How does Truist use AI in auto finance?
Truist's disclosed record on AI in auto finance is thin, and in 2026 the bank shrank the businesses it would apply to. Three statements carry it. In winter 2023 its Truist Dealer Insider newsletter said two-thirds of Truist's auto loan applications were 'auto-decisioned' and that its e-verification combined authentication platforms and data sources. The 2025 10-K says Truist uses 'application systems and scoring systems' to underwrite and manage credit risk in indirect auto, and that its models, including AI models, are used for pricing, grading loans and extending credit. The 2025 annual report says AI-enabled underwriting at LightStream, its online unsecured lender, which also marketed loans for vehicle purchases, 'increased automated decisioning and improved credit outcomes'. Indirect auto loans were $25,659 million at December 31, 2025, 8% of loans held for investment. Then came the retreat. In the second quarter of 2026 Truist significantly reduced prime and nonprime indirect auto originations. On September 15, 2026 it agreed to sell $5.5 billion of Regional Acceptance near-prime auto loans, a sale completed in the third quarter (Bloomberg named Apollo as the buyer). On October 14, 2026 it agreed to sell $7.7 billion of LightStream loans to Carlyle. Truist has not named an auto underwriting model or vendor, published auto approval or fraud metrics, or released fairness testing of its auto models.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]
Data as of Oct 21, 2026 · Truist profile updated Oct 21, 2026 · 16 sources cited on this page · 140 banks profiled on this site · Markdown
What has Truist said about AI, automation and analytics in auto lending?
Every statement Truist has published on technology in its auto and auto-adjacent lending, oldest first. Only the 2025 annual report uses the words 'AI-enabled'.
| Date | Item | What it says | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| December 8, 2021 | AutoFi partnership | Truist Dealer Finance and Regional Acceptance join the AutoFi commerce platform: shoppers at partner dealers submit an online credit application and see Truist's offer next to several competitors in real time; almost 1,000 Truist and Regional Acceptance dealer relationships already used AutoFi | Truist release[9] |
| Winter 2023 | Auto-decisioning | 'Two-thirds of Truist's auto loan applications are "auto-decisioned"'; Truist is working with dealer financing platforms to make automated conditional approvals available | Truist Dealer Insider[1] |
| Winter 2023 | E-verification and e-contracting | E-verification 'combines advanced authentication platforms, data sources, and an ever-increasing number of technologies' to validate applications; e-contracting offered for prime borrowers, with non-prime planned for 2023 | Truist Dealer Insider[1] |
| February 24, 2026 | Indirect auto underwriting | 'In addition to its normal underwriting due diligence, Truist uses application systems and scoring systems to help underwrite and manage the credit risk in its indirect auto portfolio' | 2025 10-K[2] |
| February 24, 2026 | Models, including AI models | Models, including AI models, are used for pricing, grading loans and extending credit; poorly designed or used models 'have in the past and may in the future' hurt results | 2025 10-K risk factor[2] |
| March 2026 | LightStream underwriting | 'AI-enabled underwriting at LightStream has increased automated decisioning and improved credit outcomes'; LightStream integrated into the Truist mobile app, website and branch account opening | 2025 annual report[3] |
How large is Truist's auto lending, and what did it decide in 2026?
Figures as each source states them. The non-performing figures come from different sources and dates and are not directly comparable.
