Investing
Biggest US Banks Wrote Off $3.4 Billion in Bad Consumer Loans
- Lenders’ consumer-loan write-offs jump 73% in first quarter
- Still, the US consumer ‘is in great shape,’ BofA’s CFO says
This article is for subscribers only.
Bank of America Corp. joined its largest rivals in setting aside more reserves as a growing number of consumers couldn’t keep up with their loan payments, even as executives dialed down fears of a looming crisis.
The four biggest US lenders wrote off a combined $3.4 billion in bad consumer loans in the first three months of 2023, a 73% increase from a year earlier. That, combined with additional reserves, boosted provisions at all four institutions to levels not seen since the earliest days of the Covid-19 pandemic.