Prepared remarks
Welcome to the OneMain Financial Second Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call and Webcast. Hosting the call today from OneMain is Peter R. Poillon, Head of Investor Relations. Today's call is being recorded. It is my pleasure to turn the floor over to Mr. Peter R. Poillon. Please go ahead, sir. You may begin.
Thank you, operator. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. Let me begin by directing you to Page 2 of the second quarter 2026 investor presentation which contains important disclosures concerning forward-looking statements and the use of non-GAAP measures. The presentation can be found in the Investor Relations section of the OneMain website. Our discussion today will contain certain forward-looking statements reflecting management's current beliefs about the company's future, financial performance, and business prospects, and these forward-looking statements are subject to inherent risks and uncertainties and speak only as of today. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements are set forth in our earnings press release. We caution you not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. If you are listening to this via replay at some point after today, we remind you that the remarks made herein are as of today, July 29, and have not been updated subsequent to this call. Our call this morning will include formal remarks from Douglas H. Shulman, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and Jeannette E. Osterhout, our Chief Financial Officer. After the conclusion of our formal remarks, we will conduct a question and answer session. I would like to now turn the call over to Doug.
Thanks, Peter. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us today. Let me begin with a few highlights from the quarter and then discuss the progress we are making across the business as we continue to execute our strategy and drive profitable growth. We had strong financial results in the quarter, including very good receivables growth, driven by product innovation and positive delinquency trends, pointing to lower losses in the second half of the year. Strong year-over-year originations growth of 10 percent supported receivables growth this quarter. By focusing on high-quality loan originations, continuously improving the customer experience, and enhancing our product offering, we have driven this growth while also maintaining a conservative underwriting posture. Credit performance was good and tracked in line with our expectations, and early delinquency trends continued to improve. Our 30- to 89-day delinquency declined 7 basis points year-over-year, accelerating the year-over-year improvement from last quarter's 1 basis point decline. In the first half of the year, 30- to 89-day delinquency declined 28 basis points, which is better than last year and the pre-pandemic average. We are pleased that delinquency performance continues to move in the right direction, which supports our expectation for improvement in losses over the second half of the year and into 2027. C&I net charge-offs were 8.2 percent, and consumer loan net charge-offs were 7.8 percent, both in line with our expectations. And we continued to have strong recoveries in the quarter. We reached a significant milestone this quarter, surpassing 4 million customer accounts, an increase of 14 percent from a year ago. This growth has been driven by the success of auto finance and credit cards combined with our continued product innovation in our core personal loan business. In our personal loan business, several recent initiatives are progressing very well. Our enhanced debt consolidation offering makes the loan process easier for our customers and helps most customers improve their credit scores. Also, because the majority of our debt consolidation loans are secured, they have lower losses compared to our overall personal loan portfolio. Our home fixture-secured product offering was introduced earlier this year. While it is still early, we are seeing good uptake from customers and strong initial credit results. Like any new offering at OneMain, we started with a small test to prove out results, and given that we like what we have seen, we are now starting to expand it. We also continued to expand our analytics around bank data to deliver more personalized offers and improve customer engagement. Insights from this data strengthen our underwriting, improve credit outcomes, and increase pull-through rates. Initiatives like these are helping us better serve our customers while strengthening the long-term performance of our personal loan business. Turning to our newer businesses, starting with auto finance, originations grew 19 percent during the quarter, and receivables reached $3 billion, an increase of 14 percent year-over-year. We continue to drive solid growth through the expansion of our dealer network and enhanced underwriting capabilities. Importantly, credit performance remains in line with expectations and continues to outperform the broader industry. Turning to our credit card business, we delivered another very strong quarter with positive results across all important metrics. Receivables increased $161 million in the quarter, and nearly $400 million year-over-year. New