Auto Loan Complaints 2026: The Most Complained-About Lenders
Americans have filed 105,623 auto loan and lease complaints with the CFPB since 2017 — and the pace is accelerating. 2025 set a record with 20,769 complaints (+55.5% in one year), and 2026 already stands at 20,207 through 2026-10-22. ALLY FINANCIAL INC. tops the lender table; “managing the loan or lease” is the biggest problem area; and only 2.9% of complaints end with money back.
By the CarWhere Research Team · Updated 2026-10-22 · Download full table (CSV) · Press inquiries: [email protected]
“The loan is now where the car deal goes wrong. Complaints about auto loans have grown 2.4x since 2022 — mostly billing, fees, and end-of-loan problems — yet fewer than 3 in 100 end with monetary relief. The cheapest fix is reading the contract before you sign, not complaining after.”— CarWhere Research Team
Key findings
- 105,623 vehicle loan/lease complaints filed with the CFPB since 2017.
- 2025 was a record year: 20,769 complaints, up 55.5% year over year and 2.4x the 2022 level.
- 2026 is tracking the record pace: 20,207 complaints through 2026-10-22.
- Most complained-about lender: ALLY FINANCIAL INC. (7,745 complaints, 7.3% of the total).
- Highest untimely-response rate among the top 10: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY at 4.3%.
- Top issue: Managing the loan or lease (31.2%), led by “Billing problem” (16,604 complaints).
- Only 2.9% of complaints close with monetary relief; 89.3% close with an explanation.
- Source: CFPB Consumer Complaint Database; updated 2026-10-22.
Auto loan complaints by year
| Year | Complaints | Change (YoY) |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 3,692 | — |
| 2018 | 5,884 | +59.4% |
| 2019 | 5,485 | -6.8% |
| 2020 | 6,970 | +27.1% |
| 2021 | 7,823 | +12.2% |
| 2022 | 8,639 | +10.4% |
| 2023 | 12,794 | +48.1% |
| 2024 | 13,360 | +4.4% |
| 2025 | 20,769 | +55.5% |
| 2026 (through 2026-10-22) | 20,207 | — |
The most complained-about auto lenders
Raw complaint counts skew toward the biggest lenders — more loans means more complaints. The untimely-response rate is the size-independent column: it shows how often each lender failed to respond to a complaint within the CFPB's timeframe.
| Rank | Lender | Complaints | Share | Untimely responses | Top issue |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ALLY FINANCIAL INC. | 7,745 | 7.3% | 0% | Managing the loan or lease |
| 2 | SANTANDER HOLDINGS USA, INC. | 5,723 | 5.4% | 0.1% | Managing the loan or lease |
| 3 | Westlake Services, LLC | 5,667 | 5.4% | 0.1% | Managing the loan or lease |
| 4 | CREDIT ACCEPTANCE CORPORATION | 5,547 | 5.3% | 0.2% | Managing the loan or lease |
| 5 | CAPITAL ONE FINANCIAL CORPORATION | 5,042 | 4.8% | 0.1% | Managing the loan or lease |
| 6 | WELLS FARGO & COMPANY | 4,878 | 4.6% | 4.3% | Managing the loan or lease |
| 7 | Santander Consumer USA Holdings Inc. | 4,246 | 4% | 0.1% | Managing the loan or lease |
| 8 | HYUNDAI CAPITAL AMERICA | 4,141 | 3.9% | 0.4% | Problems at the end of the loan or lease |
| 9 | TOYOTA MOTOR CREDIT CORPORATION | 3,710 | 3.5% | 0.1% | Managing the loan or lease |
| 10 | Bridgecrest Acceptance Corporation | 3,183 | 3% | 2.2% | Managing the loan or lease |
What goes wrong: complaints by issue
| Issue | Complaints | Share | Most common sub-issue |
|---|---|---|---|
| Managing the loan or lease | 32,941 | 31.2% | Billing problem |
| Problems at the end of the loan or lease | 17,350 | 16.4% | Unable to receive car title or other problem after the loan is paid off |
| Repossession | 15,210 | 14.4% | Loan balance remaining after the vehicle is repossessed and sold |
| Getting a loan or lease | 14,128 | 13.4% | Fraudulent loan |
| Struggling to pay your loan | 11,130 | 10.5% | Denied request to lower payments |
| Incorrect information on your report | 9,183 | 8.7% | Account status incorrect |
| Problem with a credit reporting company's investigation into an existing problem | 1,833 | 1.7% | Investigation took more than 30 days |
| Problem with a company's investigation into an existing problem | 1,659 | 1.6% | Their investigation did not fix an error on your report |
