TruDecision chief executive officer Daniel Parry is as staunch a defender of the subprime auto finance space as someone could find — especially since his industry tenure dates to being with AmeriCredit in 1998 and later as a founder of Exeter Finance.

So, when Parry spotted other executives and experts who “have sensationalized the notion that subprime credit performance is worsening and lenders are tightening their standards,” he refuted those assertions with data.

Here’s what Parry sent to Cherokee Media Group:

—Exeter Finance’s 2026-2 S&P presale report shows that 31-day delinquency on their managed portfolio dropped from 17.9% in 2024 to 16.87% in 2025.  Their net charge-offs dropped from 10.22% in 2024 to 9.79% in 2025.  Exeter’s managed portfolio is approximately $13 billion.

—Westlake Financial’s 2026-2 S&P presale report shows that its 31-day delinquency dropped from 3.46% in 2024 to 2.99% on a $19 billion portfolio.

—OneMain Financial’s 2026-2 S&P presale report shows that its 60-day delinquency rate dropped from 2.15% in 2024 to 2.07% in 2025.

Parry went on to mention that TruDecision sees more than 5 million hits to its scoring APIs from super-prime down to deep subprime, as well as credit performance detail on the vast majority of funded loans through our platform.

Parry said he has observed credit performance is vastly improved and most lenders are growing at a rate of 5 to 10%, except for certain large lenders undergoing geographic expansion as part of their strategic plan. He said that latter group is above 15%.

Delinquency in all categories is down from the peak in 2022, according to Parry, citing TruDecision data.

“While some small lenders may be having issues, the vast majority in the market already tightened up in 2023-2024 and are now seeing those vintages come to maturity with substantially lower delinquency and loss,” Parry wrote in a message to Cherokee Media Group that accompanied the data.

“During the high inflation period of 2021-2024, many lenders saw their delinquency and losses increase as much as 50% or more above their baseline levels,” Parry continued. “Tightening in response to that performance led to reduced volume and now improved performance.  Current levels are very close to pre-crisis baselines.

“Now that subprime lenders have seen performance improvement, and continued news of a strong and growing economy, they are almost universally growing (major lenders),” he added.

Parry then pointed out market reports on portfolio level aggregated delinquency levels “are very lagging and are not reliable.” Why?

“They suffer from a changing mix of lenders at different credit niches, and in a contraction period the denominator is shrinking, making the numbers look artificially worse,” Parry said.

Parry closed with one more observation about subprime auto finance.

“The vast majority of subprime auto loans are originated and managed by highly seasoned executive teams who have survived multiple cycles,” Parry said. “They are rational lenders and recognize that we have come through a difficult time to one of growth and opportunity.

“There is no basis to claim that subprime auto finance as a whole is deteriorating, rather the opposite,” he went on to say.

More discussion about this topic and more is in store during the 30th annual Non-Prime Auto Financing Conference, hosted by the National Automotive Finance Association. The conference begins on June 2 in Irving, Texas.

Conference registration and other details can be found at www.nafassociation.com.