WASHINGTON, D.C. — According to the Federal Reserve, the average amount financed on new-car loans at auto lenders is on an upswing.

After plummeting to $24,405 in August, perhaps in a reflection of the tight credit markets, this figure has now rebounded to $32,223, the Federal Reserve reported this week. This compares to $30,380 in September and $24,405 in August.

Looking back over the Fed's data since 2004, SubPrime Auto Finance News discovered that this figure has never come in so high.

On the other hand, the average finance rate at these companies has continued to slide, coming in at 3.42 percent for October, compared with 3.50 percent in September and 4.06 in August. The last time the interest rate median was this low was in the second quarter when it averaged 3.45 percent.

As for the maturity levels on these loans at auto finance companies, the Fed discovered that this figure averaged 64.4 months in October, up slightly from 63.6 in September. Meanwhile, in August this figure was 61.8. For the second quarter, this average was 62.1 months.

Also, the Federal Reserve gathered data on loan-to-value. For October, this number came in at 93, compared with 91 in September and 86 in August. For the second quarter, this figure was 90.

Moving over to look at interest rates on 48-month new-car loans at commercial banks, unfortunately, this data was not available for October or September. However, for August, this figure stood at 6.61 percent, which is down a bit from the 6.79 percent average in the second quarter.

On an overall basis, the Fed reported, "Consumer credit decreased at an annual rate of 3.25 percent in the third quarter of 2009. Revolving credit decreased at an annual rate of 7.25 percent, and non-revolving credit decreased at an annual rate of 1 percent. In October, consumer credit decreased at an annual rate of 1.75 percent."