Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Settles With Nissan Motor Acceptance Corporation For Illegal Collections And Repossession Practices

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Settles With Nissan Motor Acceptance Corporation For Illegal Collections And Repossession Practices

On Tuesday, October 13, 2020, the Bureau issued a press release regarding a consent order against Nissan Motor Acceptance Corporation (Nissan), an auto financing subsidiary of Nissan North America, Inc., which services auto loans and leases originated by Nissan and Infiniti dealerships nationwide.  Nissan’s servicing operations are headquartered in Irving, Texas.  The Bureau found that Nissan and its agents: wrongfully repossessed vehicles; kept personal property in consumers’ repossessed vehicles until consumers paid a storage fee; deprived consumers paying by phone of the ability to select payment options with significantly lower fees; and, in its loan extension agreements, made a deceptive statement that appeared to limit consumers’ bankruptcy protections.  These actions violated the Consumer Financial Protection Act’s (CFPA) prohibition against unfair and deceptive acts and practices.  The consent order requires Nissan to provide up to $1 million of cash redress to consumers subject to a wrongful repossession, credit any outstanding account charges associated with a wrongful repossession, and to pay a civil money penalty of $4 million.  It also imposes certain requirements to prevent future violations and remediate consumers whose vehicles are wrongfully repossessed going forward.

The consent order is available at: https://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/documents/cfpb_nissan-motor-acceptance-corporation_consent-order_2020-10.pdf.