The $8 million civil penalty leveled against Phoenix-based DriveTime Automotive Group by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau this week may not signal that the agency is specifically targeting the buy-here, pay-here industry, said attorney Michael Thurman, founder of Thurman Legal.
“I know that they have been looking at this company for a long, long time,” Thurman told Auto Finance News. “There has been an anticipation that there would be some kind of resolution and this is it. Whether it suggests that the agency will be devoting more time and energy specifically to the buy-here, pay-here industry, that’s not clear from this.”
DriveTime, the country’s largest buy-here, pay-here dealership, is alleged to have made what the agency called “harassing debt collection calls” and provided inaccurate information to credit reporting agencies, in a two-year investigation, Thurman said. Along with the financial penalty, the agency also ordered the company to take corrective actions, including free credit reports for impacted consumers. DriveTime did not admit wrongdoing in the case.
