That $58 monthly saving comes mostly from the 55% residual, and you own no equity when the lease ends.
The saving holds only if you return the car on the contract's terms. Of 1,944 CFPB complaints about ending a car lease, most were about mileage, damage or wear charges billed after the car went back, and only 16.3% ended with relief for the borrower. Before you sign, check the mileage cap and the early-termination terms.
What borrowers reported to the CFPB about ending a car lease
Lenders named most (25)
| Lender | Complaints | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Hyundai Capital America | 278 | 14% |
| General Motors Financial Company, Inc. | 233 | 12% |
| Ally Financial Inc. | 209 | 11% |
| Toyota Motor Credit Corporation | 152 | 8% |
| Nissan Motor Acceptance Company LLC | 117 | 6% |
| JPMorgan Chase & Co. | 106 | 5% |
| VW Credit | 103 | 5% |
| BMW Financial Services NA, LLC | 95 | 5% |
| American Honda Finance Corp | 85 | 4% |
| Santander Holdings USA, Inc. | 76 | 4% |
| Mercedes Benz Financial Services | 73 | 4% |
| U.S. Bancorp | 61 | 3% |
| Ford Motor Credit Co. | 51 | 3% |
| Tesla, Inc. | 49 | 3% |
| Volvo Car Financial Services U.S., LLC | 45 | 2% |
| Santander Consumer USA Holdings Inc. | 38 | 2% |
| World Omni Financial Corp. | 25 | 1% |
| Westlake Services, LLC | 13 | 1% |
| Credit Acceptance Corporation | 12 | 1% |
| Stellantis Financial Services US Corp. | 11 | 1% |
| Fusion Auto Finance | 9 | 0.5% |
| Porsche Financial Services, Inc. | 8 | 0.4% |
| Auto Trakk, LLC | 7 | 0.4% |
| Fourleaf Federal Credit Union | 5 | 0.3% |
| Bank Of America, National Association | 3 | 0.2% |
Full dataset: complaints by year and by state
Complaints by year received
Complaints by state
| State | Complaints |
|---|---|
| CA | 382 |
| NY | 219 |
| FL | 208 |
| NJ | 141 |
| MI | 108 |
| TX | 99 |
| PA | 78 |
| VA | 71 |
| MA | 67 |
| OH | 62 |
| CT | 42 |
| GA | 35 |
| WA | 35 |
| IL | 29 |
| NC | 26 |
Source: CFPB Consumer Complaint Database (full file), product "Vehicle loan or lease", data through 2026-09-24. Complaints are not a random sample and are not adjusted for each lender's size; a complaint count is not a measure of how a lender treats most customers.
What banks charge for a new-car loan: Federal Reserve rates since 2015
Worked example: this calculator's default buy option: $32,000 price, $3,000 down, 60-month loan
| This page's loan | At 5.05% (2021) vs 7.14% (2026) |
|---|---|
| Monthly payment on $29,000 over 60 months | $548 vs $576 $28 more a month |
| Total interest over the loan | $3,876 vs $5,569 $1,693 more over the loan |
Other loan terms the Fed publishes (latest vs five years earlier)
| Series | Latest | Five years earlier |
|---|---|---|
| New-car loan rate, 48 months, commercial banks | 7.47% (2026-05-31) | 5.28% (2021-05-31) |
| New-car loan rate, 72 months, commercial banks | 6.97% (2026-05-31) | 4.77% (2021-05-31) |
| New-car loan rate, finance companies | 6.31% (2026-06-30) | 4.86% (2021-06-30) |
| Average maturity, new-car loans, finance companies | 66.8 mo (2026-06-30) | 67.4 mo (2021-06-30) |
| Average amount financed, new-car loans, finance companies | $41,705 (2026-06-30) | $33,915 (2021-06-30) |
Source: Federal Reserve G.19 Consumer Credit, Terms of Credit (data download), not seasonally adjusted, retrieved 2026-09-26. Payments are our calculation with the standard amortization formula, payment = P × r ÷ (1 − (1 + r)^−n), r = rate ÷ 12. Bank averages are not a quote; your rate depends on credit score, lender and the car.
Early lease exits drew 894 lease vs buy complaints, which a loan buyer avoids
Borrowers filed 894 CFPB complaints about termination fees or other problems when ending a lease early. That is 46% of the lease-ending complaints.
If a job move, a growing family or a money change could cut your plans short within the lease term, count that risk against the lease option before you trust the monthly gap.
Lease-end complaints hit 303 in 2026 before October, the highest yearly count in the lease vs buy data
CFPB lease-ending complaints fell to 105 in 2022, then climbed each year: 127 in 2023, 178 in 2024 and 256 in 2025. The 2026 count reached 303 by September 24, already above any full year on record, including 2020's 235.
Anyone signing a lease now will return the car into this rising volume of disputes over fees and termination charges.
Hyundai Capital America leads car lease-end complaint counts at 278, ahead of GM Financial at 233
Among lenders named in lease-ending complaints, borrowers cited Hyundai Capital America 278 times, General Motors Financial 233 times and Ally Financial 209 times. Toyota Motor Credit (152) and Nissan Motor Acceptance (117) follow. These counts are not adjusted for how many leases each company writes.
If your lease quote comes from one of these captive lenders, read that lender's excess-wear and early-termination terms closely before comparing it to the loan payment.
Only 9.7% of lease-ending complaints closed with money back, so a lease-return bill tends to stick
Of the 1,944 complaints, 82.9% closed with an explanation and no relief. Monetary relief came in 188 cases and non-monetary relief in 128, for a combined relief share of 16.3%. Lenders responded on time to 98.5% of complaints, so a slow response is not the usual problem. Most get a reply that leaves the charge in place.
In practice, the fees borrowers dispute at lease end mostly end up being paid. Treat possible return fees as part of the lease's real cost, not as something a complaint will undo.
The $58 monthly lease saving has no equity behind it at the 55% residual
At a $32,000 price, $3,000 down, a 36-month lease at a 0.0022 money factor and a 55% residual, the calculator shows $509/mo to lease against $567/mo on a 60-month loan at 6.5% APR.
The two largest groups of borrower complaints, post-return fees and early-exit charges, both land at the end of the lease, right where the loan buyer instead holds a car worth selling or keeping.
Frequently asked questions
When to lease vs buy a car?
Borrowers filed 894 CFPB complaints about termination fees or other problems when ending a lease early, 46% of the lease-ending complaints. A loan buyer avoids these charges. If a job move, a growing family or a change in money could cut your plans short within the lease term, count that risk against the lease.
Sources
What is our own estimate
The price range comes from our calculator's formula. Its parts prices, labor hours per job and shop-rate tiers are CalcScrape estimates, not a published price dataset. Methodology