DriveTime Credit Report Errors & Repossessions

Who is DriveTime — and why is it on my credit report?

DriveTime Automotive Group is one of the largest “buy-here, pay-here” used-car dealer chains in the country, selling and financing vehicles for people with damaged or limited credit through dealerships across the United States. Unlike a traditional dealership, DriveTime historically financed its own sales — so DriveTime or its financing affiliate can appear on your credit report as the lender on your auto loan, reporting your balance, your payment history, and, if things go wrong, a repossession or charge-off. Today, loans originated through DriveTime are generally serviced by its affiliate Bridgecrest.

If a DriveTime tradeline on your Equifax, Experian, or TransUnion report shows late payments you did not miss, a balance you do not owe, a repossession that is reported inaccurately, or an account that is not yours at all, federal law gives you the right to dispute it — and to sue if it is not corrected.

DriveTime’s track record: the CFPB’s first buy-here-pay-here action

In November 2014, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ordered DriveTime to pay an $8 million civil penalty — the Bureau’s first enforcement action against a buy-here, pay-here dealer. The CFPB found that DriveTime harassed borrowers with collection calls at work, called borrowers’ references, and kept calling after being told to stop — and, most relevant to your credit report, that it provided inaccurate repossession and payment information to the credit bureaus and failed to properly investigate consumer disputes about that information. The order required DriveTime to correct its credit reporting practices and arrange free credit reports for harmed consumers.

How a DriveTime account can hurt your credit

A subprime auto tradeline is heavy ammunition on a credit report. A reported repossession, charge-off, or string of late payments from DriveTime can depress your scores for years, raise the price of your next loan, and even surface in tenant and employment screening. The problems consumers most often report: payments posted late or not at all; balances that do not reflect insurance payouts or auction proceeds after a repossession; inflated or unexplained deficiency balances; accounts still reported open after payoff; and mixed-file errors where someone else’s DriveTime loan lands on your report. On a credit report the account commonly appears under names like DRIVETIME or DT CREDIT.

Is the DriveTime account even yours?

Identity thieves use stolen information to finance cars, and credit bureaus sometimes mix the files of people with similar names or Social Security numbers. If you never bought a car from DriveTime — or the account details do not match any loan you signed — you may be looking at identity theft or a mixed credit file, not a billing problem. Do not pay it. Dispute it with the credit bureaus using our free credit dispute letter, and if you suspect fraud, create an FTC Identity Theft Report at IdentityTheft.gov and submit it together with your dispute.

Your FCRA rights when DriveTime reports inaccurate information

As a furnisher of credit information, DriveTime must report accurately and must conduct a reasonable investigation when you dispute through the bureaus (15 U.S.C. § 1681s-2). The bureaus, in turn, must reasonably verify what DriveTime tells them. When a disputed error is “verified” anyway and comes back wrong, the Fair Credit Reporting Act lets you sue for actual damages, statutory damages, punitive damages in willful cases, and attorney’s fees.

How to dispute a DriveTime tradeline — free, step by step

1. Pull all three of your reports at AnnualCreditReport.com. 2. Dispute in writing with each bureau reporting the error using our free credit dispute letter template, and include your documents. 3. If a collection agency or debt buyer is involved, send a debt validation letter and get validation documents before paying anyone or creating any online payment account — portal terms and conditions can bind you to arbitration, and one can never be sure. 4. The bureau has 30 days to investigate. 5. If the error is “verified” and stays on your report, that is when the law starts paying you — talk to us; the consultation is free.

Where to send a written dispute to DriveTime

DriveTime’s corporate headquarters is commonly listed as 1720 W. Rio Salado Parkway, Tempe, AZ 85281. Confirm the current customer or dispute mailing address on your statement or at drivetime.com before mailing, and send everything certified mail with a copy of your supporting documents — never originals.

How The Kim Law Firm helps with a DriveTime problem

We sue furnishers and credit bureaus that report false information and refuse to fix it — including wrongful or inaccurate repossession reporting, deficiency balances that ignore auction proceeds or insurance payouts, accounts reported open after payoff, and DriveTime accounts created by identity theft. We handle the dispute record, the litigation, and the damages claim under the FCRA.

You pay no fee unless we recover for you.

Frequently asked questions

Is DriveTime the same as Bridgecrest?

They are affiliated companies: DriveTime sells and finances vehicles, and Bridgecrest services the loans — collecting payments and reporting to the credit bureaus. If your statements come from Bridgecrest, start with our Bridgecrest page.

How long does a DriveTime repossession stay on my credit report?

Generally up to seven years from the original delinquency, like most negative items. But it must be reported accurately for that entire period — a repossession with wrong dates, a wrong balance, or missing auction credit is disputable at any time.

Can I remove a DriveTime account that isn’t mine?

Yes. Dispute it with each bureau using our credit dispute letter, and if it stems from fraud, attach an FTC Identity Theft Report from IdentityTheft.gov — the bureaus must block information resulting from identity theft. If it comes back “verified,” our identity theft attorneys can take it from there.

DriveTime says I still owe money after my car was repossessed and sold. Is that legal?

Deficiency balances are common after a repossession, but they must be accurate: the sale proceeds must be credited, and the reported balance must match what you actually owe under your contract and state law. Inflated or unexplained deficiencies are worth disputing — in writing, with a debt validation letter if a collector is involved.

Does disputing a DriveTime error hurt my credit?

No. Filing a dispute does not lower your score. The risk runs the other way — leaving a false late payment or repossession unchallenged costs you points every month it stays.

Where we practice, and what to do if you are somewhere else

The Kim Law Firm is licensed in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and that is where we handle matters directly.

The Fair Credit Reporting Act is a federal statute. It applies the same way in every state, it is enforced in federal court, and the deadlines and remedies do not change when you cross a state line. So the answer to "does this apply to me in Ohio" is yes — but the answer to "can you represent me in Ohio" depends on the case and on where it would be filed.

If you are outside Pennsylvania and New Jersey, contact us anyway. Some matters can be handled from here. Some are better sent to a consumer lawyer admitted where you are, and we will tell you that plainly rather than let a deadline run while you wait. Either way you will get an answer, and the review costs nothing.

The one thing that does not wait is the clock. A claim under the Act generally must be brought within two years of the date you discover the violation, and in no event more than five years after the violation occurred. Finding out late does not extend the outside limit.