Why one of the nation's largest auto lenders isn't worried about high vehicle prices or 'forever loans'

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The head of one of the nation’s largest auto finance lenders isn’t overly concerned about rising consumer automotive debt and inflated used car prices leading to longer loans on vehicle purchases.

His main reasoning? The percentage of income consumers are spending on their vehicles has remained relatively flat compared with 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic led to inflated pricing as demand surged but inventories stayed low.

“If I just told you, ‘Car prices going up, interest rates going up, insurance prices going up,’ you would say, ‘You know what, consumers must be paying more as a ratio to the income,’” Capital One

Auto President Sanjiv Yajnik told CNBC. “However, if you look at every quintile of salary and earnings of people, the payment-to-income ratio has remained fairly flat.”