Auto Loans
- 4.46% (60-month, new car)
- 5.12% (36-month, used car)
Auto loan rates were down across the board this week.
The average rates for 60-month new-car loans and 48-month new-car loans each gave up 1 basis point, falling to 4.46 percent and 4.33 percent, respectively. A basis point is one-hundredth of 1 percentage point.
The average rate for a 36-month used-car loan also lopped off 1 basis point, ending up at 5.12 percent.
The Wall Street Journal reported this week that Google has loosened restrictions on where the company's $40 billion in cash reserves can be invested, adding auto loan-backed securities to the list.
That's good news for auto borrowers: Part of the reason for today's rock-bottom auto loan rates is investors' appetites for buying up securitized auto loans. Generally, the more of such securities that large investors such as Google want to buy, the lower the rate for the average borrower.