Investors place big bets on Buy Here Pay Here used-car dealers - latimes.com
Loans on decade-old clunkers are being bundled into securities, just as subprime mortgages were a few years ago. In the last two years, investors have bought more than $15 billion in subprime auto securities.
Although they're backed mainly by installment contracts signed by people who can't even qualify for a credit card, most of these bonds have been rated investment grade. Many have received the highest rating: AAA.
That's because rating firms believe that with tens of thousands of loans lumped together, the securities are safe even if some of the loans prove worthless.
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This is not from The Onion. It's the Los Angeles Times. This is really happening. They are securitizing subprime auto loans. But don't worry--some of them are rated AAA. That means...nothing could possibly go wrong!!
Pretty nutty idea considering the loan collateral is beater vehicles. But the good news is there is probably little risk of a bubble phenom in beater vehicle prices due to the increased availability of subprime loan capital, potentially leading to a collapse of the beater vehicle market when the loans go south. :)
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