Credit Acceptance Corporation is wiping out more than $630 million in car loan balances for more than 55,000 borrowers across the country. The relief is part of a $700 million multistate settlement announced September 17, and borrowers do not have to apply for it. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison’s office says consumers do not need to take any action.

What does the $700 million Credit Acceptance settlement include?

The New York attorney general’s release puts the total at $700 million, including over $630 million in debt relief on car loans. More than 55,000 borrowers nationwide have their debt erased. About 2,500 of them are New Yorkers.

The deal also includes $60 million in restitution for consumers who lost their cars to repossession. New York says thousands of those borrowers were misled and lost their vehicles within months of taking out the loans. The debt relief is balances written off, not cash sent, so the $630 million is a part of the $700 million rather than the whole.

Ellison’s office, in its September 17 announcement, describes a bipartisan coalition of 41 state attorneys general. New York’s count is different: it lists itself, 39 other states and the District of Columbia, with Hawaii’s Office of Consumer Protection included.

Is a borrower’s Credit Acceptance loan one of the ones being erased?

The release does not publish a list of accounts. What it says is that consumers will be contacted if they receive either debt relief or a refund. Minnesota does not say when the contacts will go out. New York does not say how payments will be delivered either.

That puts the burden on the borrower to watch the mail and any account statement. A borrower with a Credit Acceptance loan, especially one who defaulted or lost a car to repossession, is the person this settlement is aimed at. In Minnesota alone, the attorney general’s office reports more than $7.5 million in debt relief and more than $1 million in refunds. New York puts its own total at approximately $34 million across debt relief, restitution and penalties.

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What did the attorneys general say Credit Acceptance did?

The lawsuit claims the company financed auto loans it knew or should have known consumers could not afford, and that it originated many loans it predicted borrowers could not repay, even the principal. It still profited, the suit says, by repossessing and reselling the vehicles and starting the cycle again. It also says Credit Acceptance financed add-on products that consumers did not know they were buying.

Ellison said in his announcement: “A car is a necessity for many Minnesotans and is the largest purchase some may ever make.” He added that the company “misled consumers to enter into expensive loans that the company knew were ‘Set Up to Fail.’” New York Attorney General Letitia James said the company “preyed on consumers in New York and across the nation with false promises of affordable loans.”

New York’s release adds that the loans carried an average annual rate above 38%, with some over 100%, and that nearly half of borrowers faced repossession. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau dropped its own case against the company in 2025 without a settlement. The New York attorney general’s office continued the case.

What changes for future borrowers?

The settlement sets rules for new loans. At-risk borrowers who default within 12 or 18 months, depending on the loan’s risk level, and whose vehicles are repossessed and sold, get 95% of the amount owed waived. The company may collect only the remaining 5%, and it cannot sue those borrowers to collect or sell the debt to others.

Credit Acceptance must also tell consumers when a loan has historically carried a high default risk. It must keep dealers from adding service contracts or GAP coverage without a buyer’s consent, with fuller disclosure at the sale and a post-sale notice that lets buyers cancel the product.

The remaining question for a borrower is how the notice will arrive and what it will say. The attorney general releases name no fee, no claim form and no deadline, and a message that asks for money to process the relief does not match them.

Waiting on a Credit Acceptance notice?

Debt relief and restitution under this settlement arrive through a notice, and the attorneys general have not said when contact will begin. A borrower who tosses an unfamiliar envelope, or pays a stranger who promises to speed up the relief, can lose the balance the settlement was meant to erase.

The Settlement & Refund Recovery System includes a claim log and payment tracker, plus the four-date rule for reading a settlement notice, so each letter and its dates are written down in one place.

Get the settlement notice guide and payment tracker for the Credit Acceptance relief →

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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.