Toyota Credit settles U.S. discrimination allegations

DETROIT (AP) - Toyota Motor Credit Corp. will pay $21.9 million to black and Asian borrowers as part of a settlement over alleged discriminatory lending. The U.S. Department of Justice and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced the settlement Tuesday. A government investigation found that dealers were marking up interest rates on loans to minority buyers between 2011 and 2016. Under the settlement, Toyota will cap the amount dealers can mark up a loan. Toyota Motor Credit is the nation's largest captive auto lender. The company denies wrongdoing and said it didn't know the race of credit applicants, but agreed to the settlement because it was fair to customers and dealers. Toyota is the latest auto lender to settle a discrimination case. Ally Financial and Honda's U.S. finance arm have reached similar settlements. Published: Thu, Feb 04, 2016