Buying a car is difficult enough without a finance company allegedly approving a deal that its own calculations suggest you cannot afford. Yet that is the accusation at the center of a sweeping multistate settlement with Credit Acceptance Corporation. Regulators say the subprime lender knew, or should have known, that some borrowers were likely to fail, but financed their purchases anyway.

 

Credit Acceptance has now agreed to provide $694 million in cash and debt relief to resolve allegations brought by a bipartisan coalition of 41 state attorneys general. The alleged mechanics are particularly troubling. Credit Acceptance assigned each loan a proprietary score predicting how much money it expected to collect from all available sources. According to the AG, the company approved some loans even when its own score predicted that the borrower wouldn’t repay the principal.

We're helping New Jersey car buyers stay on budget by protecting them from predatory and deceptive lending practices that can trap them in debt. Here's how:https://t.co/dnnyBpMl0o pic.twitter.com/pIKNqfMxCh

— Attorney General Jennifer Davenport (@NewJerseyOAG) September 17, 2026