More than 200 workers at a Truist Financial auto lending office in Arlington are losing their jobs after the Charlotte-based bank decided to exit the near-prime auto loan business entirely. Regional Acceptance Corporation, Truist's auto finance subsidiary, notified the Texas Workforce Commission that it is closing its southeast Arlington office and laying off 205 full-time employees. The cuts stem from Truist's agreement to sell a $5.5 billion portfolio of near-prime auto loans, a move the bank announced this week.
The Arlington employees work at Regional Acceptance's location at 1351 East Bardin Road, according to Brian Davis, who said staff there are directly affected by the asset sale, as reported by The Dallas Morning News. Regional Acceptance, which is based in Greenville, North Carolina, and also maintains a business center in Plano, will end operations at the Arlington site once the loan sale is finalized. Truist says it will offer affected employees consideration for other roles within the company, severance benefits, and job search assistance.
Arlington workers are expected to begin losing their jobs in late November, with Regional Acceptance employees expected to be fully out of the site by the end of February. The affected staff are nonunionized, meaning federal WARN Act notice requirements, which require 60 days' written notice for a mass layoff affecting 500 or more employees, govern how the closure must be communicated, according to Tully Rinckey PLLC.
The Math Behind Truist's Exit
Truist has not disclosed the buyer of its $5.5 billion near-prime loan portfolio. Truist projects the sale will generate $5.2 billion in net proceeds, recapture $535 million in loan-loss reserves, and add $945 million in Common Equity Tier 1 capital, according to Banking Dive. The bank also plans to pair the sale with a repositioning of its available-for-sale securities portfolio.
Speaking at a September investor conference, Truist CFO Mike Maguire explained why the unit made sense to shed: Regional Acceptance's auto loans generated yields around 12%, but those returns were largely eaten up by 4% funding costs and 7% to 8% credit loss rates, leaving the business roughly breakeven pre-tax in early 2026. That math, detailed by MarketBeat, left little room to build the kind of broader, multi-product customer relationships Truist says it now wants to prioritize. Maguire said the bank will focus on fewer things that leverage its strengths.
Truist estimates the sale will reduce total non-performing loans and lower annual net charge-offs by about 10 basis points, roughly a 20% cut to its overall charge-off ratio, per PYMNTS.com. Truist has said the move is aimed at improving its overall credit risk profile after dropping a business sector that had recently been breaking even.
Part of a Longer Retreat From Consumer Lending
The Arlington closure caps a broader pullback that began earlier this year. Truist completely shut down its marine and recreational vehicle lending in the second quarter and significantly reduced certain auto loan originations, according to TIKR.com. That retreat accelerated during the executive transition that brought Mike Lyons into the CEO role on September 1. Lyons previously led Fiserv, and outgoing leadership framed the handoff in confident terms — Bill Rogers said Lyons will move Truist forward with purpose and care, and a sense of urgency to realize its potential.
The pullback also focuses attention on the near-prime and subprime auto lending industry. Near-prime loans generally apply to borrowers with mid-tier credit profiles, the segment served by Regional Acceptance.
Another Round of North Texas Job Losses
The Arlington cuts land amid a broader wave of layoff notices hitting North Texas. Companies across the region have filed notices involving more than 1,500 pending job losses, including a separate announcement from Conifer Health Solutions, a Dallas-Fort Worth-based subsidiary of Tenet Healthcare Corp. that is cutting more than 1,000 employees as its arrangement with CommonSpirit Health winds down, as Hoodline previously reported. The Texas Family Initiative, which provides foster care services, has also announced layoffs, adding to the region's job losses.
The Arlington closure follows Truist's current lending retreat. It also underscores how the reasons behind corporate moves involving Charlotte and Texas can differ sharply.
