Car payments are becoming a hurdle for a growing number of lower-income Americans.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s according to a\u00a0report<\/a>\u00a0Monday (Oct. 20) by The New York Times, citing data from\u00a0Fitch Ratings<\/a>. Those figures show that the share of subprime auto loans that were 60 days or more past due hit a high of almost 6.5% in January and has remained close to that level.<\/p>\n When Fitch first released those findings earlier this year, the group noted that it was the highest since it began collecting that data\u00a0in 1994<\/a>.<\/p>\n The NYT report adds that\u00a0repossessions<\/a>\u00a0have also swelled, while drivers are increasingly trading in vehicles that are worth less than they owe, and lenders like\u00a0Ally Financial<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0CarMax<\/a>\u00a0are cautioning investors about\u00a0loan performance<\/a>.<\/p>\n Despite what seems to be \u2014 on the surface \u2014 a healthy economy, auto market weakness is one of the clearest signs that lower and middle-income families are struggling, the report added. And because many Americans need a car to get around, loan delinquencies serve as a reliable indicator of financial hardship, the NYT said.<\/p>\n \u201cIs this evidence that we have some consumers under stress?\u201d said\u00a0Jonathan Smoke<\/a>, chief economist for research firm\u00a0Cox Automotive<\/a>. \u201cI would say yes, most definitely.\u201d<\/p>\n Advertisement: Scroll to Continue<\/p>\n Consumers are definitely under stress, as PYMNTS wrote earlier this month, after earnings from companies like\u00a0Delta Air Lines<\/a>,\u00a0Levi Strauss<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0PepsiCo<\/a>\u00a0showed that\u00a0people are still spending<\/a>, but have gotten more discerning.<\/p>\n