Car loans hit $1 trillion for first time

[pinkytoe]

http://money.cnn.com/2015/11/16/auto...ars/index.html
I notice so many drivers now with very expensive cars where I live - way more than in the past. Ditto very expensive houses. I keep wondering how people afford these things - are their incomes really that high? Maybe they are but I wondered the same thing before the 2008 crash. This article implies that many drivers have large loans on their cars. Another I read said the average mortgage payment here is $3000 a month. I don't think this bodes well if there is any economic bad news in the near future.

[Ultralight]

Mind-blowing. Just mind-blowing.

[SteveinMN]

And the worst part (for those folks) is that on those 5-7 year loans, they're upside down a good number of those years. No place to be....

[Ultralight]

upside down

What does this phrase mean exactly?

[Alan]

What does this phrase mean exactly?

It means they owe more for the vehicle than it is worth.

[Ultralight]

It means they owe more for the vehicle than it is worth.

That is miserable. I owe more on my university degrees than they are worth! haha

[Tammy]

Upside down on an education

[Ultralight]

At least my car is paid off.

A trillion dollars is real money. How did we get ourselves into such a fix?

[rodeosweetheart]

http://money.cnn.com/2015/11/16/auto...ars/index.html
Another I read said the average mortgage payment here is $3000 a month. I don't think this bodes well if there is any economic bad news in the near future.

Wow, that is an enormous mortgage. Austin has really priced itself out of the market. Same thing is happening where my kids live, in Portland Maine. Already happened in Portland Oregon, where my other kid lives. They just bought in Maine much cheaper than they could rent--well, probably on par, but about three times the space, a beautiful yard, etc. To be a landlord in Portland--he said in the first hour their apartment went on the market, the landlord had 53 applications.

[Float On]

It doesn't take long for us to forget how bad it was just 8 years ago.