| Metric or decision | Value | As of | Who said it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Indirect auto loans held for investment | $25,659 million (December 31, 2024: $23,089 million); up $2.6 billion in 2025 'primarily due to higher production' | December 31, 2025 | 2025 10-K[2] |
| Indirect auto share of loans | 8% of $329 billion period-end loans held for investment | December 31, 2025 | 2025 annual report[3] |
| Non-performing indirect auto loans | $267 million (December 31, 2024: $259 million) | December 31, 2025 | 2025 10-K[2] |
| Indirect auto production cut | Marine/RV originations stopped; marine/RV and indirect auto production expected to fall 40% from the prior year; auto lending 'roughly $25 billion' | July 17, 2026 | CFO Mike Maguire, Q2 2026 call, per American Banker[5] |
| Non-performing indirect auto loans | $569 million in the second quarter, about one-third of total non-accruing assets | Q2 2026 | American Banker[10] |
| Regional Acceptance (RAC) sale agreed | $5.5 billion of auto loans, substantially all RAC assets; $5.2 billion net proceeds; $535 million reserve recapture; RAC pre-tax earnings 'approximately breakeven' in the first half of 2026 | September 15, 2026 | Truist 8-K[6][11] |
| RAC buyer | Apollo Global Management | September 15, 2026 | Bloomberg (the filing did not name the buyer)[8] |
| After the RAC sale | Average indirect auto loans $21,406 million in Q3 2026 vs $24,430 million in Q2 (down 12.4%); NCO ratio 77 basis points including 39 related to RAC | Q3 2026 | Truist earnings release; American Banker[7][12] |
| LightStream sale agreed | $7.7 billion of unsecured consumer loans, substantially all LightStream assets, to Carlyle; expected $7.2 billion net proceeds | October 14, 2026 | Truist earnings release and Q3 call[7][13] |
Why is Truist leaving parts of auto lending, and what has it not disclosed about AI there?
The exits are strategy and credit, not technology. CFO Mike Maguire called Regional Acceptance 'a loan-only, loan-first national business' with little chance of a wider relationship, and cited its concentration of non-performing loans and charge-offs. CEO Mike Lyons, in the job since September 1, 2026, described both RAC and LightStream as nationally focused standalone lenders that did not fit a strategy built around core deposit relationships.[10][11][13]
LightStream originated fixed-rate unsecured loans to consumers with strong credit, per the 10-K. CNBC Select reports that it marketed loans for vehicle financing among other purposes, stopped taking applications after the sale and that, according to a Truist spokesperson, 'the LightStream origination platform will be retired'. The AI-enabled underwriting the annual report credits leaves Truist's origination business with it.[2][4][3]
Sheffield Financial, often grouped with Truist's point-of-sale lenders, is described in the 10-K as 'a small ticket consumer lending division related to the purchase of power sports and outdoor power equipment', not automobiles. Truist has not described AI use at Sheffield.[2]
AI stays on the agenda at enterprise level: Lyons listed 'technology and artificial intelligence capabilities' among the areas Truist will invest in on the Q3 2026 call. He did not tie it to auto lending. The 2026 sales covered RAC and LightStream; the prime indirect auto lending through franchised and independent dealers that the 10-K describes was not among them.[13][2]
Not on the record: the vendor, model type or data behind indirect auto scoring or LightStream's AI underwriting; any auto approval-rate, fraud-loss or servicing metric attributed to AI; fair-lending or disparate-impact testing of auto models; and any AI fraud tool offered to dealers. The 10-K lists the Equal Credit Opportunity Act among the consumer laws Truist is subject to and its AI program is based on the NIST AI Risk Management Framework, but neither document addresses auto models specifically.[2][3][14]
What does the Truist profile record on this topic?
The rows below are the entries of the Truist AI strategy profile that bear on this page, as of Oct 21, 2026; the profile holds the full record of 39 dated moves, 16 use cases and 43 sources.
| Use case | What the record shows | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wholesale underwriting and adviser analytics | AI and predictive analytics to speed underwriting, scale lead generation in payments and wealth, and improve adviser productivity. | In production | [15][16] |
| Indirect auto auto-decisioning and scoring systems | Application and scoring systems underwrite indirect auto loans from dealers; two-thirds of auto applications were auto-decisioned in 2023. Truist has not named the models or vendors or said whether they use machine learning. | In production | [1][2] |
| Date | Move | Detail | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 15, 2026 | Exit from near-prime auto: Regional Acceptance loans sold | An 8-K discloses Truist's decision to exit near-prime auto lending and an agreement to sell $5.5 billion of auto loans, substantially all of Regional Acceptance's assets, for $5.2 billion of net proceeds. | [6] |
| Apr 17, 2026 | Q1 2026: AI called 'a real operating lever'; 'AI in action' metrics | Rogers describes AI across consumer banking and wholesale underwriting, lead generation and adviser productivity; the deck reports 3.4 million gen-AI call summaries in the quarter and 12.5 million-plus Truist Assist requests since 2023. | [15][16] |
| Feb 24, 2026 | 2025 10-K: scoring systems underwrite indirect auto | Truist says it uses 'application systems and scoring systems' to help underwrite and manage credit risk in its indirect auto portfolio; a separate, firm-wide risk factor says its models, including AI models, are used for pricing, grading loans and extending credit, without tying AI to auto. | [2] |
| Jan 31, 2023 | Two-thirds of auto applications 'auto-decisioned' | The Truist Dealer Insider newsletter (Winter 2023) says two-thirds of Truist's auto loan applications are 'auto-decisioned', that e-verification combines authentication platforms and data sources to validate applications, and that Truist is working with dealer financing platforms on automated conditional approvals; it does not call the decisioning AI. | [1] |
Does Truist use AI to underwrite auto loans?
