Worsening Asset Quality: For the major part of 2020, consumer loan providers built additional provisions to tide over unexpected defaults and payment delays due to the economic downturn resulting from the COVID-19 mayhem. However, with solid economic growth and support from government stimulus packages, industry players began to release these reserves back into the income statement. With the Federal Reserve likely to keep interest rates high in the near term to control inflation, this Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) company’s NII and NIM are expected to witness improvements, though rising funding costs will weigh on both.