Credit Acceptance advertised its customer base as “credit challenged Americans” who deserve “trust and respect”—and, of course, loans—“regardless of their credit history.” Yet its business model seemed to depend on those customers’ failure to pay. Sure enough, just a few months into the contract, Traylor started to fall behind, missing due dates and incurring late fees. One day, while she was parking, a vehicle rammed into her car. She wasn’t injured, but the Optima was totalled and towed away. She received no insurance money, and Credit Acceptance kept billing her. “The only thing I got in the mail was what I owed them,” she said. She stopped making payments altogether.journey-inline-newsletterinline-newsletter