Partly, by its own account. The 2025 10-K says Truist uses 'application systems and scoring systems' to underwrite and manage credit risk in indirect auto, and that its models, including AI models, are used for grading loans and extending credit. A 2023 Truist dealer newsletter said two-thirds of auto applications were auto-decisioned. The only explicit 'AI-enabled underwriting' claim, in the 2025 annual report, concerns LightStream, the online unsecured lender Truist agreed to sell in October 2026. Truist has not named the models or vendors involved.
What happened to Regional Acceptance Corporation?
On September 15, 2026 Truist disclosed an agreement to sell $5.5 billion of auto loans, substantially all the assets of Regional Acceptance, its near-prime auto lending subsidiary, and exit near-prime auto lending. The 8-K put net proceeds at $5.2 billion with a $535 million reserve recapture, and said RAC was roughly breakeven pre-tax in the first half of 2026. Bloomberg reported the buyer as Apollo. The sale closed in the third quarter of 2026, and Truist used the proceeds to repay wholesale borrowings.
Is LightStream an auto lender, and what happened to it?
LightStream made fixed-rate unsecured loans to borrowers with strong credit, which it marketed for purposes including vehicle financing, per the 10-K and CNBC Select. It was not a secured auto lender. The 2025 annual report credits AI-enabled underwriting there with more automated decisioning and better credit outcomes. On October 14, 2026 Truist agreed to sell $7.7 billion of LightStream loans to Carlyle, and a spokesperson said the origination platform will be retired.
How big is Truist's indirect auto portfolio?
Indirect auto loans held for investment were $25,659 million at December 31, 2025, up from $23,089 million a year earlier, and made up 8% of loans. In July 2026 the CFO put auto lending at roughly $25 billion and said production would fall about 40% from the prior year. After the Regional Acceptance sale, average indirect auto loans were $21,406 million in the third quarter of 2026, down 12.4% from the second quarter.
Has Truist published fairness testing of its auto lending models?
No. Truist's 10-K carries a general model-risk factor that covers AI models used for pricing, grading loans and extending credit, and lists the Equal Credit Opportunity Act among the consumer laws it is subject to. Its AI program is based on the NIST AI Risk Management Framework. None of the documents reviewed for this page reports fair-lending or disparate-impact testing of auto underwriting models, or a regulatory action tied to AI in its auto business.
- Truist Dealer Insider, Volume 6, Winter 2023 (automation in consumer auto financing)
- Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025
- Truist 2025 Annual Report
- LightStream stops accepting loan applications. Try these 6 lenders instead
- Truist culls some consumer loans, cites long-term strategy
- Form 8-K: Strategic decision to exit near-prime auto lending business (Exhibit 99.1)
- Truist reports third quarter 2026 results (earnings release)
- Apollo Buys $5.5 Billion of Truist's Near-Prime Car Loans
- Truist announces partnership with commerce platform company AutoFi
- Under new CEO, Truist is exiting near-prime auto lending
- Truist to exit near-prime auto lending, sell $5.5B in loans
- Truist's new CEO begins makeover with consumer business
- What Truist Financial (TFC) Said on Its Q3 Earnings Call
- Truist Financial Corporation 2026 Proxy Statement (Schedule 14A)
- Truist (TFC) Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript
- Exhibit 99.3: First quarter 2026 earnings presentation (Form 8-K)
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