Two months after announcing the closure of 42 stores, America’s Car-Mart has received an extension from lenders to avoid defaulting on outstanding debts.
Driving the news: Based in Arkansas, America’s Car-Mart is one of the nation’s largest subprime dealers, operating buy-here, pay-here stores in 12 states.
A filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) by America’s Car-Mart showed Silver Point Finance and other lenders have given the large subprime dealer an extension until Friday, June 12, 2026.
In October 2025, America’s Car-Mart announced a $300 loan from Silver Point. The five-year note included an offer for Silver Point to buy 10% of its shares.
Looking for options: America’s Car-Mart has retained global investment bank Houlihan Loke Capital, Inc., to serve as its financial advisor and “pursue financing, recapitalization, mergers, acquisitions and other transactions.”
Recent issues: News of the extension follows other signs of financial issues for America’s Car-Mart.
In an April filing with the SEC, the company announced it was closing 42 of its 136 dealership locations and reducing staff.
In the announcement, CEO Doug Campbell said the locations “make up about 31% of our total store count, but they only serve 18% of our customers.” He noted the business’s “$1.5 billion finance receivables portfolio generates significant monthly cash collections.”
America’s Car-Mart completed a two-phase consolidation of 18 locations in January.
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What it means: A default by America’s Car-Mart could be another signal for trouble in the BHPH sector. Tricolor filed for bankruptcy in 2024, and fraud charges are pending against its leaders.
A Federal Reserve note in May noted that banks are giving extra scrutiny to lending to dealers in the sector after previously seeing those loans perform better than those to traditional dealers.
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