Free Republic

LAS VEGAS (KSNV) — A perfect economic storm of inflation, soaring gas prices and the unintended consequences of the federal pandemic relief programs is closing in on many car owners. “We’re talking, on average, 15,000 repos a day nationwide,” said Mark Zane, owner of a repossession company and president of the Nevada Association of Licensed Repossessors. Zane says repossessions were all but non-existent during the pandemic because banks were working with car owners to defer payments or help them get caught up. Those days are ending, however, and banks are taking the necessary steps to start the repossession process on...

From dealers to lenders to tow truck operators, reports have poured in this month about a disturbing trend of rising car and truck repossessions. Lisa Beilfuss Popeo, who covers the economy for Barron's, recently reported that vehicle repossessions have doubled among “prime” borrowers, which includes consumers with good credit scores. "One red flag is the rate of repossession for prime borrowers is starting to rise. It's not just subprime borrowers that are having problems," Popeo told CBS News. The reason for the sharp increase in repossessions is not exactly clear. Some point to a bubble in the car market that...

The jobs report and minutes from the Federal Reserve’s June meeting were the economic highlights of the week, but they are, respectively, a lagging indicator and old news. This column instead digs into the auto market, where there is an underappreciated ticking time bomb. Lucky Lopez is a car dealer who has been in the business for about 20 years. In recent meetings with bankers, where he bids on repossessed vehicles before they go to auction, he has noticed some common characteristics of the defaulted loans. Most of the loans on recently repossessed cars originated during 2020 and 2021, whereas...

The amount of money that investors are parking at a major central bank facility climbed to yet another all-time high as supply-demand imbalances continue to dog U.S. dollar funding markets. Eighty-one participants on Monday placed a total of $1.758 trillion at the Federal Reserve’s overnight reverse repurchase agreement facility, in which counterparties like money-market funds can place cash with the central bank. That surpassed the previous record volume of $1.705 trillion from Dec. 17, New York Fed data show. Demand for the so-called RRP has climbed further as principal and interest payments from government-sponsored enterprises has entered short-end funding markets....

he Federal Reserve on Tuesday injected longer-term cash into the U.S. banking system in an effort to meet the funding needs of banks and Wall Street following a bout of turbulence in money markets last week. The New York Federal Reserve added $30.0 billion cash into the banking system through 14-day loans to primary dealers. These 14-day term repurchase agreements (repo) were on top of the $75 billion in temporary cash through an overnight repo operation. Primary dealers, or the top 24 Wall Street firms that do business directly with Fed, borrow from the central bank by using their Treasuries...

<p>New York (AFP) - The New York Federal Reserve Bank said Friday it will continue to inject billions into the US financial plumbing on a daily basis through November 4, extending the operations by three weeks.</p> <p>The effort, begun in mid-September, is aimed at preventing a spike in short-term interest rates, the New York Fed said in a statement.</p>

Presenting a detailed look at "Repo 105" - the next soundbite sure to fill the airwaves over the next weeks and months, as more and more banks are uncovered to be using this borderline criminal accounting gimmick to make their leverage ratios look better. This is the first time we have heard this loophole abuse by a bank, be it defunct (Lehman) or existing (everyone else). There should be an immediate investigation into how many other banks are currently taking advantage of this artificial scheme to manipulate and misrepresent their cap ratio, and just why the New York Fed can...

Today, the Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the European Central Bank (ECB), the Federal Reserve, the Bank of Japan and the Swiss National Bank are announcing coordinated measures designed to address the continued elevated pressures in US dollar short-term funding markets. These measures, together with other actions taken in the last few days by individual central banks, are designed to improve the liquidity conditions in global financial markets. The central banks will continue to work together closely and will take appropriate steps to address the ongoing pressures. Bank of England action The Bank of England will offer...

It's easy to scold sub-prime lenders for the glut of home foreclosures. It's also wrong. Blame the buyers.