Video story produced by Patrick Terpstra, Carrie Cochran, Zach Cusson, Andrew Lawler, Rosie Cima, and Max McClellan of Scripps News. This story is part of a partnership with ProPublica.Jessica Patterson tensed as she tore open the letter from Exeter Finance. “This notice is being sent to you concerning your default,” the company wrote.She didn’t need to keep reading to know she was in trouble.It was January 2018. Seven months earlier, she’d borrowed $14,786.07 to purchase a silver Kia Rio.
forced Santander to pay nearly $12 million in restitution and penalties. But the agency hasn’t taken enforcement action against Exeter. Meanwhile, annual complaints to the about the company have grown threefold in the past five years, with nearly 900 in 2023.Extensions that hide the consequences from borrowers “are taking a loan that is not working and ensuring that it’s just not going to work for a little longer,” said Pamela Foohey, a University of Georgia law professor who has written extensively about subprime lending.
declined to answer questions about Exeter’s practices and its oversight of the company. Chris Kukla, a program manager supervising the auto finance industry, said that in general “it’s important for everybody to understand what’s going on in the transaction.”“All the information should be shared,' he added.For years, Exeter failed to provide specific information in its written notices. They did not explain that a borrower’s next payments would first be applied to the interest from extensions, which would delay repayment of the original loan balance, known as the principal.