Full text of G.20 Sales Finance Companies : May 12, 1949

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BOARD OF GOVERNORS
OF THE
FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM

SALES FINANCE COKPANIES

MARCH 1949
Retail financing.--The volume of retail instalu.ent paper purchased by reporting sales
finance companies during )larch was substantially higher than in February. All categories showed
strong gains. The rise in automobile volume was accompanied by a continued expansion of outstanding baJ.ances. on other consumer goods, however, the March upswing in new paper acquired did not
prevent a decline in outstanding balances which has been reported for the ninth consecutive month.
Automobile paper acquired in :March was 54 per cent above the February level, as indicated in the table below. Increases in passenger car paper were sharper than in truck paper.
A rise of 48 per cent was reported in the financing of consumer goods other than
automobiles. The most marked gain was recorded in paper based on sales of refrigerators and
other household appliances.
Retail Financing by Sales Finance Companies

Class of retail instalment paper
Automotive:

+52

+54

New
Used

+50
+58

+63

New
Used

+42
+46

+35
+47

Total retail

Passenger cars a
Commercial cars :

Percen:tage chan~e. February 1949 to :March 1949
Number
Volume of paper
outstanding balances,
acquired durine: month
of cars
end of month

other consumer goods:

Total

Furniture, radios, musical instruments
Refrigerators and other household appliances
Residential building repair and modernization
Miscellaneous retail

+51

~
+42
+101
+12
+28

!.2

...
...

...
...
.::.1

...
...

...
...

Wholesale financing.-The volume of wholesale automotive paper acquired in March was
about one-l'"ourth larger than in February, but outstanding balances declined. Wholesale financing
of other goods was aJ.so in greater volume in March, and credit outstanding in this classification
rose slightly.
Ratio of paper acquired to baJ.ances outstandi.ng.--sharp increases in volume of paper
purchased raised the ratio of such purchases to balance outstanding from 26 per cent in February
to 33 per cent in :March.

NOTE.--March data, based on returns from 134 sales finance companies, are compiled
in the same manner as those shown in earlier reports. Aggregates represent only the totals for
the reporting companies and, since the reporting sample is not identical fran month to month,
they are not comparable with totals of preceding months.




Page 2
SALES FINANCE COMPANIES

Table 1,--Automotive and Diversified Financing by Sales Finance Comyanies
Indexes of Outstanding Balances: December 31, 1939 • 100 !f

End of month
and year

1939··················
1940 ••••••.•••••••••••
1941 ••••••••••••••••••
1942 ••••••••••••••••••

1943··················
1944··················
194S ••••••••••••••••••
1946 ••••••••••••••••••

1947··················
1948 ••••••••••••••••••

1948-Karch ••••••••••••
April ••••••••••••
May ••••••••••••••

June •••••••••••••
July •••••••••••••
August •••••••••••
September ••••••••
October ••••••••••
November •••••••••
December •••••••••

1949-January, •••••••••
February•••••••••
}larch ••••••••••••

!(

Retail
automotive

Wholesale
autamotive

Wholesale
other
than
automotive

Retail
other
consumers'
goods

100
132
149
37
13
15
18
42
88

100
169
175
112
40
24
27
90
163
252

100
140
250
40
8
11
38
224
394

100
129
148
76
30
26
39

454

226
232

147
151
155
157
163
167
174

113
119
123
130
136
142
145
148
151

175
159
143
165
164
165
154
191
2ll
252

458
Sl7
495
462
448
396
362
389
418
454

232
240
250
2.5'1
250
249
247
243
238
232

98
111
118
121
120
119
119
118

177
180
182

152
155
162

273
289
2Bl

484
561
571

221
214
207

118
117

Total
all
sales
financing
100
]J6
152
53
20
18
22
59
119
174

134
139

141

lSl
lOS

lOS

Industrial,
c011111111rcial,
and farm
equipment
100

131
147
61
27
26
23
59
89

116

116
116

lll

Indexes as of .December 31 for the years of 1939, 1940, and 1941 are based on figures reported by
sales finance companies on a supplementary report form which accompanied the regular monthly report form for January 1942, Succeeding indexes are derived by calculating the psroentage
changes of the outstanding balances reported by sales finance companies for each month from
those reported by the same companies for the preceding month, and by linking these psrcentages
to the indexes for the preceding month,

