Fifth Third ‘House-to-House Search’ Finds Just Two Bad Car VINs

Tricolor Holdings’ chaotic collapse and potential double-pledging of autos to creditors sent Fifth Third Bancorp executives on a “house-to-house” search through its loan collateral for other discrepancies.

They did find more — two, to be exact, out of 120,000 vehicles.

“We’re tracking those two exceptions down,” Greg Schroeck, the bank’s chief credit officer, said during Friday’s earnings call.

The retroactive hunt followed Fifth Third’s revelation last month that it could face as much as $200 million in losses from Tricolor’s bankruptcy. Spreading concern about defaults sent shares of the bank and other regional lenders tumbling on Thursday. ...