In finance, a loan is the transfer of money by one party to another with an agreement to pay it back. The recipient, or borrower, incurs a debt and is usually required to pay interest for the use of the money.
Alternative financial services in the United States refers to a particular type of financial service, namely subprime or near-prime lending by non-bank financial institutions. This branch of the financial services industry is more extensive in the United States than in some other countries, because the major banks in the U.S. are less willing to lend to people with marginal credit ratings than their counterparts in many other countries. Examples of these companies include Springleaf, Duvera Financial, Inc., Lendmark Financial Services, Inc., HSBC Finance, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, and Monterey Financial Services, Inc. The more generic name "consumer finance" is also used, although more properly this term applies to financing for any type of consumer.
In the United States, a car dealership is a business that sells cars. A car dealership can either be a franchised dealership selling new and used cars, or a used car dealership, selling only used cars. In most cases, dealerships provide car maintenance and repair services as well as trade-in, leasing, and financing options for customers.
GE Capital was the financial services division of General Electric. Its various units were sold between 2013 and 2021, including the notable spin-off of the North American consumer finance division as Synchrony Financial. Ultimately, only one division of the company remained, GE Energy Financial Services, which was transferred to GE Vernova when General Electric was broken up.
Capital One Financial Corporation is an American bank holding company specializing in credit cards, auto loans, banking, and savings accounts, headquartered in McLean, Virginia with operations primarily in the United States. It is the 12th largest bank in the United States by total assets as of 2022, the third largest issuer of Visa and Mastercard credit cards, and one of the largest car finance companies in the United States.
Bank of America Home Loans is the mortgage unit of Bank of America. In 2008, Bank of America purchased the failing Countrywide Financial for $4.1 billion. In 2006, Countrywide financed 20% of all mortgages in the United States, at a value of about 3.5% of the United States GDP, a proportion greater than any other single mortgage lender.
An asset-backed security (ABS) is a security whose income payments, and hence value, are derived from and collateralized by a specified pool of underlying assets.
Ford Motor Credit Company LLC, d/b/a Ford Credit, is the financial services arm of Ford Motor Company, and is headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan.
Ally Financial Inc. is a bank holding company organized in Delaware and headquartered at Ally Detroit Center in Detroit, Michigan. The company provides financial services including car finance, online banking via a direct bank, corporate lending, vehicle insurance, mortgage loans, and other related financing services such as installment sale and lease agreements.
A title loan is a type of secured loan where borrowers can use their vehicle title as collateral. Borrowers who get title loans must allow a lender to place a lien on their car title, and temporarily surrender the hard copy of their vehicle title, in exchange for a loan amount. When the loan is repaid, the lien is removed and the car title is returned to its owner. If the borrower defaults on their payments then the lender is liable to repossess the vehicle and sell it to repay the borrowers’ outstanding debt.
In finance, subprime lending is the provision of loans to people in the United States who may have difficulty maintaining the repayment schedule. Historically, subprime borrowers were defined as having FICO scores below 600, although this threshold has varied over time.
AWARE is a national nonprofit organization that was formed in 2005 to enhance consumer understanding of the vehicle financing process.
Car finance refers to the various financial products which allow someone to acquire a car, including car loans and leases.
TruStage Financial Group, Inc., formerly known as CUNA Mutual Group, is a mutual insurance company that provides financial services to cooperatives, credit unions, their members, and other customers worldwide. TruStage Financial Group sells commercial and consumer insurance and protection products. TruStage Financial Group provides retirement plan services to small businesses and credit union employees. The Madison, Wisconsin-based company also provides auto, home, life and loan protection products to credit union members through its TruStage brand.
The U.S. central banking system, the Federal Reserve, in partnership with central banks around the world, took several steps to address the subprime mortgage crisis. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke stated in early 2008: "Broadly, the Federal Reserve’s response has followed two tracks: efforts to support market liquidity and functioning and the pursuit of our macroeconomic objectives through monetary policy." A 2011 study by the Government Accountability Office found that "on numerous occasions in 2008 and 2009, the Federal Reserve Board invoked emergency authority under the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 to authorize new broad-based programs and financial assistance to individual institutions to stabilize financial markets. Loans outstanding for the emergency programs peaked at more than $1 trillion in late 2008."
Bill Heard Enterprises was a company based in Columbus, Georgia. Founded in 1919, it operated a group of automobile dealerships, primarily in the Southern United States. At its peak, the company operated dealerships in Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Florida, Texas, Arizona and Nevada. By 2008, Bill Heard Enterprises was the 11th-largest automobile dealer in the United States, the largest in the state of Georgia, and the largest dealer of Chevrolet automobiles.
In the used car market in the United States and Canada, buy here, pay here, often abbreviated as BHPH, refers to a method of running an automobile dealership in which dealers themselves extend credit to purchasers of automobiles. Typically, purchasers of cars at BHPH dealerships have poor credit history, and loans have high interest rates. BHPH can provide options for those unable to meet credit standards elsewhere.
DriveTime Automotive Group Inc. is an American used car retailer and finance company. It is based in Tempe, Arizona, and sells and finances cars to customers around the nation. The company was formerly known as Ugly Duckling and was renamed DriveTime in 2002. It also spun off Carvana and GO Financial, SilverRock Group Inc, and Bridgecrest Acceptance Corporation. As of 2018, DriveTime had approximately 145 locations in the U.S. and 3,800 employees.
Synchrony Financial is an American consumer financial services company with its headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut, United States. The company offers consumer financing products, including credit, promotional financing and loyalty programs, installment lending to industries, and FDIC-insured consumer savings products, through Synchrony Bank, its wholly owned online bank subsidiary.
RoadLoans is a direct-to-consumer auto lender operating online and specializing in subprime auto loans. Established in 2000, RoadLoans finances and services new and used car loans as well as offering auto refinance options.
US$857.5 million (2019) [3] 