Full text of G.20 Sales Finance Companies : October 12, 1951

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BOARD OF GOVERNORS
OF THE
FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM
G.20

October 12, 1951
SALES FINANCE COMPANIES
AUGUST 1951

per
New
the
car
and

Retail financing—Sales finance company purchases of retail automotive instalment paper rose 21
cent during August, reflecting marked increases in the financing of both new and used passenger cars.
passenger car financing reached a level just under that of August 1950, but still considerably below
peak of June and July 1950• However, the gain in purchases of used passenger car paper brought used
financing activity to a new high, considerably above the previous peak reached in June of this year
much higher than the level of mid-1950.

Outstanding balances of retail automotive paper increased 2 per cent during the month. The gain
since May 1951 brought retail automotive balances outstanding on August 31 to a level equaling the high
point reached in October 1950, as shown by Table 1.
Purchases of other consumer goods paper were up Ul per cent in August. A large increase in the
financing of refrigerators and household appliances, 5U per cent, was exceeded by the very sharp expansion,
78 per cent, in the financing of furniture, radios, television sets, and musical instruments. The other
two classes of paper purchased also increased substantially in August.
Outstanding balances of other consumer goods paper increased 1 per cent during August, the first
increase since September 1950.

Retail Financing by Sales Finance Companies

Class of retail paper
Automotive:

Total retail

Passenger cars:

Percentage change, July 1951 to August 1 9 ^
Number
Volume of paper
Outstanding balances
of cars
acquired during month
end of month
41h

+21

New
Used

+19

+12

+20

Commercial cars: New
Used

+ 7

+ 2

+ 9
+lii

Other consumer goods:

+12

Total

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

+25

+Ui

+ 1

+78
+5b
+2U
+12

Wholesale financing—Purchases of wholesale automotive paper were slightly above those of the
preceding month. Wholesale automotive balances outstanding at the end of August were about 9 per cent
below the level of July 31.
The volume of wholesale financing of goods other than automobiles was somewhat below the preceding month's volume. Outstanding balances of nonautomotive wholesale paper continued to decline moderately in August.

NOTE.—August data, based on returns from 109 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 and Diversified Financing by Sales Finance Companies
Indexes of Outstanding Balances: December 31, 1939 • 100 a^

End of month
and year

Total
all
sales
financing

1939
191*0
19l4l
19U2
191*3
191*1*
191*5
191*6
191*7
191*8
191*9
1950

Retail
automotive

Wholesale
other
than
automotive

27U
282
288
291
291

322
330
331
328
325

8
11
38
221*
391*
1*51*
332
516

320
315
312
311
316
321

100
129
11*8
76
30
26
39
105
226
232
187
177

100
131
11*7
61
27
26
23
59
89
116
107
130

1*21*
1*22
1*35
1*78
516

189
192
188
182
177

121*
127
128
132
130

61*8
759
906
91*3
899
821*
737
638

171
166
161
156
153
150
11*6
11*8

132
131*
125
136
138

179
192

287
286
290
291*
298
302
298
299

Industrial,
commercial.
and farm
equipment

100
169
175
112

228
291

100
132
ll*9
37
13
15
18
1*2
88
151
2&9
325

Retail
other
consumers 1
goods

100
11*0

Wholesale
automotive

100
136
152
53
20
18
22
59
119

nh

250
l*o

ho

2l*
27
90
163
252
216
296

21*0
280
296
291
306
356
382
1*01

1*05

32k

372
339

331

ll*o
11*3
11*6

a^Z 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 August 1951 a n d Outstanding Balances at End of Month

Class of paper

Outstanding balances,
end of month

Paper acquired
during month
Amount

Percentage
of total

Amount

Percentage
of total

100

$3,6?u,136,202

100

90,183,212
29,183,296
60,999,916

9
3
6

236.691.152
119,530,538
117,160,611*

6
3
3

888,811,022

91

3,1*37,1*1*5,050

91*

$978,991*, 231*

ef

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




Page 3
SALES FINANCE COMPANIES

Table 3Automotive and Diversified Financing by Sales Finance Companies
Paper Acquired During August 1951 and Balances Outstanding at End of Month
Volume of paper acquired
during August 1951

Class of paper

By companies
reporting
outstanding
balances a/

By all
companies
reporting
$l*ol*,ool*,366

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

August 31,
1951 a/

$1*00,1*92,286
1 1 1 , 371*, 323
***
10,880,126
29,095,209
10,121,631*

$2,591,820,636
526, 331*, 753
1*7,781,91*2
219,758,533
108,952,71*2

15
8U
23
13
9

$891*,963,578

1*1*7, 161*, 14*9
11,21*5,588
32,256,777
10,332,781*
$905,003,961*

Ratio paper
acquired to
outstanding
balances

Outstanding
balances

$3,1*91*,61*8,6o6

26

Data are based on figures from sales finance companies able to report both their paper acquired and
their outstanding balances.
b/ Ratios obtained by dividing paper acquired (column 2) by outstanding balances (column 3).
Table 4.—Number of Xiars Financed and Volume of Paper Acquired
by Sales Finance Companies During August 1951

Paper

Number of cars
Class of paper
Number

111,5U9
17,66?
236,60k
18,65U

29
5

276,086

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

100

100

231,486
hh,600

8U
16

61
5

Dollar
volume

Percentage
of total

$393,898,563 a/

Percentage
of total

38U,U7U

acquired

100

160,1*93,595
25,078,1*83
191*, 719, 301
13,607,181*
$1*1*1,083,81*3 a/
396,928,332
1 1 , 155,511
**

Ui
6
1*9

h

ion
90
10

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 August 1951

Class of paper
Retail - ocher consumers' goods:
Furniture, radios, pianos, and other musical instruments..

Dollar volume
of paper acquired

Percentage
of total

1 , * 1 , 599
*10*
7,561*, 778

11
25
8
15

$30,625,01*7 a/
11,21*5,588 10,332,781*

59
21
20

$ 5,61*5,850

13,009,820

$52,203,1*19

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.