“People are starting to feel a little bit more comfortable from a consumer standpoint ... and more money is available,” said Jeff Quayle, senior vice president and general counsel for the Ohio Bankers League.
Many borrowers hit hard by the recession have begun to recover and rebuild their credit scores by paying down debt and spending less, which in turn has made them more attractive to lenders, Quayle said.
Nationally, auto loan originations were up 19 percent last month year-over-year — the largest increase since the recession began in December 2007, according to credit reporting agency TransUnion.
That coincided with an increase in total light vehicle sales from 746,104 units in September 2009 to 958,966 last month, according to Autodata Corp.
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