| Improper use of your report | 1,591 | 1.5% | Reporting company used your report improperly |
| Credit monitoring or identity theft protection services | 367 | 0.3% | Billing dispute for services |
| Unable to get your credit report or credit score | 161 | 0.2% | Other problem getting your report or credit score |
| Problem with fraud alerts or security freezes | 60 | 0.1% | — |
| Problem with credit report or credit score | 10 | 0% | Incorrect information on your report |
Where complaints come from
| Rank | State | Complaints | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Florida | 11,687 | 11.1% |
| 2 | California | 11,294 | 10.7% |
| 3 | Texas | 10,151 | 9.6% |
| 4 | Georgia | 7,295 | 6.9% |
| 5 | New York | 5,527 | 5.2% |
| 6 | Illinois | 4,001 | 3.8% |
| 7 | North Carolina | 3,795 | 3.6% |
| 8 | New Jersey | 3,781 | 3.6% |
| 9 | Pennsylvania | 3,778 | 3.6% |
| 10 | Ohio | 3,308 | 3.1% |
| 11 | Maryland | 3,007 | 2.8% |
| 12 | Virginia | 2,902 | 2.7% |
| 13 | Michigan | 2,772 | 2.6% |
| 14 | Arizona | 2,279 | 2.2% |
| 15 | South Carolina | 2,162 | 2% |
How complaints resolve
| Company response | Complaints | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Closed with explanation | 94,330 | 89.3% |
| Closed with non-monetary relief | 6,832 | 6.5% |
| Closed with monetary relief | 3,055 | 2.9% |
| In progress | 895 | 0.8% |
| Untimely response | 511 | 0.5% |
Companies respond to 98.2% of complaints within the CFPB's timeframe — but responding is not resolving: 89.3% of complaints close with an explanation, and only 2.9% close with monetary relief.
The best complaint is the one you never have to file
Most of these complaints trace back to the finance office: billing surprises, fees, and products added to the loan. Before you sign, see what people actually paid for the car, and check the dealer-fee tables by state so every line on the contract has a name.
Methodology
CarWhere aggregated the CFPB's public Consumer Complaint Database, filtered to the “Vehicle loan or lease” product — 105,623 complaints received from 2017 (when the CFPB introduced this product category) through 2026-10-22. Complaints are consumer-submitted and are published after the company responds or after 15 days; they are reports of problems, not adjudicated findings of wrongdoing. Raw complaint counts naturally skew toward larger lenders, which is why the lender table also reports each lender's untimely-response rate. Yearly figures use the complaint's date-received; the current year is partial and marked as such. This is public federal data; the tables may be republished with attribution to CarWhere (carwhere.com). Full data as CSV.
Frequently asked questions
Which auto lender has the most CFPB complaints?
ALLY FINANCIAL INC. has the most vehicle loan or lease complaints in the CFPB database — 7,745 since 2017 (7.3% of all auto-loan complaints). Raw counts naturally skew toward the largest lenders, so a high count reflects volume as much as service quality; the per-lender table includes each lender's untimely-response rate for a size-independent signal.
Are auto loan complaints increasing?
Yes, sharply. 2025 set a record with 20,769 complaints (+55.5% year over year), about 2.4x the 2022 level. 2026 is on a similar pace, with 20,207 complaints filed through 2026-10-22.
What do people complain about most on auto loans?
"Managing the loan or lease" is the largest issue category — 32,941 complaints (31.2% of the total). Within it, "Billing problem" is the most common specific problem (16,604 complaints).
Do CFPB auto loan complaints get money back?
Rarely. Only 2.9% of auto-loan complaints close with monetary relief (3,055 of 105,623). The large majority — 89.3% — close with an explanation from the company. Companies do respond: 98.2% of complaints get a timely response.
Where does this data come from?
The CFPB's public Consumer Complaint Database (consumerfinance.gov), filtered to the "Vehicle loan or lease" product — 105,623 complaints from 2017 through 2026-10-22. Complaints are consumer-submitted and published after the company responds or after 15 days; they are reports, not adjudicated findings. The data is public and may be republished with attribution to CarWhere (carwhere.com).