BrightWay cards, which include both higher rewards and no-reward credit cards, continue to attract new customers and support strong growth. Customer accounts increased to 1.3 million, up 155 thousand from last quarter and more than 400 thousand from a year ago. Credit metrics continue to improve with lower losses and delinquency than a year ago. Just as importantly, as we scale, we are seeing good revenue growth and continuing to improve the long-term profitability of the business, with marginal operating costs per account down about 25 percent year-over-year. We are encouraged by the continued growth and improvement in the profitability of our credit card portfolio. Looking ahead, we will continue to invest in customer acquisition, digital capabilities, and collections optimization to strengthen credit performance and support profitable growth for the long term. As I discussed last quarter, we continue to invest in technology, data, and AI capabilities to enhance our business and drive growth and efficiency. We are currently rolling out a new loan origination system for customers and team members that streamlines our process and should help support profitable growth. We have built an internal AI tool that gives our more than 9,000 team members information they need, like policies or procedures, at their fingertips in an intuitive conversational manner, driving efficiency and speeding up customer service. Our engineering and product teams use AI tools to drive efficiency across the product development life cycle. We are also learning and piloting AI in a very controlled manner in a number of areas where we see high potential returns and value for our customers. Let me briefly touch on the consumer. Although the current economic environment continues to have some uncertainty, our customers remain resilient and metrics across the industry point to a strong consumer. While we are mindful that geopolitical tensions and fluctuations in energy prices create some risk, we have not seen it show up in our data and unemployment remains low, providing ongoing support for credit performance. As always, we are closely monitoring trends across the consumer and our portfolio. But credit is performing well, showing that our customer has been able to make it work, and our early-stage consumer loan and credit card delinquency trends give us confidence that we are in a strong position. Turning to capital allocation, our priorities remain unchanged. We will continue to extend credit to every customer that meets our risk-return framework, and we will continue to invest in the business to meet customer needs, drive efficiency, and create long-term shareholder value. A regular dividend, currently $4.20 per share on an annualized basis, represents a 7 percent yield at today's share price. In the second quarter, we repurchased 576 thousand shares for $32 million, bringing our total repurchases year-to-date to $137 million, which is $100 million more than we repurchased in the first half of 2025. Looking ahead, our approach to share repurchases will continue to be guided by several factors, including the capital requirements of the business, market dynamics, and economic conditions. We continue to feel good about our business, as we are capitalizing on the core competitive advantages of OneMain, including best-in-class data science and underwriting, an experienced and proven team with unparalleled expertise serving the non-prime consumer, and a strong diversified balance sheet with a long liquidity runway. We remain confident in our competitive position and see many opportunities to drive capital generation and growth well into the future as we execute on our strategic priorities. With that, let me turn the call over to Jeannette.
Thanks, Douglas, and good morning, everyone. As Doug said, we delivered strong second quarter results across key financial metrics, including profitable growth, good credit results as our customers remain resilient, disciplined expense management coupled with investment for the future, and continued strong balance sheet management. This reinforces our confidence in the strength of the business and our outlook for the future. Delinquency metrics, the best indicator of future loss performance, are improving relative to last quarter, and we are seeing originations growth accelerate across our business. Consumer loan originations grew 10 percent year-on-year, while both card origination units and purchase volume increased significantly. This strong performance supported our 7 percent growth in managed receivables, up from 6 percent in the first quarter. Importantly, we were able to deliver this growth while maintaining our conservative credit posture across all our products as we continue to focus our underwriting on higher-quality customers, positioning us well to continue to generate attractive returns and create meaningful shareholder value in the quarters ahead. During the quarter, we raised $1.1 billion in the secured market, further strengthening our funding profile and adding flexibility for future issuances. On the capital return front, we repurchased 2.5 million shares in the first half of the year, more than three times the amount repurchased during the same period last year. Second quarter