Borrowers whose vehicles Prestige Financial Services repossessed, and who were sent a pre-sale or post-sale notice by Prestige within their state’s limitations period, are in line for automatic checks from the $6.5 million Prestige Financial Services repossession class action settlement, plus a $2,000 cut to any deficiency balance; there is no claim form to file. The final approval hearing is set for January 7, 2027.
Current Status
There is no claim form: payments are automatic. The Circuit Court of Lafayette County, Missouri, granted preliminary approval on October 22, 2026, and the final approval hearing is set for January 7, 2027, at 1:30 p.m. No final approval order or payment date had been announced as of November 6, 2026. The deadline to opt out is December 17, 2026 (postmark), and objections are due 14 days before the hearing, by December 24, 2026.Free settlement alerts
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What Changed Recently?
Judge Dennis A. Rolf preliminarily approved the settlement of Prestige Financial Services, Inc. v. Donald Mansell, et al., Case No. 23LF-CV00623-01, on October 22, 2026, and approved the email and long-form notices that are now going out to class members. The parties reached a settlement in principle at an August 31, 2026 mediation and signed the full agreement on October 9, 2026.The case began the other way around. Prestige sued a borrower in June 2023 to collect the balance it said was still owed on a retail installment contract after it repossessed and sold his vehicle. The borrower answered with a counterclaim alleging that the notices Prestige sent after the repossession and sale did not meet the form and content requirements of the Uniform Commercial Code, and that he and other borrowers owe Prestige nothing. The court later certified the counterclaim as a class action under Missouri Rule 52.08. Prestige denied the claims and asserted defenses; the class representative argued the class could recover 10% of the Amount Financed plus the Finance Charge on each contract, while Prestige argued the class was entitled to nothing. The settlement resolves the dispute without any finding that Prestige did anything wrong.
Who Qualifies?
The class covers people who were U.S. residents when they received a pre-sale and/or post-sale notice from Prestige Financial Services within the statute of limitations that applies in their state, as the court set out in its June 2, 2026 order. These are the notices a lender sends after repossessing a financed vehicle, before and after it is sold. In a March 2, 2026 order, the court recorded the parties’ agreement that the class runs through July 18, 2025, the date of the amended class certification order.The class excludes:
- People against whom Prestige has obtained a final deficiency judgment.
- People who filed for bankruptcy after the date on their pre-sale notice and had the debt discharged (a bankruptcy that was dismissed does not exclude anyone).
- People sent pre-sale notices on the templates Bates-labeled PF 0003171, 3175, 3469, 3230, 3253 and 3490.
- People whose only notices were mailed on dates for which the Uniform Commercial Code limitations period would have run out by September 21, 2023.
- People who lived in North Dakota when Prestige sent them the notice.
How Much Can You Get?
The settlement has three parts.Cash. Prestige will fund a $6.5 million Cash Fund. Court-approved attorneys’ fees, litigation expenses, notice and administration costs and the class representative’s service award come out first, and the rest is split pro rata. Each class member’s share is 10% of the Amount Financed on their finance agreement plus the Finance Charge, measured against the same total for the whole class. A longer, larger loan means a larger check. No average or per-person estimate has been published, and the actual amount depends on the size of the class and the deductions the court approves. Payments to co-borrowers are split equally, with a separate check to each.
Deficiency write-off. Prestige will subtract $2,000 from the deficiency balance it claims each class member owes after the sale of the vehicle. Balances of $2,000 or less are wiped out, the accounts are closed, and Prestige will stop collecting on them. Prestige estimates the write-off is worth about $43.2 million across the class. A balance above $2,000 is reduced by $2,000, not erased.
Credit reporting. For accounts with a deficiency balance of $2,000 or less, Prestige will stop reporting any amount owed and, within 60 days after the settlement takes effect, ask Equifax, Experian, TransUnion and Innovis to delete the deficiency balance information.
