Auto Lending: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

[MerryBlooms]

Disgraceful- no difference than the sub prime housing lenders and payday lenders. Preying on the poor and disadvantaged, which EVERY Democrat should oppose. There needs to be some serious regulation guidelines on this crap.

[UMTerp01]

1. I saw this on his show. Its horrible.

You end up paying 3 or 4 times what the car is worth. Its ridiculous and how its legal is beyond me. This is the kind of thing that should be illegal and regulated. This is the kind of thing that can make people's credit worse but that is unfortunately the reality for a lot of people. I mean look at the story of that man who had to walk 10 miles to and from work every day. A lot of money experts do believe in the 1/10th rule when it comes to a car. You should only spend 10% of your yearly income on a car. For most people thats just not realistic. Or is it? Cars are status symbols. I drive a mid priced range luxury vehicle that some look at me knowing the salary I make and wonder why I don't drive a Range Rover or a Mercedes. Why? Because I don't believe in spending that much money on something that depreciates the second you drive it off the lot. I'm not trying to spend $500+ monthly on a car payment. Thats just not important to me. I like to spend my money on other things and I save.

And its bullshit like this that makes it so important to have good credit. I just went into contract to buy a new house and its because of the idiots who put people in houses they knew they couldn't afford before the housing bubble burst that there is so much up front money you have to put up now to buy a house. Its ridiculous and predatory in a way that I don't understand how its legal.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

2. I spent 11 years as a dealer finance manager.

I did some things that I'm not proud of. A lot of things. It's why I'm not still in the business.

But what do you do when some working couple with bad credit comes in and needs a car to drive to work tomorrow? As a dealer, you need to have access to a wide range of finance options so you can send people home in cars. Because if you don't do it, the dealer down the street will do it.

If you cap the rates, how many people will get tossed out of the market?

We had loans for people with excellent credit and loans for terrible credit people with two repos and a bankruptcy on their file. We also had loans for people in between - maybe a BK with established credit or maybe sloppy payment history.

The repo history people buying older cars with high mileage were just placing themselves, with dealer help, in a repo/BK revolving door.

I don't know what the solution is. Better public transportation for one. Maybe government guaranteed auto loans at low rates for low income working people who can demonstrate a need for a car.

[physioex]

3. Better Public Transportation would be the ultimate....

But there is also a lack basic understanding of how a person should manage their finances. As far as cars, again people need to better educated on how maintain their cars, they offer clinics at the local community college for the complete beginner.