GAAP net income was $152 million, or $1.32 per diluted share, compared to $1.40 per diluted share in the second quarter of 2025. C&I adjusted net income per diluted share was $1.31 compared to $1.45 in the second quarter of 2025, as higher total revenue in the current quarter was offset by higher loss provisions driven largely by a higher reserve build in the quarter due to the larger growth in receivables we saw this quarter compared to the prior year. Importantly, capital generation, the metric against which we manage and measure the business, totaled $229 million, up 3 percent from $222 million in the second quarter of 2025. Managed receivables ended the quarter at $26.9 billion, up $1.6 billion or 7 percent from a year ago. Managed receivables at the end of June included $1.7 billion of receivables serviced for third parties. Second quarter originations of $4.3 billion increased 10 percent compared to the second quarter of last year. This strong growth was achieved while maintaining our conservative underwriting, reflecting the effectiveness of our new products and innovative growth strategies. The personal loan product innovations Douglas discussed are gaining traction. Importantly, early indicators of performance suggest these initiatives are attracting more customers while also delivering solid credit performance consistent with our expectations. In auto finance, originations grew by 19 percent year-on-year during the quarter, supported by the ongoing expansion of our dealer network, continued improvements in our underwriting, and growth from our partnerships. Additionally, our credit card business also delivered strong growth. Customer accounts increased 44 percent year-on-year, and purchase volume increased 57 percent year-on-year, driven by new reward options and enhancements to the BrightWay value proposition that attracted new customers and deepened engagement with existing ones. Key metrics remain strong, including utilization and revolve rates, and credit performance continued to steadily improve. Turning to yield, our second quarter consumer loan yield was 22.7 percent, up 16 basis points from last quarter and 11 basis points year-on-year, even as our lower-loss, lower-yield auto book continued to grow as a percentage of our consumer loan portfolio. We continue to see strong asset yields as we grow our portfolio, which is a testament to our disciplined pricing approach. Looking ahead, we expect consumer loan yield to remain around recent levels and follow typical seasonal patterns. We also continued to see strong revenue yield in our credit card portfolio, with total card revenue yield increasing 33 basis points year-on-year to 33.6 percent. Total revenue in the second quarter was $1.6 billion, up 6 percent compared to last year. Interest income of $1.4 billion grew 6 percent from the second quarter of last year, driven by net finance receivables growth and the improvement in asset yields that I just mentioned. Other revenue of $207 million was also up 6 percent from last year, primarily due to higher credit card revenue as we grow the card business along with higher servicing fees from our portfolio of loans serviced for third parties. Interest expense for the quarter was $326 million, up 3 percent compared to the second quarter of 2025, driven by higher average debt to support our receivables growth. Our interest expense as a percentage of average net receivables was 5.3 percent this quarter, down from 5.4 percent in the second quarter of 2025, reflecting the actions we took last year to proactively manage our debt profile and take advantage of market windows to best position us for the future. We expect our funding costs to remain at approximately this level throughout the rest of 2026. Second quarter provision expense was $610 million, comprising net charge-offs of $506 million and a $104 million increase in our reserves driven primarily by the increase in receivables during the second quarter. Our loan loss reserve ratio of 11.6 percent is up slightly from 11.5 percent last quarter, primarily due to the growth of the card business, which carries a higher reserve rate. Policyholder benefits and claims expense for the quarter was $44 million, down from $54 million in the second quarter of last year. The year-on-year decrease was driven by a reserve release in the second quarter. We continue to expect quarterly PBNMC expense in the mid-$50 million range going forward. Let's turn to credit starting on slide 8. 30- to 89-day delinquency on June 30, excluding Foursight, was 2.82 percent, down 7 basis points compared to a year ago, improving on the trend we saw last quarter. On slide 9, you see the 28 basis point year-to-date improvement in 30- to 89-day delinquency was better than the 17 basis point improvement last year and the 24 basis point improvement in the pre-pandemic period. 