Leadpile’s Blog

Thursday the House of Representatives passed a bill that has potential to protect consumers from the credit card companies. It appears this potential law could pretty much affect all credit card holders. The good news is some of this could be implemented within 90 days if the law makes it through the Senate and our nation’s president. The Associated Press points out some of the details of this new bill. The bill would prevent retroactive rate increases and prevent credit card companies from giving credit cards to anyone under the age of 18. “This is a unique opportunity to end abusive practices that afflict millions of families across the nation, to contribute to our economic recovery, and to take a stand for American consumers,” Sen. Christopher Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee and the bill’s primary sponsor, said after the House vote. “Now it is the Senate’s turn to act.”

With our nation’s auto makers, mortgage companies and financial institutions getting a “bail out”, it is kinda nice to see the government lending a helping hand to consumers when it comes to their credit cards.

In recent weeks the 3 largest automakers have pulled out of leasing. This seems to be affecting the industry already. According to Automotive News one in every 5 vehicles sold was a lease. This is up from 2003 when 1 out of 3 vehicles sold was a lease.

What might happen with these leasing numbers in the near future? Unfortunately, with Chrysler, their leasing partner Chase had pulled out of offering leases, so this took them away from the leasing arena. Knowing this, that means that a few things we could see starting to happen:
1. Consumers begin to purchase vehicles by foreign auto makers.
2. Auto lenders offer lower interest rates.
3. Longer term auto loans becomes a much more common practice.
4. More motorcycles and scooters sales.

What happens in the up and coming months will most likely determine what the actual affect is, and who will survive these changes.
With these auto industry changes it could also affect lead generation companies. Will it increase the number of consumers going online to get an auto, or will it not really have too much affect on the overall lead generation industry? Time will tell.
Leadpile Auto Lead Exchange will have open arms no matter what the outcome is.

IDEA: Maybe with all the changes going on in the auto industry and gas being so high, Leadpile might want to consider bringing in “scooter” and “motorcycle” leads? ummmmmmm?

As more and more consumers are increasingly finding themselves in the unfortunate situation of dealing with higher interest rates and other fees as credit card companies respond to delinquencies, there will be an even bigger opportunity for Debt Consolidation and Debt Settlement Companies to gain market share. This past January, the average debt on credit accounts and fixed-payment accounts such as auto loans climbed to $16,600, up from $15,500 last April, according to the credit reporting agency Experian. Over the same period, the average number of accounts per individual that are overdue by one payment has increased. As gas prices continue to increase, and more people go delinquent, the demand for assistance with debt will increase. Good time to be in the debt consolidation business!