Big banks back off consumer car loans

Despite a $700 billion bailout, the nation's big banks are not in any rush to get back into the automotive lending business — more bad news for an automobile industry struggling to rebound from some of the worst sales in decades.

The federal government's bailout of Wall Street was supposed to get America's credit markets moving again, but experts say they have been slow to loosen their purse strings.

"I haven't seen any impact yet," said Melinda Zabritski, director of automotive credit for Experian's automotive group. "We're starting to see a little bit of a loosening, but it has not been significant."

One Wall Street source told The Detroit News that some banks have decided to remain on the sidelines, waiting to see how the car market shakes out over the next several months — despite having received billions in taxpayer dollars to get the credit channels moving again. [Editor's Note: Then the government should take the money back.]

That is likely to keep car and truck sales from rebounding, said analyst Erich Merkle of Crowe Horwath in Grand Rapids.

"As long as lending standards remain tight, you're not going to see vehicle sales coming back," he said. "They're going to remain depressed until lenders start to relax their standards." More at Detroit News