90-plus delinquency excluding Foursight was 3 basis points above last year, a solid improvement over the 14 basis point year-on-year increase we saw last quarter, and we expect 90-plus delinquency to follow the improvement we saw in our 30- to 89-day delinquency throughout the remainder of the year. Combined, our 30-plus delinquency excluding Foursight was 5.03 percent, down 4 basis points from the prior year, improved from the 14 basis point year-on-year increase last quarter. It is also worth noting that our back book, which comprises vintages prior to August 2022, continues to present a modest headwind to our credit performance as it remains a disproportionate contributor to delinquency rates, as shown on slide 9. The back book now represents just 4 percent of the portfolio but accounts for 12 percent of 30-plus delinquencies, more than twice the level we would typically expect for vintages at this stage of seasoning. While the front book vintages are performing well, the negative impact of the back book stubbornly remains on our balance sheet. Moving to net charge-offs for the quarter, as shown on slide 10, second quarter C&I net charge-offs, which include the results from our growing higher-loss, higher-yield credit card portfolio, were 8.2 percent, down 21 basis points sequentially and up 63 basis points year-on-year. Consumer loan net charge-offs, which exclude credit card, were 7.8 percent in the second quarter, down 25 basis points sequentially and up 58 basis points from a year ago. I will discuss credit cards separately in a moment, but let me first talk about the consumer loan portfolio loss performance. The year-on-year increase was expected as it was predominantly driven by the elevated 90-plus delinquency we saw last quarter rolling through to loss this quarter. Importantly, as I just discussed, we are seeing better 90-plus delinquency performance this quarter as compared to last quarter. Combined with the improvements in early-stage delinquency metrics, these give us confidence that our losses will improve significantly in the second half of the year. Recoveries in the quarter were strong at $117 million, or 1.9 percent of average net receivables. This performance was driven by continued enhancements to our comprehensive loss recovery strategy. As a reminder, C&I net charge-offs include a 43 basis point contribution from our credit card business which has higher yields and higher losses. We like the overall economics given the attractive risk-adjusted returns we are generating on the credit card portfolio. I would like to briefly discuss our improving credit performance in credit cards. Credit card net charge-off declined 186 basis points year-on-year to 17.7 percent. Additionally, 30-plus delinquencies fell 146 basis points year-on-year, giving us line of sight to further improvement in year-on-year loss performance over the remainder of the year. These sustained improvements strengthen our conviction in the credit card business as we look to continue to grow accounts in a disciplined way. Loan loss reserves ended the quarter at $2.9 billion, or 11.6 percent of ending net receivables. The increase in the loan loss ratio from 11.5 percent last quarter and last year was driven by the change in mix of our portfolio associated with the strong growth in our credit card business as card receivables grew more than 50 percent year-on-year. While the credit card reserve ratio was largely unchanged from the prior quarter, it is nearly two times higher than our consumer loan portfolio reserve rate. Given this dynamic, the continued growth in the credit card business will modestly raise the overall reserve ratio in the quarters ahead. Now let's turn to expenses on slide 11. Operating expenses were $439 million, up 6 percent compared to a year ago, driven by continued investment in our credit card and auto finance businesses as well as data science, technology, and digital capabilities. These investments are focused on enhancing the customer experience, improving our team member performance by boosting productivity and effectiveness, enhancing data and analytic capabilities, and other efforts to drive long-term growth and future operating efficiency. Our OpEx ratio this quarter was 6.7 percent, flat to the prior year and down 10 basis points from last quarter. The sequential improvement reflects our disciplined expense management and ability to continue to drive operating leverage. As we look ahead, we will thoughtfully manage expenses while investing for the future. Now turning to funding and our balance sheet on slide 12, during the quarter we further strengthened our balance sheet. In June, we issued a $1.1 billion three-year revolving ABS. Strong broad-based demand from both new and existing investors drove very tight spreads and attractive pricing of about 5.1 percent, highlighting the strength of our funding platform and excellent access to capital. At the end of the second quarter, our bank lines were unchanged at $7.5 billion, providing substantial liquidity and additional funding flexibility to our program. Our net leverage at the end of the second quarter was 5.5x, flat to a year ago and within our target range of 4x to 6x. Our balance sheet remains a key competitive advantage, supported by staggered long-term maturities, diversified funding mix, ample liquidity, and consistent market access. This combination provides flexibility, supports stable execution, and positions us well through economic cycles. Turning to our full year 2026 guidance, as shown on slide 14, we are reiterating all our guidance metrics. We are maintaining our full year managed receivables growth in the range of 6 to 9 