Reuters reported that 6.65% of subprime auto-loan borrowers tracked by Fitch Ratings were at least 60 days behind in October 2025—the highest share in Fitch’s series dating to the early 1990s. That is a dated record reading, not a verified current rate for October 2026, and it does not count everyone who missed any car payment.
How many subprime borrowers are behind on car payments?
Fitch Ratings’ subprime auto-loan measure reached 6.65% in October 2025, according to Reuters’ November 12, 2025 report. The figure is the share of subprime borrowers at least 60 days past due, and Reuters described it as a record for Fitch’s series, which dates to the early 1990s. Fitch’s reading was 6.50% in September 2025 and 6.23% in September 2024. For comparison within Fitch’s reporting, the prime-borrower 60-day delinquency rate was 0.37% in October 2025, unchanged from the prior month and a year earlier. Reuters report republished by GV Wire
The 6.65% is not a count of all Americans who have missed a payment, nor does it mean 6.65% of every auto-loan borrower is delinquent. It refers to Fitch’s subprime population and its 60-day threshold. The latest Fitch observation as of October 5, 2026, is not established here, so October 2025 should be treated as a reported historical record, not a claim about today’s rate.
What counts as behind on an auto loan?
The headline figure counts borrowers who are at least 60 days past due. A borrower who is a few days late, or even 30 days late, does not meet that particular threshold. Delinquency measures also depend on which loans are included and how the lender or data provider defines the borrower population.
The Philadelphia Fed’s separate analysis uses a specific definition of subprime: an Equifax Risk Score below 620 at loan origination. That cutoff should not be assumed to define Fitch’s subprime group. The Fed’s analysis draws on auto-loan tradelines in the New York Fed Consumer Credit Panel/Equifax data, and excludes accounts that have been charged off or are in repossession from its delinquency calculation. Philadelphia Fed report
How does this compare with all auto-loan delinquencies?
The Philadelphia Fed report describes a different measure: a quarterly analysis of New York Fed Consumer Credit Panel/Equifax tradelines, covering all borrowers for its overall delinquency rate and a below-620-at-origination group for subprime. Its figures should not be divided into or treated as directly comparable to Fitch’s monthly subprime rate.
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| Measure | Population and method | Reported result |
|---|---|---|
| Fitch, October 2025 | Subprime borrowers; at least 60 days past due; monthly Fitch measure, as reported by Reuters | 6.65%; series record dating to the early 1990s, per Reuters |
| Philadelphia Fed, Q3 2025 | All auto loans in the New York Fed Consumer Credit Panel/Equifax analysis; at least 60 days past due; seasonally adjusted | 1.68%, the highest since 2008 in that series |
| Philadelphia Fed, mid-2024 through late 2025 | Subprime loans in the same New York Fed/Equifax analysis; below 620 at origination | Around 6% |
The Philadelphia Fed report also found that borrowers classified as subprime held 17% of active auto accounts but accounted for nearly two-thirds of delinquent loans in its analysis. Those figures use the Fed report’s origination-score definition and data system, not Fitch’s stated subprime measure. Philadelphia Fed report
Does a record delinquency rate mean more people are newly missing payments?
Not necessarily. The Philadelphia Fed authors’ analysis distinguishes the stock of loans delinquent at a point in time from the flow of borrowers newly becoming delinquent. In their New York Fed/Equifax data, existing delinquent accounts carrying over across quarters accounted for most of the rise in the subprime delinquency rate since Q3 2022. The inflow of first-time subprime delinquencies showed no sustained upward trend after late 2022.
That does not mean fewer borrowers are struggling. The delinquent pool can grow because new accounts enter it, because existing accounts take longer to resolve, or because borrowers cure and later fall behind again. The report found redefaulters—borrowers who became delinquent again after curing—above pre-2020 levels. It also points to longer account resolution as a possible contributor to the persistence of delinquency, rather than establishing a single cause. Philadelphia Fed report
Why may troubled auto loans be taking longer to resolve?
Higher payments and riskier loan vintages
The Philadelphia Fed report identifies riskier 2022–2023 loan vintages and higher monthly payments as context for later delinquency risk. It cites research estimating that elevated vehicle prices—chiefly through higher monthly payments rather than higher interest rates—accounted for roughly 40% of the increase in the two-year delinquency rate between the end of 2019 and the end of 2022. The report also says that, at its reporting time, more than 62% of auto loans in default had originated in 2021–2023; that figure describes loans in default, not all outstanding auto loans. Philadelphia Fed report
Negative equity can limit a borrower’s options
When a vehicle is worth less than the remaining loan balance, selling or trading it may not clear the debt. The Philadelphia Fed report cites a 29.3% share of new-vehicle trade-ins involving negative equity in Q4 2025, the highest since Q1 2021. Negative equity does not by itself prove why a borrower is delinquent, but it can make it harder to exit a payment that has become unaffordable. Philadelphia Fed report
Extensions may prolong delinquency
The report suggests wider use of loan extensions as one possible reason accounts remain delinquent longer. In asset-backed-security loan pools, subprime extensions reached about 3.5% in the prior year, roughly 100 basis points above the level three years earlier. That observed change is a possible explanation for persistence, not proof that extensions alone caused the rise in the delinquency rate. Philadelphia Fed report
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How should borrowers and readers interpret the headline?
A record share at least 60 days late is a warning about serious payment distress within the population and series being measured. But a headline delinquency rate alone cannot show whether more borrowers are newly falling behind or whether existing troubled loans are simply taking longer to clear. The Philadelphia Fed authors—Julia Cheney, Bob Hunt, Lauren Lambie-Hanson, Larry Santucci, and Justin Zhou—caution that the headline rate by itself likely overstates how much borrowers’ financial health is currently deteriorating. They write that analysts should distinguish “between a market in which more borrowers are falling behind versus one in which troubled loans are taking longer to resolve,” while considering changes in economic conditions. Philadelphia Fed report
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