First Your Mortgage Was Underwater, Now It's Your Car

Negative equity. Amid the global financial crisis, it spelled misery for millions of U.S. homeowners as the outstanding balance on mortgages exceeded resale prices.

Now, it's shifting to another credit-addicted sector: the car market. Almost one-third of U.S. vehicles traded in this year were in negative equity, according to JD Power data. That puts a heavy burden on consumers and it's an unhappy signal for auto-maker profit.