The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau says an auto loan servicer illegally shut off vehicles that borrowers were paying for on time — at least 7,500 separate times — while also charging roughly 34,000 customers twice for the same insurance premium in a single month, sometimes for over a year straight. The federal lawsuit, filed against USASF Servicing LLC on August 2, 2023, describes a company that used remote starter-interrupt technology as a blunt instrument against people who had done nothing wrong, while simultaneously bungling its own billing systems badly enough to double-charge tens of thousands of accounts.

 

A kill switch used on drivers who weren’t behind

USASF Servicing, based in Lawrenceville, Georgia, services auto loans originated by its affiliate, U.S. Auto Sales — a buy-here-pay-here dealer network with 31 locations across the Southeast that primarily serves subprime borrowers. According to the CFPB’s newsroom announcement, the company’s starter-interrupt devices — small units wired into a vehicle’s ignition system that let a lender remotely prevent a car from starting — were triggered against consumers who were not actually in default at least 7,500 times. Warning tones tied to the same devices sounded more than 71,000 times during periods when borrowers were current on their payments, according to the Bureau’s own case filing detailed on the CFPB’s enforcement action page.

Perhaps the most striking allegation involves at least 1,500 vehicles the company disabled after directly telling those specific customers it would not do so. That’s not a software glitch happening in the background — it’s a company allegedly making a promise to a borrower and then remotely killing their car’s starter anyway.

Double-billed for insurance, sometimes for over a year

The lawsuit’s second major thread involves collateral-protection insurance, a product lenders often require when a borrower’s own auto insurance lapses. The CFPB alleges roughly 34,000 consumers were charged twice in the same billing cycle for this coverage, with some accounts double-billed for more than a year before the error was caught or corrected. On top of that, the Bureau says USASF misapplied extra payments — money borrowers sent specifically to pay down their loans faster — toward late fees and insurance charges instead of accrued interest, a routing error the CFPB says cost consumers more than $1 million in unnecessary interest and fees they should never have owed.

The company is also accused of failing to secure millions of dollars in refunds owed to consumers under Guaranteed Asset Protection policies when loans were paid off early or accounts were charged off — money that belonged to borrowers but that USASF never went back to claim on their behalf.

Repossessions on top of everything else

Beyond the starter-interrupt and billing allegations, the CFPB’s complaint accuses USASF of illegally repossessing vehicles from consumers who never actually qualified for repossession under the terms of their own loan agreements — and in some instances, selling those wrongfully seized vehicles before the error was corrected. Taken together, the pattern described in the filing is one of a servicer whose internal controls failed borrowers at nearly every point of contact: during routine payment processing, during insurance billing, and during the decision to physically remove a financed vehicle from someone’s driveway.

The CFPB is seeking consumer redress, civil money penalties, and injunctive relief to stop the alleged practices going forward, according to the Bureau’s own announcement of the suit.

What this means if your loan has a connected starter-interrupt device

Starter-interrupt and GPS-tracking devices are common on subprime auto loans specifically because they let lenders manage risk on borrowers who might otherwise be considered too risky to finance at all — the trade-off being that the lender holds a remote kill switch over your car for the life of the loan. The USASF case is a reminder that the device is only as reliable as the servicer operating it, and that “current on your payments” doesn’t automatically mean the system on the other end agrees.

• Keep every payment confirmation and bank statement tied to your auto loan for at least the life of the loan plus one year
• If your vehicle won’t start and you’re current on payments, contact your servicer immediately and get any resolution in writing
• Review monthly statements specifically for duplicate insurance or GAP charges, not just the total balance
• Request written confirmation any time a servicer tells you a starter-interrupt device won’t be activated

A remote disable switch on a financed vehicle is a legitimate risk-management tool when it’s operated correctly. The USASF complaint is a case study in what happens to real people when it isn’t.