percent, supported by momentum across all three of our products: personal loans, auto finance, and credit cards. We expect C&I net charge-offs to come in between 7.4 to 7.9 percent, as we see improving early- and late-stage delinquency trends that support our expectation that losses will continue to improve as we look ahead. And we are maintaining our OpEx ratio guide of approximately 6.6 percent for the year. In closing, we are pleased with our financial performance this quarter and the ongoing progress we are making on key strategic priorities. Our growth initiatives are gaining traction as we scale across our newer products—auto finance and credit card—and innovate in our personal loan business, all while maintaining a conservative underwriting posture. The positive direction of early-stage credit trends reinforces our view that losses will decline significantly in the second half of the year. As we look ahead, we remain focused on disciplined growth while delivering efficiency across the organization, which together with our strong balance sheet and funding platform, position us well for the future and support our ability to drive capital generation, growth, excess capital, and attractive returns in 2026 and beyond. So with that, let me turn the call back to Doug.
Thanks, Jenny. In closing, we remain very confident in the strength and trajectory of our business. We now serve more customers than ever, with over 4 million accounts across a diverse set of products, positioning us as the lender of choice for hardworking Americans. We remain committed to our conservative underwriting posture while continuing to drive growth in our personal loan business through product innovation and profitably scaling auto finance and credit cards. Credit metrics are trending well, and we expect credit performance to improve in the second half of 2026 with further improvements expected in 2027. Our strong balance sheet with staggered maturities and excess liquidity remains a key competitive advantage. Before I open it up to questions, I would like to briefly mention two recognitions we recently received. First, OneMain was once again named the Most Loved Workplace by the Best Practice Institute, marking our fifth consecutive year receiving this recognition. This distinction is based on direct feedback from our team members and reflects the special culture we have worked hard to build at OneMain. Second, OneMain has been named to Time Magazine's inaugural list of America's Best Companies, which evaluates companies across financial performance, employee satisfaction, and transparency. We are proud of these recognitions because they reflect the strength of our business, the dedication of our team members, and our continued focus on creating long-term value for our customers, employees, and shareholders. I would like to thank all of our team members for their commitment to our customers, their outstanding execution, and the support they provide to one another every day. With that, let me open it up to questions.
Questions and answers
Thank you. We will now conduct a question and answer session. You may press 2 if you would like to remove yourself from the queue. For participants using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up your handset before pressing the star key. Once again, that is star 1 at this time. First question comes from Moshe Orenbuch with TD Cowen. Please proceed.
Great. Thanks. And, I think both Doug and Jeannette, you both talked about improving delinquencies and kind of improving credit performance in the second half and into 2027. I am wondering if we can kind of put a little bit of a finer point on that because obviously, the 7.4 percent to 7.9 percent range is fairly wide, and as expected, you were slightly in the range at the high end in the first half. Can you talk a little bit about the evolution of the portfolio given the things that you are seeing into the second half and the early part of 2027, if possible? Thanks.
Sure. Hi, Moshe. As I said, we maintained our guidance in that range of 7.4 to 7.9 percent. The most important metrics that we look at for the second half and into next year are those delinquency metrics you mentioned, which are performing quite well. That would be the 30- to 89-day delinquency excluding Foursight, which was down 7 basis points year-on-year—a further decline from the 1 basis point decline that we had in the first quarter—and the 30-plus delinquency excluding Foursight, which was down 4 basis points and better than the 14 basis point increase we had last quarter, and the 90-plus delinquency, which was 3 basis points up year-on-year but much better than last quarter's 14 basis point increase. So all of those delinquency metrics are moving us in the right direction, and they are where we expected to land based on the fourth quarter of last year and last quarter's 90-plus. Looking forward, we evaluate a variety of scenarios and a range of outcomes. We are watching those delinquency metrics I just mentioned. We will watch the mix of the book, roll rates, growth, and, of course, the macro environment. But to get to the midpoint of that range, we would need to see some of that better-than-normal seasonal delinquency continue. We are feeling pretty good about that.
