Auto delinquencies tick down
Auto loan delinquencies edged lower in February 2026, suggesting modest stabilization, but lenders still wrestle with legacy 2022–23 vintages and a bifurcating borrower base—prime demand is soft while subprime appetite has risen. Meanwhile, buyer negotiation tactics and dealer-side fraud cases are highlighting origination and compliance weak spots. ( )
TransUnion’s February 2026 Credit Industry Snapshot shows consumer-level auto serious delinquencies ticked down month‑over‑month while warning that 2022–23 vintages will keep recovery pipelines busy into 2027. (cucollector.com (blog.cucollector.com)) (blog.cucollector.com) TransUnion data cited by industry outlets put auto accounts 60+ days past due at about 1.76% in February 2026, a small monthly improvement versus elevated 2024–25 levels. (emarketer.com (emarketer.com)) (emarketer.com) Experian’s State of the Automotive Finance Market (Q4 2025) documents a re‑entry of subprime buyers — subprime share rose to 15.31% of total financing and to 22.47% on the used‑vehicle side while prime share edged down. (experian.com (experian.com)) (experian.com) Regulators and prosecutors flagged dealer‑side schemes this quarter: a Tampa dealer was federally sentenced in a $378K auto‑loan fraud case, California charged 14 people in an alleged $20M luxury‑car tax‑fraud ring, and the FTC sent warning letters to 97 dealership groups over deceptive pricing. (theautowire.com (theautowire.com)) (theautowire.com) (newsbreak.com (newsbreak.com)) (msn.com) (ftc.gov (ftc.gov)) (ftc.gov) Major platform vendors accelerated point‑of‑sale controls: Cox Automotive’s Dealertrack added an AI identity/fraud partnership with Point Predictive and both Dealertrack and RouteOne integrated F&I Sentinel for automated F&I/product validation to reduce post‑funding pushbacks. (prnewswire.com (prnewswire.com)) (prnewswire.com) (autofinancenews.net (autofinancenews.net)) (autofinancenews.net) Solifi has released Originations enhancements and published customer deployments that map to these stress points: Solifi’s Originations updates added automated validations and seamless integrations for faster decisioning, Rosenthal & Rosenthal went live on Solifi to enter equipment finance with a rapid conversion in about eight weeks, and Centennial Bank implemented Solifi’s CALMS Compass for end‑to‑end floorplan finance. (solifi.com (solifi.com)) (solifi.com) (solifi.com (solifi.com)) (solifi.com) (solifi.com (solifi.com)) (solifi.com)
