— New York Fed researcher"It still reflects this K-shaped economy, where there are a lot of households who live paycheck to paycheck." New auto-loan volumes hit a record high in the second quarter as lenders relaxed their underwriting standards, and the percentage of borrowers falling behind on their payments continued to rise. Second-quarter auto-loan origination data typically shows a seasonal uptick, partly driven by tax refunds hitting consumers' pockets, New York Fed researchers said on the call. They're not as high as the Great Financial Crisis, but they're high," a New York Fed researcher said on the call. Those costs have risen even faster than headline inflation, likely factoring into rising delinquencies in ways the loan data alone does not capture, according to Rossman.