Auto Finance Summit is coming up, and whether you're going or not, you're going to want to be prepared for the conversations coming out of it.

Here are four resources to help you get up to speed on the hottest auto finance topics right now.

1. "Why Auto Lease Fraud is Rising" - CarDealershipGuy interviews Frank McKenna of Point Predictive

We can't stop talking about this interview (it was in our LinkedIn newsletter too!) because what Frank has to say about what's happening in auto lease fraud is absolutely bananas.

If you're going to AFS, pair this interview with Tuesday afternoon's Fraud Workshop.

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2. "New Vehicle Monthly Payments Climb to New Heights in Q3, According to Edmunds"

You'll be the hit of every party at AFS (or just around your neighborhood) when you can trot out financing stats from Edmunds Q3 report like:

"New-vehicle APR last hit 7.4% in Q2 2007 (7.5%), and used-vehicle APR is the highest since Q4 2007 when it climbed to 11.4%,"

or

"The share of consumers who financed a new vehicle with a monthly payment of $1,000 or more increased to a new all-time high of 17.5% in Q3 2023 from its previous record of 17.1% last quarter."

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If you're going to AFS, pair this with Tuesday morning's "State of the Market" session.

3. "The Transitioning Landscape of Auto Financing" from the TransUnion: Extra Credit podcast

This is another current favorite of ours, because while Satyan Merchant, TransUnion's SVP of Auto, talks about the standard market stuff, he also dives into offline-to-offline sales, Gen Z's arrival on the auto scene, and mortgages vs. car loans.

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If you're going to AFS, pair this with Tuesday afternoon's session on vehicle values.

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4. "Subprime car-loan rates are hitting 17%-22%. Should investors be worried?" from Dow Jones MarketWatch

If subprime credit is a "canary in a coal mine" for financial markets, are the sky-high rates and rising defaults in subprime making investors nervous?

Spoiler alert: It doesn't seem so, but if you're thinking about investing in auto paper, you'll want to have a look.

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If you're going to AFS, pair this with Tuesday morning's subprime session.

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