Complaint volume spikes despite CFPB inactivity (Under the Hood)

The volume of auto finance complaints lodged with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in 2025 surged 55% even though the agency’s enforcement and rulemaking activities have been stalled for nearly a year. Consumers filed more than 20,000 complaints last year compared with 13,000 in 2024 and 2023, and fewer than 9,000 in 2022. Whereas Wells Fargo Auto Finance was the lone financier to exceed 1,000 complaints in a single year back in 2023, five companies reached that mark last year. Santander Consumer USA topped the list with 1,702 complaints, nearly double the 914 grievances it spurred in 2024. The other companies with 1,000-plus complaint tallies were: Ally Financial — 1,379; Westlake Financial — 1,189; Credit Acceptance Corp. — 1,150; and Capital One Auto Finance — 1,069. Notably, only 15 complaints were lodged against TAG Intermediate Holding Co. , the corporate entity responsible for operations at now-bankrupt subprime lender Tricolor Acceptance . The grievances — some of which called out TAG affiliates Tricolor, Ganas Auto and Apoyo Financial — largely centered on confusing advertising, changes in terms mid-deal or post-closing, repossession issues and loan-management problems. For instance, one consumer noted that he had been waiting nearly a year to receive the title for his paid-off vehicle. Another customer criticized Tricolor’s failure to report his timely loan payments to the credit bureaus. In 2024, TAG was named in four complaints. Repo complaints rise Industrywide, consumers most often griped about repossessions . Repo-related grievances accounted for 29% of all complaints, compared with 23% in 2024, the first full year after the CFPB added the category to its list. Though the category gained only 6 percentage points, the number of complaints nearly doubled — to 5,763 from 2,995 — because of the sheer increase in complaint volume. The rise in repo complaints comes amid accelerating consumer struggles to afford escalating auto loan payments . Last year, about 10 million vehicles were assigned for repossession, with nearly 3 million recovered, according to industry estimates. Voluntary repos have also been on the rise, triggering complaints from consumers who had hoped to be freed of their loan responsibilities only to find out that a deficiency balance remains. With repossessions highly concentrated among lower-income individuals, subprime lenders netted the bulk of the repo-related complaints. Santander Consumer USA, Credit Acceptance and Westlake Financial were at the top of the list, each with at least 400 complaints. Consumers most often griped about loan balances remaining after vehicles were repossessed and sold. The higher percentage of repo complaints was offset by lower percentages of grievances related to securing, managing and closing out loans and leases. Each of those categories dropped 1% to 2% of the total. Even so, those categories generated between 700 and 1,800 more complaints than they had in 2024. Similarly, the percent of complainants who identified themselves as “older Americans” fell to 3% from 4%, though the number of these complainants rose to 614 from 499. Meanwhile, complaints by servicemembers , the only other demographic tagged by the CFPB, increased to 11% from 10%, which translated to 2,120 complaints compared with 1,343. Other notable trends: Consumers filed complaints against 549 companies last year, up from 422 in 2024. In both years, 80% of companies had 10 or fewer complaints, and 7% had 100 or more. July saw the greatest number of complaints — 1,970 — while March was the only month that logged fewer complaints than the 1,334 recorded in the highest volume month of 2024. Lease-related complaints accounted for 13% of the tally last year, up from 12% in 2023 and 2024. Combined, repossessions and lease management accounted for more than half of those grievances. Most complaints — 86% — were closed with an explanation from the company. Another 6% were closed with non-monetary relief, and 2% with monetary relief. Others were in progress or had untimely responses. While in the past few years, about 40 company responses were deemed “untimely,” registering less than a single percentage point, last year’s “untimely responses” hit 120 and accounted for 1% of the total. Lenders whose responses exceeded the 60-day cap were primarily lenders with single-digit complaint tallies. For the past two years, more than 90% of CFPB complaints were filed online, and the percentage of those filed by phone dropped to 3% last year from 6%. Meanwhile, complaints lodged by postal mail increased to 1.3% of the tally in 2025 from 0.7% in 2024. Auto Finance News will present multiple invaluable events for industry professionals in 2026, starting with Auto Finance Summit East and Auto Finance Capital Summit in May. To see event agendas and register, visit autofinance.live .

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Compliance, Under The Hood

Complaint volume spikes despite CFPB inactivity (Under the Hood)

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