Class Counsel will ask for attorneys’ fees of no more than 15% of the total settlement benefits, which the agreement measures as the Cash Fund plus the estimated write-off, along with up to $90,000 in expenses. The class representative may request a service award of up to $50,000. The court decides all three at the final approval hearing.
What Proof or Notice ID Is Required?
None. There is no claim form, and payments are mailed to class members identified from Prestige’s records. The official website asks for the Notice ID and PIN printed on the notice only for account requests such as an address update or a name change. Those requests do not decide whether a class member is paid.What Is the Deadline?
There is no claim deadline. The dates that matter are for class members who want out of the settlement or want to oppose it:- December 17, 2026: Exclusion (opt-out) requests must be postmarked by this date. Exclusion is by mailed letter only, signed by every borrower on the finance agreement.
- December 24, 2026: Written objections must be postmarked 14 days before the hearing and sent to the court, Class Counsel and Prestige’s counsel. A class member may instead appear in person at the hearing to object.
- January 7, 2027, 1:30 p.m.: Final approval hearing at the Lafayette County courthouse in Lexington, Missouri.
How Do You Take Action?
Class members who stay in the settlement do not need to file anything to receive a check and the write-off. The official settlement website carries the long-form notice, the settlement agreement and the court documents, and handles address updates, name changes and deceased class member requests. The required contents of an exclusion letter or objection, and where to mail them, are listed in the notice embedded below.Staying in the class means giving up the right to sue Prestige separately over the pre-sale and post-sale notices this case is about, or to raise similar defenses. A class member who opts out gets no check and no write-off but keeps those rights. Only class members who stay in can object.
What Happens Next?
Judge Rolf will decide at the January 7, 2027 hearing whether to grant final approval and how much to award in fees, expenses and the service award. The court can move the hearing without further notice. If the settlement is approved and the approval becomes final after any appeals, the agreement calls for Prestige to fund the cash within 12 business days and for the administrator, American Legal Claim Services, to mail checks within 30 days after that effective date. No payment date had been announced as of November 6, 2026.Sources and Verification
- Official settlement website — Prestige Notice Class
- Long-form class notice (PDF)
- Preliminary Approval Order, Prestige Financial Services, Inc. v. Mansell, No. 23LF-CV00623-01 (Cir. Ct. Lafayette Cnty., Mo. Oct. 22, 2026)
- Class Action Settlement Agreement and Release, dated October 9, 2026
- Order approving American Legal Claim Services as class administrator and the form of class notice (Mar. 2, 2026)
Questions
Does a borrower with a deficiency balance over $2,000 still owe Prestige money?
Yes, in part. The settlement subtracts $2,000 from each class member’s deficiency balance. A balance of $2,000 or less is wiped out entirely and the account is closed; a larger balance is reduced by $2,000, and Prestige may still try to collect the rest. Under the settlement agreement, class members with a remaining balance give up affirmative damages claims but keep their other defenses to that balance, except a defense based on the bankruptcy disclosure language in Prestige’s notices.
How is each class member’s check calculated?
The settlement agreement splits the net cash fund pro rata. Each class member’s share is 10% of the Amount Financed on their finance agreement plus the Finance Charge on that agreement, divided by the same figure added up across the whole class. Larger loans with larger finance charges receive larger checks. No per-person estimate has been published.
What happens when two people signed the same finance agreement?
The payment for that agreement is split equally between the co-borrowers, and each co-borrower gets a separate check mailed to the last known address. An exclusion request for that agreement must be signed by every borrower on it, unless a co-borrower has died, in which case a copy of the death certificate goes with the request.
Will the settlement remove the Prestige account from credit reports?
For class members whose deficiency balance was $2,000 or less, Prestige will stop reporting any amount owed and, within 60 days after the settlement takes effect, ask Equifax, Experian, TransUnion and Innovis to delete the deficiency balance information. The agreement leaves it to each class member to check their own credit reports afterward.
What happens to checks that are never cashed?
First-round checks are void 90 days after the settlement takes effect, and reissued checks are void after 180 days. Money left in the fund after that goes to the National Consumers League as a cy pres distribution rather than back to Prestige.