Got it. Maybe just to follow up in a similar vein: every aspect of the P&L was a little better than our expectations—fee revenue, net interest income, expenses, and even net charge-offs were kind of in line—but the reserve rate went up a little bit more. When we think about that going forward, I think you had mentioned on the call that it would be increasing modestly because of the credit card. I guess I would assume that the growth rate, the relative growth rate of credit card loans, was probably highest in Q2. So I guess I would hope that particularly given what you had mentioned about improving credit card credit quality that would potentially have less of an impact going forward. I wanted to get your views on how to think about that reserve rate going forward?
Happy to talk about that. We did discuss the change in reserves, which is really a portfolio mix impact, and that is coming from cards, which, as you mentioned, is performing quite well. The card reserve rate is about two times our consumer loan portfolio reserve rate, so even as card loss performance improves, it takes time for that to come into the reserve rate. Given that we did see really strong growth in the second quarter, and we expect to continue to see strong growth, even though cards are only 4 percent of the portfolio today, going to 4.5 or 5 percent will raise our overall reserve rate. I would expect that reserve rate to move up to around 11.7 percent in the second half of the year. I do not think it is a major shift, but I do think it is going to put some pressure on that reserve rate.
Thank you.
The next question comes from Terry Ma with Barclays. Please proceed.
Hey, thank you. Good morning. Wanted to follow up on the recovery benefit you saw this quarter. It was quite elevated. As we look out to the back half of the year, does the improving credit in the back half also contemplate some sort of elevated recoveries and maybe just some color on kind of what is driving that, whether it is just selling more inventory or some improvements in your recovery process? Thanks.
We are pretty pleased with our strong recoveries and saw good trends in the second quarter, and it was a strong driver of our net charge-off performance. We have been making investments and have talked about it for the last few quarters in our internal capabilities, and that is driving a lot of the improvements we are seeing. Internal changes include things like how we get in touch with customers, how we staff, and how we manage our teams. But we are also looking at charged-off sales with our longstanding partners and make those sales when we see attractive economics. We have had more inventory of charged-off loans from the past two years, so we do have more assets to potentially sell. So it is really a mix of both internal recovery capabilities being better and having more of the inventory, and finding partners where we can get good economics on those sales. For the rest of the year, I think you can expect our recoveries to be pretty good, maybe around something between the first quarter and the second quarter levels. We are confident in what we are seeing and expect to continue to see good recoveries going forward.
Got it. That is helpful. And then on the delinquency trends, the early-stage and the later-stage came in better than our expectations and are moving the right way. But last quarter you mentioned roll rates worsening in the 90-day bucket. Can you talk about whether that has normalized a little and maybe provide some color on the roll rates from 90-day plus to gross default? It looks like that kind of worsened over the last three to four quarters.
We saw historically low roll rates at the end of 2024 and through 2025. In the first quarter, we saw some normalization back toward more typical historical levels. What we like is that if you look at the 30- to 89-day roll to 90-plus, we saw that peak in the first quarter and start to come down this quarter, which is a good indication that rolls through to loss will come back down as we look ahead and help drive loss performance in the second half of the year. When you look at GCO, you are seeing some of that roll from the first quarter continue all the way through from 90-plus to loss this quarter and into that GCO bucket. So it is a roll-rate story, and we are excited by what we are seeing in the early bucket and feel pretty good about the future on GCO and more importantly where we see NCO, going back to your last question on recovery.
The next question comes from Mark DeVries with Deutsche Bank. Please proceed.
Yes, thanks. Yeah.
Hey, Mark. We cannot hear you. Maybe, operator, we go to the next person. And, Mark, if you can call back in from another line.