Table 2 .--Relative Importance of Loaus .Made by Sales Finance Companies
During
llarch 1949 and Outstanding Balances at End d Month
Outstanding balances,
end of month

Paper acquired
during month
Class of papar
Al!iount

Percentage
of total

Amount

Percentage
of total

Total, all classes of paper !/••••••••

$761' 711' 4.5'1

100

$2,299,4o6,647

100

Total loans ••.•.•••••••••••••••••.••

44 2 018 2475
14,309,332
29,709,143

6
2
4

166 2 921 2819

Small (personal) loans ••••••••••••
Business loans, •••••••••••••••••••

86,479,016

7
3
4

Total sales financing !/••••••••••••

717,692,976

94

2,132,484,828

93

so,442,8oJ

!/ Included in this classification are only those firms which, in addition to their sales financing
operations, reported loan activities,



Page 3
SALES FINANCB COIIPANIBS

Table 3.-~utomoti98 and Diversified Financing by Salea Finance Companiea
Paper Acquired During )(arch 1949
and Balances Outstanding at End of Month
Volume of paper acquired
during March 1949
Clan of pttper

By dl
companies
reporting

By companies

reporting

1949

outatandi~J

$241,092,670

$732,288,631

!Y'
~

y

Ratio paper
acquired to
out standi;,
balances b

balances a

Total retail automotive ••••••••••••••••••• $243,543,177
Total wholesale automotive ••••••••••••••••
441,293,690
Total wholesale- other than automotive •••
19,482,414
Total retail - other consumers' goods •••••
20,488,309
Industrial, commercial, and fare equipment
7l481l04l
Total sales financing •••••••••••

Outstanding
balances
March 31,

19,482,414
20,373,109
714661442

$1,294,723,574
442,660,648
43,798,339
321,417,192
8,2 1 540 1 12.2

19
99
44
6

$727,951,998

$2l186l140l476

33

439,537,363

9

Data are based on figures from sales finance companies able to report both their paper ac~uired and
their outstanding balances,
Ratios obtained by dividing paper acquired (column 2) by outstanding balances (column 3).
Table

of ~are Financed and Volume of Paper Acquired
by Sales Finance Companies During March 1949

4.--~umber

Number of oars
Class of paper

Paper

acquired

Number

Percentage
of total

Dollar
volume

Percentage
of total

Total retail automotive ••••••••••••••••

2051086

100

~212 1 yOJi,281 ~_L

100

New passenger care •••••••••••••••••••
Used passenger cars ••••••••••••••••••
Used comu~rcial cars •••••••••••••••••

66,548
14,126
114,974
9,438

32
7
56

Total wholesale automotive •••••••••••••

2631113

100

l>ew cars (passenger and commercial).,
Used cars (passenger and commercial).

233,565
29,548

ll

!Jew commercial cars, •. ,,,.,,,., •.••••

5

95,196,829
20,103,186
89,788,602

45
10

1,315,910

3

$410 1120 1 126 a/

89

380,988,351
29,162,445

42
100
93

1

!Y' Data

are based on reports from sales finance compNties providing a breakdown of their retail and
wholesale automotive financing. These amounts are less than those reported in table 3 due to the
exclusion of some data for which breakdowns were not available,

Table 5,--Volume of Diversified Sales Financing During March 1949

Clan of paper
Retail - o·Gher consumers' goods:
Furniture, radios, pianos, and other musical instruments,,
Refrigerators and other household applianoea, •• ,,,,,,,,,,,
Residential building repairs and modernization,, ••••••••••
Miscellaneous retail •••.••• ,,., .•. , •..• , •. ,, ••. , ••...••..•

Total retail- other consumers' goods •••••••••••••••••••••••••
Total wholesale- other than automotive •••••••••••••••••••••••
Industrial, commercial, and farm equipment, •••••••••••••••••••

Total diversified financing •••••••••••••••••• ,

of

Dollar volwne
paper acquired

Percentage
of total

$ 1,630,870
7,970,987
3,018,993
7,400,079

16

$20,020,929 f!/
19,482,414
71481,041

43
41
16

$46,984,384

4

17

6

100

Data are based on reports from sales finance companies providing a breakdown of their retail
financing of other consumers' goods, This amount is less than that reported in table 3 due to the
exclusion of some data for which breakdowns were not available,