Subprime auto loans reduced in risk: we saw fewer auto loan delinquencies from Subprime borrowers. At the same time, we saw the amount of delinquencies coming from Nearprime and Prime consumers going up quite a bit.

Dr. Rikard Bandebo, Chief Strategy Officer and Chief Economist at VantageScore, joined Yahoo! Finance on ‘Asking for a Trend,’ explaining that Auto Loans have become the riskiest credit product over the last 15 years across credit tiers.

It’s not necessarily the answer that most people expect - there are challenges with people that are actually from higher income households and have had traditionally better credit health.

Additionally, Dr. Bandebo explained that while every other loan category has seen delinquency rates decrease since 2010, Auto Loan delinquency rates have increased by 57%. Within this period of 15 years, the average Auto Loan has increased alongside interest rate increases, creating a strain on consumers.

Dr. Bandebo added, “That’s a double whammy on your monthly outlay for your Auto Loan. Not only has the principal gone up, but the interest payment has significantly gone up as well.”

Dr. Bandebo finished on a positive note for consumer health as we approach 2026:

On the bright side, we’re seeing that on some unsecured products like Credit Card and Personal Loans may have had a peak in delinquencies already. Some of the year-over-year delinquency rates are coming down. Secured loans such as Auto and Mortgages are continuing to increase, however, the rate of increase is slowing down.

Read more about consumer credit trends in our latest CreditGauge report.

Watch the full interview below: