More than 55,000 borrowers who took out subprime car loans through Credit Acceptance Corporation are set to have what they owe erased, with the lender required to provide the relief by the settlement’s November 2, 2026 effective date. Attorneys general in dozens of states announced the $694 million deal on September 17, and none of the debt relief depends on a borrower filing a form.
The attorneys general describe Credit Acceptance as a subprime auto lender, and the settlement also requires it to change how it does business. Money moves in three parts: balance cancellations, cash restitution for borrowers who lost their cars, and a payment to the states.
Four figures that make up the $694 million
According to the Virginia attorney general’s release, the package contains $388 million in debt relief for consumers whose cars were repossessed and $246 million for consumers whose cars were not, which is $634 million in cancelled balances. A further $60 million is cash restitution for distribution to consumers, which New York’s announcement describes as going to thousands of additional consumers who were misled and lost their cars, and $15.5 million goes to the attorneys general.
The arithmetic is worth laying out, because the release lists the pieces separately. The $388 million and $246 million of cancelled balances add to $634 million, and adding the $60 million of restitution brings the running total to exactly $694 million. The $15.5 million paid to the attorneys general is listed on its own line. New York’s announcement says the debt relief is more than $630 million and that it erases all debt owed by more than 55,000 consumers, which works out to an average of roughly $11,400 of balance per borrower. That is only an average across the group.
The loans in scope were made between November 1, 2015 and November 30, 2025. The window spans ten years of originations, so the date a loan was made, not the date of the settlement, is what places an account inside it. The settlement takes effect on November 2, 2026, and Maryland’s release says debt relief must be provided by that date.
From October 2, the effective date is 31 days away. That is the period in which the lender has to carry out the cancellations, Neither the Maryland nor the Virginia release says how a cancellation will be shown to the borrower, so the notice from the lender is the only stated confirmation.
How the count of states works out
Maryland’s attorney general co-led the effort alongside Arkansas, California, Illinois, Minnesota and New Jersey. Maryland’s release counts 41 states plus the District of Columbia, describing itself plus 40 other states. Virginia’s release words it differently, saying Virginia joined the attorneys general of 40 other states, and then names the participants from Alabama to Wisconsin, with D.C. among them.
Virginia’s release also breaks out the state’s own piece: over $2 million in restitution and over $17 million in debt relief for Virginians, plus nearly $350,000 that goes to the Commonwealth. Attorney General Jay Jones announced the deal for Virginia.
New York settled separately. Its attorney general put the same case at $700 million and said the deal covers about 2,500 New Yorkers, with roughly $34 million coming to the state in relief, restitution and penalty payments, according to the New York attorney general’s announcement. A borrower in a state that is not on the lists should check with that state’s attorney general before assuming the relief reaches the account.
Cancellation without a form, restitution through a separate administrator
For the debt relief, nothing is filed. Maryland’s release says customers eligible for debt relief will be notified by the lender, and the Virginia release says the company is required to inform consumers of their eligibility. New York’s announcement describes the debt as eliminated outright for more than 55,000 consumers.
Restitution runs through a different channel. Maryland’s release says consumers eligible for restitution will be notified by a claims administrator, and Virginia’s says an administrator will be retained to provide restitution, with consumers able to contact it with questions or to update their information. The releases do not describe a filing step for either group, but they also do not give a date by which notices go out.
Anthony Brown, Maryland’s attorney general, said the settlement “erases hundreds of millions of dollars in debt for borrowers struggling under loans that should never have been made.”
What the releases leave open for the weeks before November 2
Two practical gaps follow. The first is timing: November 2 is the effective date and the date debt relief must be provided, but New York’s release gives no notification date and the others do not set one. The second is addresses. Because notices come from the lender and, for restitution, from an administrator, a borrower who has moved since the loan will not receive either unless the lender or administrator has the new address.
The Virginia release says consumers can contact the administrator once it is retained to update their information. In the meantime, the Virginia release lists the lender’s customer line and its own consumer hotline for questions, and other states’ attorneys general run comparable consumer offices.
Telling the lender’s letter from the administrator’s
The Credit Acceptance settlement sends relief through two different senders, the lender for cancelled balances and a claims administrator for restitution, and neither letter has a published arrival date. Borrowers who expect both will need to keep the two straight and note which one has actually reached them.
The Settlement & Refund Recovery System includes the four-date rule for reading a settlement notice and a large-print quick-start for working through one.
AI assistance was used in drafting this report, which was checked against the attorney general releases it cites.
