Credit Acceptance Corporation has until November 2, 2026 to deliver debt relief to borrowers with certain risky car loans made from November 1, 2015 through November 30, 2025. The deadline is part of a $694 million settlement with attorneys general from 41 states, and the same date is when the agreement takes effect.
Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones announced the deal on September 17. His office’s news release says the settlement “will be effective as of November 2, 2026” and that the company must provide debt relief “on or before November 2, 2026.”
What the $694 million is made of
Most of the total is debt relief, not cash. Virginia’s release breaks it into $60 million in cash restitution for people with particularly risky loans, $388 million in debt relief for borrowers whose cars were repossessed, and $246 million in debt relief for borrowers who were allowed to keep their cars.
Connecticut’s attorney general, William Tong, listed the same three amounts and said he joined 40 other attorneys general. Credit Acceptance also pays a separate sum to the states, which Virginia puts at $15.5 million.
The relief covers “certain risky” loans, not every Credit Acceptance account. Neither Virginia nor Connecticut defines the term or says how many borrowers are covered, and the company uses its own proprietary score for each loan.
How borrowers will find out they are included
Eligible borrowers do not file a claim. Connecticut’s release says customers eligible for debt relief “will be notified by CAC,” while those eligible for cash restitution will be notified by a claims administrator.
California’s attorney general says eligible consumers have already been identified, will be notified and need not take any action. Anyone with a Credit Acceptance loan from the covered period who wants to check can call the company at (800) 634-1506, a number listed in Virginia’s release, or the Virginia Consumer Protection Hotline at (804) 786-2042.
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Cash restitution works through a settlement administrator. Virginia says consumers can contact the administrator with questions or to update their information, which matters for anyone who has moved since the loan was made, because a notice or payment sent to an old address is the easiest piece of this to lose.
State totals show the size of the relief
Several states have published their own numbers. Virginia puts its share at $19 million, made up of more than $2 million in restitution and more than $17 million in debt relief. California reports $6.86 million, with $1.46 million in restitution and $5.4 million in debt relief.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office says about $70.3 million in debt forgiveness goes to consumers in her state, and that Michigan receives $790,474. Wisconsin’s Department of Justice estimates $959,988 in restitution and more than $10 million in debt relief for its residents.
Because the allocation differs by state, the same loan can produce a different result depending on where the borrower lives. The state releases do not give a per-borrower figure.
The 95 percent off-ramp for newer loans
Borrowers with loans made after November 30, 2025 are covered by a separate protection. For certain risky loans that Credit Acceptance made starting in December 2025 and that fail quickly, Virginia says qualifying consumers will get 95 percent debt relief, and the company may not file collections lawsuits against them.
That off-ramp begins on November 2, 2026 and runs for five years. It applies only to loans the company makes going forward and to those that fail quickly, so it is a different track from the relief for the 2015 to 2025 loans.
Other terms are meant to change how the loans are sold. The agreement requires disclosures about default risk and the vehicle’s value before a loan is made, sets a cap of 109 percent of retail book value for certain consumers for seven years, and creates a process to stop dealers from packing in service contracts and GAP products.
Court approval and what remains unsettled
Virginia’s release says the consent judgment was filed on September 17 for approval and entry by the City of Richmond Circuit Court. California’s release describes the settlement as subject to court approval. Neither says the judgment has been entered yet.
The states have framed the deal as a correction for how the loans were made. Tong said Credit Acceptance “profited off risky loans destined to fail, padded with worthless services and so-called protections,” and Jones said “companies that are reckless with consumers’ finances will be held to account.”
Nessel put the harm in household terms, saying predatory lending can pull people who are already struggling “into a downward spiral of inescapable debt.” None of the releases says how many borrowers will see relief or what the average amount will be.
For borrowers, the open question is concrete: whether a statement or letter from Credit Acceptance arrives by early November, and whether the balance on it reflects the relief the states describe.
Waiting on a Credit Acceptance letter before November 2?
This settlement runs on notices from the company and a claims administrator, not on a claim form. A letter that is set aside, a balance that does not change or a restitution check sent to an old address can pass unnoticed.
The money question here is tracking what arrives and when, which is the job The Settlement & Refund Recovery System finishes. It includes the four-date rule for reading a settlement notice and a claim log and payment tracker, so each letter, call and balance change can be written down against the November 2 date.
Get the notice-date rule and payment tracker for Credit Acceptance relief →
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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
