🚨 A Leveraged Nation with a sub-standard living for Consumers.
- The prime auto loan ABS is deteriorating rapidly - a downgrade is imminent.
- A considerable chunk of consumers feel that homeownership is out of reach.
- a thread🧵
1. For a moment, let us forget politics and the stock market. Let us purely focus on the welfare of the people and that of our country as a whole. We are in deep economic trouble. The United States is facing an economic identity crisis.
We want to state the obvious yet overlooked fact: The United States and its citizens are heavily in debt.
2. As of yesterday, Moody's, the last standing credit rating agency with an AAA rating, has downgraded the United States to Aa1, citing concerns about the nation's growing $36 trillion debt pile and higher interest payments.
Moody's first gave the United States its pristine "Aaa" rating in 1919 and is the last of the three major credit agencies to downgrade it.
3. Perpetually rising debt as a share of GDP is unsustainable. It has many direct and indirect implications for the economy, American households, and individuals. Risks include slower economic growth and increased chances of a fiscal crisis.
The year 2025 would be regarded as the year where America and its citizens are forced to take a look at the respective debt levels.
4. Student debt default, garnishments, stagflation and prime auto deterioration in ABS market is of concern.
We are drafting a detailed report on student loan and its impact. Regardless of political allegiance, as a nation and an economy, we are organically screwed.
An economic reset, whether we like it or not, is here.
Pragmatic question is whether individual portfolios and families are prepared for it.
🚨 The Systemic Risk Lurks in Private Credit (Shadow Banks). - a thread🧵
🚩The signs of economic distress are often first visible in the credit markets, such as difficulties with loans and financial defaults.
In contrast, the equity market lags in reflecting these issues.
We are at the cusp; where extreme swings are a norm.
1. Frothy stock markets occur when investors become overly excited about companies (such as SPACs and AI-driven tech valuations) and are overly focused on the potential upside. Frothy credit markets are when people stop worrying about the downside (think of ‘extend and pretend’ in CREs*, auto loan, BNPL, etc).
2. The devil is in the private credit: After 2008, the traditional bankers retreated from servicing riskier loans to consumers. So, the traditional banks began to have an indirect relationship with the Shadow Bankers - who are not under the purview of the regulators. Again, we have discussed this in detail.
2. Problems: The underlying asset values of MBS, auto ABS, student loan ABS, and consumer credit ABS - both prime and subprime - are deteriorating, with some cases experiencing rapid deterioration (Fitch/S&P).
1. Student loan garnishments for defaulted federal loans begin on May 5th.
- FSA will restart the Treasury Offset Program, which allows the govt. to withhold federal payments, such as tax refunds and SS benefits, from borrowers in default.
- The Department will also authorize guaranty agencies that they may begin involuntary collections activities on loans under the Federal Family Education Loan Program.
2. Involuntary collections are “one of the harshest consequences borrowers can face when federal student loans fall into default."
- This occurs typically after 270 days, or close to nine months, of missed payments.
🚨By the end of 2025, nearly all subprime consumers (30%) will be CREDIT DEPRIVED.
🚩BNPL and student loan defaults are the culprits.
- a detailed thread 🧵on BNPL Live Credit Reporting.
1 (a)🚩BNPL firms have begun reporting consumers' real-time usage to credit agencies.
- Consumers are trapped in debt forever and tapped out of credit.
- BNPL users are using their credit cards to payoff their BNPL loans. Sadly, exact data is not available.
- A 2024 study by the Federal Reserve found that 71% of BNPL users revolved on their credit cards in 2023, compared to 40% of non-users.
- between 2020 and 2023, the average credit card utilization rate among BNPL borrowers remains notably high, between 60 and 66 percent.
1 (b) In 2025, about 50% of US consumers reported using Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) services. This figure has been steadily increasing, with 1 in 5 BNPL users living in the US, translating to approximately 79 million US-based BNPL users as of 2022.
🚨 The student loan repayment resumption is expected to significantly shrink consumer credit availability for prime and subprime consumers.
The 2020 student loan forbearance and the upcoming reality shock for the consumer credit...
- a detailed thread🧵
1. A combination of higher interest rates, higher debt levels, inflation/affordability issues, and the resumption of student loan payments - a perfect storm for American consumers.
Consumer distress is spreading to higher credit score and income cohorts. We expect this to impact consumer discretionary spending.
2. Understanding the "forbearance" part: If you get a forbearance, you're still responsible for the interest that accrues while you're not making payments. After your forbearance ends, you'll pay off your accrued interest through normal monthly payments.
“The price level from all 2025 tariffs rises by 2.3% in the short-run....Annual losses for households at the bottom of the income distribution are $1,700.”
1. According to the new report by the Yale Budget Lab, the hit to the regular American families’ pocketbook will be significant - as much as $3,800 annually.
2. The “On-Again, Off-Again” Tariff Strategy is an issue: Chinese manufacturers ramp up production in low-cost places like Vietnam to allow for a way around the tariffs. The rhetoric around tariffs and unfair trade practices has been around for a while and spiked in 2016. So, Chinese manufacturers had time to invest in other countries that allowed them to create alternative manufacturing locations should such a scenario arise.