Even the 99% cheat

Forsooth! According to UBS -- which ought to know as it is one of the crookedest banks in the world -- people looking for auto loans are hyping their credit scores.

Golly! I wonder where they ever got the idea to do that?

The report raises questions about one of the key arguments for investors not worrying about consumer credit, and car loans in particular: borrowers’ credit scores are broadly rising, and have been higher for recent auto loans than they were before the financial crisis. Those scores have been climbing while auto lenders loosen many loan terms, including allowing longer payback periods, the strategists wrote.

“Everything but credit scores have been eased in lender underwriting,” Mish said. “Loan terms are stretched out, interest rates are aggressive, but there may be an over-reliance on credit scores, and that’s the danger.”

The story at Bloomberg says:

A growing number of borrowers have searched on the Internet for “credit score,” signaling that borrowers may be getting better at figuring out how to game their credit scores, the strategists said.

That despite the fact that every time you inquire about your score you get dinged by the rating agencies.

I expect the combination of rightwing economic idiocy and Whiny Baby Donald incompetence will generate a crash; perhaps not a big one.

Maybe auto lending is where the crack will open. 

And perhaps the bloom is fading on WBD's stock bouquet, if today's 370-point stock dive indicates anything. Bloomberg also worries that old, rich Americans are not spending their dough.

Get out the tiny violin.