Ally Financial warns of 'intensifying' credit challenges, shares slump

By Arasu Kannagi Basil

(Reuters) -Ally Financial's credit challenges have intensified over the current quarter as borrowers struggled with high inflation, the consumer lender's finance chief said on Tuesday.

Shares of the company fell as much as 19.3%, set for their worst day since March 2020, if losses hold.

Consumers have been cutting back on loans amid high interest rates, with the looming economic uncertainty also upping the chances of more loan defaults.

In July and August, delinquencies and net charge-offs - that is, debts unlikely to be recovered - rose about 20 and 10 basis points, respectively, in Ally's retail auto business compared with its expectations, Chief Financial Officer Russell Hutchinson told investors at a financial conference in New York.

"Our borrower is struggling with high inflation and cost of living, and now more recently, a weakening employment picture."

Hutchinson warned that Ally will see some underperformance given the number of struggling borrowers, especially in the 61-plus-day delinquency bucket, and added that he expects reserves to move up.

"Clearly, the guide was disappointing and begs the question if this is ALLY-specific or a canary in the coal mine," said Sanjay Sakhrani, managing director at brokerage KBW.

While Ally's peers had also spoken about the situation, the trends were not as feared, he added.

To address the credit issue, Ally sold its lending business earlier this year to Synchrony Financial, which included loan receivables worth $2.2 billion.

Ally also expects its net interest margin - a key measure of lending profitability - to contract in the third quarter sequentially as opposed to expanding.

(Reporting by Arasu Kannagi Basil and Jaiveer Shekhawat in Bengaluru; Saeed Azhar in New York; Editing by Janane Venkatraman and Maju Samuel)