Fairbanks, Capital One Finance Corp.'s CEO, said auto finance stabilized at the bank last quarter. His remarks on auto finance from the company's earnings call yesterday, courtesy of SeekingAlpha.com:

Our Auto Finance business posted net income of $14.5 million for the quarter. Third quarter profits were driven by solid and stable revenue margin and efficiency as well as lower provision for loan losses as the overall portfolio continues to shrink. These factors more than… Continue

Added by JJ Hornblass on October 17, 2008 at 1:07pm — 3 Comments

Obama Puts Auto Finance Woes Front and Center During Presidential Debate

Barack Obama, the Democratic candidate for president, put auto finance woes in the spotlight during his debate last night with Sen. John McCain [R-Ariz.], saying that a lack of auto loans for consumers is exacerbating the current financial crisis.

Obama raised the issue of troubles on the auto finance front as he spoke about the need for the United States to become energy independent from foreign providers of oil. The Democratic senator came out forcefully in favor of loan… Continue

Added by JJ Hornblass on October 16, 2008 at 9:30am — No Comments

Standard and Poor's Warns of Possible Bankruptcy for Ford, GM, Chrysler

Standard & Poor's today warned that General Motors, Ford Motor Co., and Chrysler LLC could be headed for bankruptcy protection.

S&P analyst Robert Schulz told Bloomberg today that "macro factors could overwhelm them at some point." Schulz said operating-cash needs at GM, Ford and Chrysler are "substantial, so if it looked like they were going to be pushing toward that number… Continue

Added by JJ Hornblass on October 10, 2008 at 11:00am — 1 Comment

Can Rate Cuts Cure Auto Finance Woes?

The Auto Finance Summit is still going on in Las Vegas, and already the core message of this year's gathering is clear: auto finance needs capital markets relief.

I certainly hope today's actions by central banks around the world do the trick (although I am not encouraged).

Today, the Federal Reserve, European Central Bank, Bank of England, Bank of Canada, Bank of Sweden, and the Swiss National Bank each cut their benchmark rates by 50 basis points. The Bank of Japan,… Continue

Added by JJ Hornblass on October 8, 2008 at 9:30am — No Comments

Prognosis Poor for the Auto Finance Market

This evening I'll be kicking off the eighth annual Auto Finance Summit with a presentation on the prospects for the automotive lending and leasing market. My central message: the prospects are not good.

Among the points that I will be making are:

-Both the overall auto market, as well as auto loan and lease asset quality, will be poor for the foreseable future;

-That inadequate access to capital will continue to plague this industry;

-That there still… Continue

Added by JJ Hornblass on October 6, 2008 at 1:30pm — No Comments