Law360 is reporting that another subprime auto lender, the Nevada-based Consumer Portfolio Services, Inc., has disclosed in an SEC filing that it received a civil investigative subpoena from the Department of Justice. As we’ve previously reported, both federal and state regulators recently have increased their scrutiny of subprime auto lending.
This is not the first run-in Consumer Portfolio Services has had with federal regulators. In May 2014, the Federal Trade Commission levied a $5.5 million penalty against the company over alleged abusive and unfair debt collection practices.
In December, we reported that America Honda Finance Corp. and a second auto lender had disclosed in their SEC filings that they were targets of Department of Justice enforcement actions alleging fair lending violations. Having likely investigated all of the major auto lenders, and pursuing enforcement actions against several, the Department of Justice and the CFPB are probably going to begin working down the chain to investigate smaller lenders.