CINCINNATI — Swapalease.com reports car lease credit applicants registered a 68.9% approval rate in November, a slight drop from the October rate of 70.9%. The number of lease approvals is slightly higher than last year for the month of November: 67.5% of lease applicants were approved in 2017, and 64.7% were approved in November of 2016.

The lease approval rate for the previous three months is registered at a healthy 71.3%.  Lease approval averages have been slowly increasing and stabilizing over the past year, and the number of applicants applying for leases has also increased from the 2017 year. Lease applicants who were approved for a lease transfer through Swapalease.com have been two to three times higher than the number of those declined throughout most of 2018, mostly due to continued strengthening credit profiles.

The company expects continued stability in lease credit approvals throughout the beginning of 2019, despite rising interest rates, said Executive Vice President Scott Hall.

“We expect to see a continued increase in lease applicants entering the new year, as dealers have not only offered attractive lease deals- but shoppers have strengthened confidence in their spending power,” Hall said. “End-of-year prices on new automotive leases has shoppers looking for vehicle upgrades, but we continue to see increased traffic on Swapalease.com as more people seek alternatives to dealer incentives, which have waned throughout 2018.”