CHICAGO -

Along with describing how much millennials are fueling the ongoing auto finance resurgence, TransUnion’s latest report showed just a marginal uptick in subprime delinquency rates.

TransUnion pegged the year-over-year subprime delinquency movement in the fourth quarter going from 5.72 percent to 5.92 percent.

“Access to credit is expanding for American consumers, especially in the non-prime and subprime risk tiers,” said TransUnion senior vice president and automotive business leader Jason Laky.  “Lenders are apparently taking advantage of a strong economy and robust auto market to find profitable lending opportunities beyond the limits of traditionally low-risk credit tiers. And given the fact that delinquency levels remain near historic lows, that strategy appears well justified.” 

Overall delinquency rates didn’t jump much, either.

In fact at the end of 2014, TransUnion noticed auto loan delinquency rates remained relatively flat, with the 60-day auto loan delinquency rate moving from 1.14 percent in Q4 2013 to 1.16 percent in Q4 2014. Laky pointed out the account-level and consumer-level delinquency rates were unchanged from the prior quarter. 

Auto loan delinquency rates increased in 27 states on a year-over-year basis, with the largest moves coming in Arkansas (up 15.7 percent) and Nebraska (up 10.5 percent). The largest declines occurred in Oklahoma (down 18.6 percent) and Alaska (down 16.1 percent).

TransUnion’s latest analysis also determined auto loan debt per borrower rose to $17,453 in Q4 2014, marking the 15th straight quarter of increases.

On a quarterly basis, auto loan debt increased from $17,352 in Q3 2014. Auto loan balances rose in every state on a sequential basis, according to TransUnion, which added that states experiencing the largest increases in auto loan debt included New Mexico (up 6.7 percent), Texas (up 5.8 percent) and Georgia (up 5.5 percent). 

TransUnion recorded 64.8 million auto loan accounts as of Q4, up from 60.5 million to close 2013.

Viewed one quarter in arrears (to ensure all accounts are included in the data), TransUnion indicated new account originations increased to 7 million in Q3 2014, up 5.1 percent from Q3 2013.

Of the new auto contracts, Laky noticed approximately 1 million were concentrated within the subprime tier (those consumers with a VantageScore 3.0 credit score lower than 601), essentially flat from Q3 2013. 

He added that prime or higher tiers (those consumers with a VantageScore 3.0 credit score higher than 660) represented 64 percent of new auto originations, also flat relative to Q3 2013. 

Laky went on to mention that the millennial generation is the fastest-growing segment of auto loan consumers. Millennials — consumers born in 1981 or after — represented 27 percent of total auto loan originations in 2014, up from 16 percent of total originations in 2009.

TransUnion indicated millennials’ total outstanding auto balances have increased 23 percent in the past year, the highest of any age group. Average opening loan balances for this generation grew 4.1 percent year over year, up from $17,942 in 2013 to $18,678 in 2014.

“The growth in millennials’ auto loan originations dispels the common myth that millennials are not buying cars,” Laky said. “The growing average loan balances for millennials, combined with stable delinquency rates, indicate that we are still in the midst of a strong auto lending environment.”