Okay. The next question comes from Donald Fandetti with Wells Fargo. Please proceed.
Hi, good morning. Can you talk a little bit about the bank ILC process, where you are, and kind of how you are thinking about timing? And then, on receivables growth, given where you are tracking and the new products have been pretty well received, are you feeling like you could end up toward the better end of that guide range?
Sure. We really do not have an update on the ILC. I have said before an ILC would be accretive to our strategy, but we do not need it to execute our long-term strategy. We feel we have a very strong application and continue to have constructive conversations with the relevant agencies. We will keep people posted when there is any news. On originations, we are pretty happy with what we are seeing. As a reminder, we continue to have a conservative credit box. Since 2022, we have had a 30 percent stress overlay, so we have assumed more stress on the portfolio than actually showed up, just to be conservative in our underwriting models. We are seeing really nice growth across all of our business lines. In personal loans, a lot of product innovation—debt consolidation, home fixture-secured, streamlining application processes, and better information at the fingertips of our customers and employees to make it easier to move the loan process forward without compromising quality. In auto, we have been adding new dealers, partnerships, and refining our models. In card, we have created a variety of products with different kinds of rewards, some with fees, some without, and refined our models so we can target customers that are lower risk but also more likely to use their full line. So we are seeing a lot of positive signals. We are not changing our guidance at all, but we are very happy with what we are seeing.
The next question comes from Aaron Cyganovich with Truist Securities. Please proceed.
Thanks. Douglas, you had mentioned in your remarks an enhanced debt consolidation product that you have been seeing good results from. Can you elaborate a little bit on some of the changes that were made there and how meaningful that could potentially be?
Yes. In the past we have always had loan consolidation as part of our offering, but it was more of an intake offering—somebody wants a loan and we then start talking to them about consolidating other loans. We developed now an outbound proposition: 'consolidate your loans with us, bring down your monthly payment.' There is a set of analytics on the back end where we identify customers where we can really provide value and do outbound marketing. Once it comes in, we have tools that can quickly prepopulate different kinds of offers for consolidation based on bureau data. We have also refined the direct payoff capabilities on the back end so we can pay off other loans faster and more cleanly, which leads to better credit performance. So it is across the board: outbound marketing, a streamlined front-end experience, and back-end payment processing improvements to facilitate loan consolidation.
Got it. Thank you. And, Jenny, just quickly on the loan yield comments in consumer loan—expecting that to be around recent levels and follow typical seasonal patterns. Can you remind me what the seasonal pattern is on the loan yield?
Loan yield is affected by later-stage delinquencies because when 90-plus delinquencies roll to loss it impacts your yield, and you also have the impact from auto coming through with generally lower yields. Usually we see loan yields moderate a little in the second half of the year. We were at 22.7 percent this quarter, about 16 basis points up from the first quarter—our highest loan yield since the second quarter of 2022—even while the auto book is growing. I expect a slight moderation heading into the second half; the first half in total was about 22.6 percent, so you can use that as a frame for what to expect going forward.
Got it. Okay. Thank you.
The next question comes from Mihir Bhatia with Bank of America. Please proceed.
Hi, good morning. Wanted to follow up on Donald's question about growth and potentially stronger growth from here. You mentioned this overlay since 2022, and you have talked about doing a lot of testing. Maybe talk a little bit about what you are seeing in those weathering portfolios. Are those portfolios showing evidence that you could start selectively reducing some of the stress overlay—whether in certain risk categories, geographies, products? Trying to understand what would drive faster growth given the credit improvement you are seeing and expecting.
I'm happy to address that. First, growth is an outcome for us. We are clear about the math: you add receivables, you add profit. Growth is great, but we do not chase growth. We view growth as the result of a great product, clear value proposition, strong analytics, a good customer experience, and streamlined operations. We keep a very disciplined credit box. Regarding the overlay, our testing needs to cross our internal thresholds. Specifically, our Wethervane testing is not yet crossing our 20 percent return-on-equity thresholds required to book a loan more broadly. We are seeing the book perform fine, but the Wethervane testing is not yet at the point to open the box. We need to see both the testing and the current book doing better than expected. When new segments or products materially outperform models and our return thresholds are met, then we would consider expanding. For now, the current book is performing in line with expectations and generating healthy origination growth under a conservative posture.
