CFPB released their Auto lending to Servicemember report. Their analysis reflects completed repossessions with voluntary surrender data.
Service members’ experience in the auto lending market has implications for their economic well-being and financial stability. In particular, debt may affect whether service members receive and maintain a national security clearance.1 In addition to possible loss of their security clearance, service members who fail to pay their debts also face other unique consequences such as military disciplinary action, delayed career progression, and termination from employment.In this report, we analyzed loan-level information from six lenders and found that service members experience increased financial risks at many points in auto lending compared to non-service members.
The key findings in this report are as follows:
1. Service members borrowed more than non-service members. The average amount financed by service members for new vehicles was approximately $39,000, more than$2,200 more than the average amount financed by non-service members. For used vehicles, service members’ average amount financed was over $27,500, almost $400 more than the average amount financed by non-service members.
2. Service members and non-service members purchased similarly priced vehicles.Service members paid approximately $45,000 for new vehicles and nearly $30,000 for used vehicles. Compared with non-service members, service members paid about $500 more for new vehicles and almost $460 less for used vehicles.
3. Service members are less likely to make a cash down payment and make smaller down payments when they do. Service members were less likely to make cash down payments for both new and used cars than non-service members. Service members who did make down payments paid less than non-service members. The average downpayment for service members who did make a downpayment was about $1,100 less than for non-service members for new vehicles and, for used vehicle purchases, about $500 less than for non-service members.
4. Service members were more likely to trade in vehicles with negative equity. The share of service members with a negative equity trade-in is higher than the share among non-service members by 6.7 percentage points for new vehicle loans and by 4.0 percentage points for used vehicle loans. When negative equity was included in financing a new vehicle.
