Atlanticus to Sell CAR Auto Finance in $71.2 Million Deal
The consumer-loan servicer said cash from the sale will reduce debt and fund higher-growth consumer-credit products.
Atlanticus Holdings Corporation (ATLC) agreed to sell its CAR Auto Finance operations for approximately $71.2 million in a mixed cash-and-stock transaction, a move that would strengthen its balance sheet and let it concentrate capital on consumer credit products.
The sale removes the auto-finance book from Atlanticus’ product mix. Through that subsidiary, the company had served automotive dealers and non-prime auto lenders with financing and servicing programs. Management framed the exit as a reallocation of resources rather than a contraction of the core franchise: cash proceeds are earmarked to reduce debt and invest in higher-growth product lines.
Jeff Howard, President and Chief Executive Officer of Atlanticus, said: “CAR has been a valuable part of Atlanticus for many years, and I want to thank the entire CAR team for their many contributions to our success. The transaction strengthens our balance sheet and allows us to concentrate our capital and management resources on the consumer credit products where we see the greatest opportunities for long-term value creation and growth.”
The remaining platform is built around retail and healthcare private-label credit and general-purpose credit cards, marketed through an omnichannel network that includes retail point-of-sale, healthcare point-of-care, direct mail, internet marketing, and third-party partnerships. The infrastructure services more than 20 million customers and $44 billion in consumer loans over more than 25 years.
That consumer-credit stack is the one the company has been expanding. In September 2025, Atlanticus acquired Mercury Financial LLC, adding 1.3 million credit-card accounts and $3.2 billion of credit card receivables and lifting total serviced accounts above 5 million and managed receivables above $6 billion. The Mercury purchase was for about $162 million in cash, with possible earn-outs if portfolio credit performance exceeded base-case assumptions. In October 2025, it also bought PROG Holdings’ Vive credit-card receivables portfolio for about $150 million in cash, taking roughly $165 million of receivables.
The CAR sale sits against that same logic of trimming non-core auto exposure and feeding cash into the card and private-label franchise. The company sees “the greatest opportunities for long-term value creation and growth” in consumer credit products, which is why the auto book is leaving the mix.
The transaction is structured as mixed consideration, with the $71.2 million figure covering the CAR Auto Finance operations as a whole. Atlanticus will use the proceeds to pay down debt and fund the higher-growth consumer-credit lines that already include Mercury’s near-prime card programs and the Vive receivables it acquired from PROG Holdings.