Got it. Thanks. Maybe turning to capital allocation and buybacks specifically: given receivables growth and the slight increase in the reserve rate, how should we think about excess capital available for buybacks from here? And how are you thinking about deploying that—opportunistic versus programmatic?
Our buyback framework is super clear. We will invest in the business first and invest in growth when we see customers that meet our 20 percent return-on-equity thresholds. We will pay our dividend, which has a healthy yield, and what is left over will be used for buybacks and other strategic opportunities.
To add, this quarter we had really healthy growth, which ate into the amount available for buybacks. Going forward, buybacks will depend on the capital requirements of the business, market dynamics, and economic conditions. The first quarter is our seasonally lowest growth quarter, which gave us some opportunity to buy back more shares then, but we will use share repurchases dynamically as one lever among others.
Yes. Thank you for taking my question.
The next question comes from Rick Shane with JPMorgan. Please proceed.
Good morning. I would like to look at the interplay between where we are from a delinquency perspective and what that suggests for gross charge-offs, and tie that to Jenny's comments about the recoveries in the second half. If we look at the non-card portfolio, 90-day delinquencies are basically flat year-on-year. I recognize that there is a second derivative improvement, which probably impacts the fourth quarter. But presumably that suggests gross charge-offs in the second and third quarter will be roughly comparable to where they were year-on-year, and then there is about 40 basis points of improvement year-on-year in terms of recoveries. Is that the right place to start building our third quarter net charge-off numbers?
You are on the right framework. Look at how much is in the 90-plus bucket, how rolls to loss get slightly better from this quarter, and look at recoveries, which I mentioned might be closer to the average of the first half of the year. I think you are on the right path to model forward, and the improvements will be dependent on those rolls to loss.
Got it. That is helpful. You discussed recoveries and described drivers—internal policy improvements and attractive sales. Can you help us think about what that pie looks like? On the selling side, is the enhanced recovery because you were selling a greater percentage or because bids for charged-off loans are a little bit higher?
I can give you more on the pie. I would estimate about 20 percent of our recoveries were from sales this quarter, and it was a combination of the two reasons you mentioned: we found good economics on sales and we had a slightly larger inventory. So that 20 percent may be a slightly higher portion of the pie than usual, but about 80 percent is coming from internal recovery efforts. The mix does move around and depends on inventory and market economics; we always make sure the economics are better than holding and working those charge-offs ourselves.
The next question comes from David Scharf with JMP Securities. Please proceed.
Hi, good morning. Maybe one last higher-level credit question. You had mentioned use of more bank data around personal loan customization and personalization. As many of us try to get our arms around the resilience of the consumer in the face of macro shocks, is there anything in bank data that informs you about how people are changing their purchasing decisions, what they are spending money on, or whether higher energy costs are diverting spending from other types of purchases? Is there anything the bank data is telling you about behavior?
We have bank data for a set of our customers who share it with us. We are not a bank, so we do not have the breadth that big banks have, but our bank data gives us information that helps refine our models and allows us to lend to more people. It provides insight into spending patterns, payroll and income levels, deposit levels, overdrafts, and similar behaviors. We now have over a million people with credit cards, and we've seen a slight uptick—just over 1 percent—in use of our credit card for gas purchases versus other major categories like groceries, retail, and restaurants. We have not seen anything significant in our book around energy prices, and that is where our most specific spend data lies. Operator, we are up at the hour. Thank you and everyone for joining us. As always, our team is here and fully available to answer any follow-up questions. Hope everybody has a great day.
Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. This does conclude today's teleconference. You may disconnect your lines at this time, and have a wonderful day.