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BOARD OF GOVERNORS
OF THE
FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM
Ge2

°

May 9$ 1952.
SALES FINANCE COMPANIES
MARCH 1952

Retail financing—Purchases of retail automotive paper by sales finance companies increased It per
cent from February to March, reflecting increases in each of the automotive segments except new passenger
cars. Purchases of instalment paper arising from the sale of new automobiles continued to decline despite
a seasonal increase in sales. Although total acquisitions of retail automotive paper increased in March,
outstanding balances continued to decline slightly during the month. This decline brought month-end
balances to about the same level as a year ago.
Retail financing of other consumer goods by sales finance companies rose 9 per cent in March.
Although the furniture and television segment declined slightly, the three other segments showed increases
of 8 to 21 per cent. In spite of the overall expansion in purchases of other consumer goods paper, outstanding balances continued to decline, and on March 31 were 1 per cent below those of the preceding
month-end.
Retail Financing by Sales Finance Companies

Class of retail paper
Automotive:

Total retail

Passenger cars:

Percentage change, February 1952 to March 19^2
Number
Volume of paper
Outstanding balances
of cars acquired during month
end of month
±1

+1

- 5

- 3
+ 7

+ 5

+ 9
+ 7

New
Used

+5

Commercial cars: New
Used

+ 6

Other consumer goods:

Total

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

LI

- 1

- 1

- 1

+21

+11
+ 8

Wholesale financing—Purchases of wholesale automotive paper increased moderately in March, a
month during which increases usually occur. Outstanding balances of wholesale automotive paper increased
about 5 per cent during the month, bringing the index in Table 1 to a level slightly above that of March
last year.
Purchases of wholesale paper on other consumer goods showed a small increase in March. Outstanding balances of this type of paper increased moderately during the month, but at the month-end were
more than 25 per cent below a year ago.
NOTE.—March data, based on returns from 111 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 from month to month, they are not comparable with totals
of preceding months.




Page 2
SALES FINANCE COMPANIES

Table 1.—Automotive end Diversified Financing by Sales Finance Companies
Indexes of Outstanding Balancesi 19U7-19U9 average = 100 a/

End of month
and year

1939
19U0
191*1
19h2
19U3
19hh
19U5
19U6
19U7
19U8

a/

Retail
other
consumers'
goods

Industrial,
commercial,
and farm
equipment

Total
all
sales
financing

Retail
automotive

Wholesale
automotive

Wholesale
other
than
automotive

68
92
103
36
Hi
12
15
liO
81
118
155
198
202

76
101
11h
28
10
11
lli
32
67
115
190
2U8
2U8

55
92
96
61
22
13
15
U9
89
138
118
162
197

2li
3li
61
10
2
3
9
55
97
111
81
126
120

U9
6L
73
38
15
13
19
52
112
llli
92
87
75

100
131
lli7
61
27
23
23
59
89
116
107
130
151

197
200
202
205
202
203
203
203
203
202

238
238

222
231

21*5
21*8
253
256
25U
251
21*8

195
209
219
221
203
185
186
196
197

156
Ui7
139
130
120

79
77
76
7k
72
73
7k
7h
7k
75

125
136
138
ll*0
11*3
11*6
11*9
11*9
150
151

196
196
196

2l*3
21*0
238

181
189
199

116
136
151

73
72
71

156

2l a

220

202

181

178

160

163

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 percentage
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 percentages
to the indexes for the preceding month.

Table 2.—Relative Importance of Loans Made by Sales Finance Companies
During March 1952
and Outstanding Balances at End of Month

Outstanding balances,
end of month

Paper acquired
during month
Class of paper
Amount

Percentage
of total

Amount

Percentage
of total

$903,179,917

100

$3,639,006,1*60

100

Total loans
Small (personal) loans.
Business loans

81*.656,1*13
26,761*,273
57,892,11*0

9
3
6

272,851,951
153,386,520
119,1*65,1*31

7
k
3

Total sales financing m/.

818,523,501*

91

3,366,15k,509

93

Total, all classes of paper a/.

operations, reported loan activities.




Page 3
SALES FINANCE COMPANIES

Table 3.—Automotive and Diversified Financing by Sales Finance Companies
Paper Acquired During
March 1 9 #
and Balances Outstanding at End of Month
Volume of paper acquired
during March 19!?2
Class of paper

By all
companies
reporting

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

a/
b/

By companies
reporting
outstanding
balances a/

Outstanding
balance
March 31,
1952 a/

Ratio paper
acquired to
outstanding
balances ty

•309,101,1*59
1*73,1*12,338
16,770,113
21*, 263,1*56
10,599,01*0

•307,1*1*6,1*98
1*71,750,575
16,735,616
23,99k,303
10,597,131*

•2,1*61*,782,127
573,531,881
1*6,11*]*, 352
211*,866,91*3
121,638,1*69

12
82
36
11
9

•831*,11*6,1*00

•830,521*, 126

•3,1*20,963,772

2h

Data are based on figures from sales finance companies able to report both their paper acquired and
their outstanding balances.
Ratios obtained by dividing paper acquired (column 2) by outstanding balances (column 3).
Table 4.—Number of Cars Financed and Volume of Paper Acquired
by Sales Finance Companies During March 19^2

Number of cars

Paper

acquired

Class of paper
Number

New passenger cars
New commercia 1 cars
Used passenger oars
Used commercial oars.................

Percentage
of total

216,288

100

61*,1*69
10,510
155,1*58
13,851

26
h
61*
6

266,91*9

100

IS

New cars (passenger and commercial)..
Used cars (passenger and commercial).

Dollar
volume
•262,251,308 a/
100,175,870
17,321*,253
133,860,251*
10,890,931
•1*66,71*7,869 a/

79
21

1*09,257,272
57,1*90,597

Percentage
of total
100
38
7
51
h
100
88
12

*/ Data are based on reports from sales finance companies 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 195>2

Class of paper
Retail - other consumers' goods*
Furniture, radios, pianos, and other musical instruments..
Refrigerators and other household appliances.
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 volume
paper acquired

Percentage
of total

• 5,258,oo5
7,299,615
2,962,01*9
7,337,791*

10
15
6
15

•22,857,1*63 a/
16,770,113
10,599,01*0

16
33
21

•50,226,616

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.