Penalty Amount
$700,000,000
Consumers Affected
55,000
New York Attorney General Letitia James, leading a bipartisan coalition of 39 other states, the District of Columbia, and Hawaii's Office of Consumer Protection, secured a $700 million settlement from Credit Acceptance Corporation (CAC), a subprime auto lender, resolving allegations of deceptive and abusive lending. The lawsuit alleged CAC pushed tens of thousands of consumers into unaffordable loans with average interest rates above 38 percent, bundled with expensive add-on products consumers were told were mandatory or never told about, causing widespread defaults and vehicle repossessions. Note: this is a consumer-lending enforcement action rather than a privacy matter, so no privacy violation categories from the taxonomy apply.
CAC will eliminate all debt owed by more than 55,000 consumers nationwide (over $630 million in debt relief), pay $60 million in restitution to additional consumers whose vehicles were repossessed, and pay a $15.5 million penalty to the states. CAC must also forgive 95 percent of the debt of certain at-risk borrowers who default within 12 or 18 months and whose vehicles are repossessed and sold (and may collect at most the remaining five percent), and it is barred from suing to collect or reselling that debt. Additionally, CAC must contact consumers outside the dealer showroom to clearly disclose any add-on products purchased and offer a process to cancel those products while keeping their vehicles.
Although this is a consumer-lending rather than privacy enforcement action, in-house legal teams at lenders, auto dealers, and finance affiliates should review dealer and originator agreements for representations and warranties on loan compliance, disclosure obligations for add-on products (e.g., service contracts, insurance), and post-sale cancellation workflows, since CAC was faulted for add-ons described as mandatory or undisclosed and for 'backroom deals with dealers.' Teams structuring or investing in securitizations should tighten representations that underlying loans comply with consumer-protection law, as CAC allegedly sold non-compliant loans to investors under false compliance representations. Collections, repossession, and debt-sale agreements should be checked against the settlement's restrictions on suing borrowers and reselling debt, including early-default deficiency-forgiveness triggers (95 percent forgiveness for defaults within 12 or 18 months). Vendor and servicer contracts should require support for off-showroom consumer notification and add-on cancellation processes that let consumers keep their vehicles.
Entity
Credit Acceptance Corporation
Industry
Financial ServicesOfficial Press Release
https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/2026/attorney-general-james-secures-700-million-abusive-subprime-auto-lender-credit
new york v credit acceptance corporation consent order and j
https://ag.ny.gov/sites/default/files/settlements-agreements/new-york-v-credit-acceptance-corporation-consent-order-and-judgement-2026.pdf
New York Attorney General Enforcement Page
https://ag.ny.gov/press-releases
"Attorney General James Secures $700 Million from Abusive Subprime Auto Lender Credit Acceptance Corporation"
"Credit Acceptance Corporation (CAC)"
"September 17, 2026"
"Finally, CAC will pay a $15.5 million penalty to the states."
"pay $60 million in restitution to consumers who lost their cars to repossession, and pay more than $15 million in penalties"
"CAC will eliminate all debt owed by more than 55,000 consumers nationwide"
$694.0M
Connecticut Attorney General William Tong joined 40 other state attorneys general in a settlement with Credit Acceptance Corporation (CAC), one of the nation's largest subprime auto lenders, resolving allegations that CAC originated loans it knew or should have known consumers could not afford and encouraged or failed to prevent dealers from 'packing' CAC loans with unwanted Vehicle Service Contract (VSC) and GAP products. The settlement, announced September 17, 2026 and effective November 2, 2026, directs $694 million in cash restitution and debt relief to consumers, plus an additional $15 million to the states, and imposes injunctive lending reforms. Note: this is a consumer-protection/lending enforcement action rather than a data privacy matter; the violation categories are best-fit mappings to the available taxonomy.
$694.0M
Colorado and 40 other states entered into a settlement with Credit Acceptance Corporation (CAC), one of the nation's largest subprime auto lenders, resolving allegations that CAC originated car loans it knew or should have known consumers could not afford and that it failed to reasonably prevent dealers in its network from deceptively 'packing' Vehicle Service Contract and GAP add-on products into CAC-financed purchases. The settlement provides $694 million in cash and debt relief to consumers plus an additional $15 million to the attorneys general, and imposes injunctive reforms including loan 'off ramps,' enhanced pre-purchase and pre-loan disclosures, dealer monitoring, and a seven-year price cap at 109% of retail book value. Note: this is a consumer-lending enforcement action, not a data privacy matter; the 'dark_patterns' category is the closest available fit for the deceptive add-on sales allegations.
$694.0M
Virginia and 40 other state attorneys general settled with subprime auto lender Credit Acceptance Corporation (CAC) for $694 million in cash restitution and debt relief. The settlement resolves allegations that CAC originated loans it knew or should have known consumers could not afford, and that it encouraged and failed to prevent dealers from unlawfully 'packing' auto-loan contracts with unwanted Vehicle Service Contracts and GAP products. The Consent Judgment was filed September 17, 2026, with the City of Richmond Circuit Court.
$75.5M
Minnesota AG Keith Ellison and a bipartisan coalition of 41 state attorneys general reached a settlement with subprime auto lender Credit Acceptance Corporation requiring it to pay the states $75.5 million and forgive more than $630 million in consumer debt nationwide. The settlement resolves allegations that the company financed auto loans it knew or should have known consumers could not afford, and financed the sale of expensive add-on products that consumers did not know they were purchasing. The company must also fundamentally reform its lending practices, including risk disclosures, loan balance waivers for high-risk defaults, and enhanced consent and cancellation protections for add-on products.
$694.0M
Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield announced a $694 million multistate settlement with Credit Acceptance Corporation (CAC), a subprime auto lender, resolving allegations that CAC originated unaffordable loans and allowed dealers to 'pack' unwanted Vehicle Service Contracts and Guaranteed Asset Protection products into consumer loans. The settlement provides $60 million in cash restitution, $634 million in debt relief, and injunctive reforms including off ramps for risky loans, enhanced disclosures, and dealer monitoring.
$352K
New York Attorney General Letitia James settled with Brooklyn High Rise LLC for illegally denying housing to prospective tenants based on housing court records, a practice known as tenant blacklisting. The company also charged non-refundable 'good faith' deposits. Brooklyn High Rise will pay $352,250 in penalties and restitution and must end its unlawful tenant screening practices.