GM Financial is reporting your car loan or lease wrong?

Who GM Financial is and what it reports

GM Financial is the wholly owned captive finance subsidiary of General Motors, headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas. The company says it was founded as AmeriCredit in September 1992 and that, on October 1, 2010, General Motors acquired AmeriCredit Corp. and renamed it General Motors Financial Company, Inc. It offers retail loans and lease programs to consumers through dealers, along with commercial lending to dealers, and operates in North America, South America and Asia.

For consumers, that means GM Financial holds the retail installment contract or lease on many Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac vehicles bought or leased through GM dealers. It reports those accounts to Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. Under the FCRA, GM Financial is a “furnisher,” which means it must investigate disputes that the bureaus forward to it.

GM Financial and the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act

On September 30, 2022, the United States filed a complaint and proposed consent order against AmeriCredit Financial Services, Inc., doing business as GM Financial, in the Northern District of Texas. The government alleged that GM Financial violated the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act by repossessing 71 servicemembers’ vehicles and by denying or mishandling more than 1,000 vehicle lease termination requests. The court entered an amended consent order on October 4, 2022, requiring $3,534,171 for the affected servicemembers and a $65,480 civil penalty, and requiring GM Financial to “repair the servicemembers’ credit.”

The case involved allegations resolved by a consent order, and it does not decide anything about your account. It is a reminder that a repossession or lease dispute often ends up on a credit report, and that a wrongful repossession can leave a damaging tradeline long after the car is gone.

Errors that show up on GM Financial accounts

• Lease terminations. A lease ended early, through a military termination, trade-in or buyout, but payments kept aging as past due.
• Payoffs that never posted. A dealer trade-in payoff, refinance or insurance total-loss check that didn’t reach the account, leaving a balance and late marks.
• Wrongful repossessions. A repossession reported when you were current, had an agreed extension, or were protected by the SCRA.
• Deficiency balances. A post-repossession balance that ignores the auction proceeds, or charges you were never told about.
• Extensions reported as late. Payments moved to the end of the loan by agreement but reported as missed.
• Duplicate tradelines. The same loan showing under both AmeriCredit and GM Financial, or appearing again after a transfer.

How to dispute a GM Financial account

1. Pull your reports from AnnualCreditReport.com and save dated copies.
2. Collect proof. Payment history, extension letters, payoff or trade-in paperwork, insurance settlement letters, repossession and sale notices, and, for servicemembers, your orders.
3. Dispute with each bureau showing the error through Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. Name the specific problem, such as “lease terminated early under military orders on May 1; no balance owed,” and attach your documents.
4. You may also dispute directly with GM Financial through your online account or the contact details on your statement. Keep copies. A direct dispute does not by itself give you a right to sue.
5. Save the results. Bureaus generally have 30 days to reinvestigate, and GM Financial must finish its investigation in that time (§ 1681s-2(b)(2)).

The bureau step is the one that creates a claim. Consumers have no private right of action to enforce a furnisher’s general accuracy duties under 15 U.S.C. § 1681s-2(a), or its identity theft duties under § 1681s-2(a)(6). The claim is under § 1681s-2(b), after a bureau notifies GM Financial of your dispute and it fails to reasonably investigate and correct the information. If an account was opened by an identity thief, ask each bureau to block it under § 1681c-2.

Your FCRA rights

• Furnisher investigation (§ 1681s-2(b)). GM Financial must review what the bureau sends, including your documents, and correct, delete or block information that is inaccurate, incomplete or unverifiable.
• Obsolete information (§ 1681c). A repossession or charge-off generally must come off your report seven years after the delinquency began.
• Active duty alerts (§ 1681c-1(c)). Servicemembers can place an alert lasting at least 12 months.
• Bureau duties (§§ 1681e(b), 1681i). A bureau that keeps reporting GM Financial’s error after a dispute may face a separate claim.

What you may recover

For a negligent violation, you may recover actual damages, such as a denied loan, a higher interest rate or emotional distress, plus attorney’s fees and costs (15 U.S.C. § 1681o). For a willful violation, you may recover actual damages or statutory damages of $100 to $1,000, punitive damages as the court allows, and attorney’s fees and costs (§ 1681n). Servicemembers may have additional remedies under the SCRA.

Get a free case review before your deadline

FCRA claims generally must be filed within two years after you discover the violation and no later than five years after it occurred (15 U.S.C. § 1681p). If GM Financial is reporting a repossession, deficiency or late payment that isn’t right, and a bureau dispute didn’t fix it, gather your paperwork and request a free case review. FCRA Attorneys, with offices in Dallas, Houston, Chicago, Los Angeles and Atlanta, files FCRA cases in federal court and works on contingency: no fee unless we win. Learn more about our FCRA lawyers or see our other company guides.

Questions about suing GM Financial

Can I sue GM Financial over my credit report?

Possibly. GM Financial (legally AmeriCredit Financial Services, Inc.) is a furnisher of credit information. If you dispute a GM Financial loan or lease through Equifax, Experian or TransUnion and it fails to reasonably investigate and correct inaccurate data after the bureau notifies it, you may have a claim under 15 U.S.C. § 1681s-2(b).

My report says AmeriCredit. Is that GM Financial?

GM Financial says it was founded as AmeriCredit in 1992 and was acquired by General Motors and renamed in 2010, and the Justice Department's 2022 case named the company as AmeriCredit Financial Services, Inc., doing business as GM Financial. Dispute the tradeline under whatever name appears on your report.

I'm a servicemember and GM Financial repossessed my car. Can that affect my credit claim?

It can. The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act limits repossession without a court order for loans taken out before active duty. In 2022 the Justice Department alleged GM Financial repossessed 71 servicemembers' vehicles in violation of the SCRA, and the resulting consent order required the company to repair those servicemembers' credit. A wrongful repossession reported to the bureaus may support both SCRA and FCRA claims.

What does it cost to hire FCRA Attorneys?

Nothing up front. We handle FCRA cases on contingency, so there is no fee unless we win, and the FCRA shifts reasonable attorney's fees and costs to the company when the consumer prevails (15 U.S.C. §§ 1681n, 1681o).

Sources

• GM Financial: About GM Financial
• U.S. Department of Justice: United States v. AmeriCredit Financial Services, Inc. d/b/a GM Financial (N.D. Tex.)
• U.S. Department of Justice: GM Financial consent order (2022, PDF)

Updated November 2026. This page is general information, not legal advice.