WASHINGTON – Responding to the findings of a newly released survey of a major auto lender – this one of Primus Automotive Financial Services Inc. and Primus Financial Services, a division of Ford Motor Credit Corp. – that focused on discriminatory auto loan markups, the Consumer Federation of America called on the company and its dealers to end undisclosed lending practices the CFA says discriminate against African-American car buyers. The report, prepared by Dr. Mark Cohen of Vanderbilt University is the fifth report of a major auto lender in four years to demonstrate that the undisclosed dealer finance markup charges ("subjective markup") lead to significant consumer cost as well as to disparities against African-Americans and Hispanics. The report found that African-American borrowers consistently paid higher finance markup charges on average than White customers when they financed their cars at dealerships through Primus – 61.8% of African-American Primus borrowers were charged a markup, compared to 41.1% of White borrowers. In addition, African-American borrowers on average were charged 1.8 times the amount in subjective markup compared to Whites. Other findings showed: * Disparities in lending to Hispanic borrowers are also prevalent. 40.2% of White borrowers were charged a subjective markup, compared to 57.9% of Hispanic borrowers and 62.8% of African-American borrowers. The average markup for Hispanic borrowers is $715 compared to $464 for White borrowers. * The more than 219,000 Primus borrowers who were identified as either being African-American or White were charged a total of $118 million in subjective markup. Of that total, $30.9 million or 26.1% was charged to African-Americans who make up only 16.3% of the customer base. * 3,198 Primus customers in the race-coded sample were charged more than $3,000 in subjective markup. * While African-Americans make up 16.3% of Primus race-coded customers, they make up 32.1% of those in the top 1% of markup dollars.