ATLANTA — A federal judge in Georgia has ordered a bankrupt metro Atlanta-based used car dealer to pay more than $40 million in penalties and restitution.
Channel 2 Action News investigates extensively covered when US Auto Sales abruptly closed its 39 locations across the southeast in April 2023.
That summer, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau filed suit against the company’s loan servicing arm, USAF Servicing LLC., alleging improper charges and wrongful repossessions.
Now, Judge Victoria Marie Calvert of the Northern District of Georgia has ordered USAF Servicing to pay millions back to customers.
Navadia Brooks still does not have a car nearly a year and a half after she first told Channel 2 Action News about her Nissan Altima she purchased at US Auto Sales being repossessed.
“I’m keeping the faith that I will get something from a settlement,” she told Channel 2 consumer investigator Justin Gray.
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The order finds that USAF Servicing improperly used starter interruption devices that can disable vehicles.
Judge Calvert wrote that “due to programming errors, system errors, and human error, USASF erroneously sent warning tones over 71,000 times to consumers who had made a payment or were not in default.”
The judge found that bankruptcy protections should not protect USAF Servicing from this judgment.
Gray asked the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau what is next for customers who think they are owed money. They declined to comment.
According to the order, the CFPB will have their claim of $42 million handled by the bankruptcy trustees like other debts US Auto Sales is facing.
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