Toyota Motor Credit Corp. acknowledged in documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission this past Friday that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the U.S. Department of Justice sent a letter to the captive finance company alleging discriminatory practices regarding vehicle financing.

The situation first developed earlier this year when these agencies requested that Toyota Motor Credit provide certain information about “purchases of auto finance contracts from dealers and about related discretionary pricing practices.”

Then last Tuesday, the captive indicated it received a letter alleging that such practices resulted in discriminatory pricing of loans to “certain borrowers in contravention of applicable laws.”

Toyota Motor Credit also shared in the SEC filing that the letter informed the company that the CFPB and DOJ are prepared to initiate an enforcement proceeding unless “we agree to a voluntary resolution satisfactory to them,” according to document signed by Christopher Ballinger, the company’s senior vice president and chief financial officer.

“The agencies have indicated that they are seeking monetary relief and implementation of changes to our discretionary pricing practices and policies, which changes could adversely affect our business,” Ballinger said. “We intend to continue to cooperate with the agencies to achieve a mutually satisfactory resolution.”

Should the CFPB and DOJ take enforcement action in the near future against Toyota’s captive arm, the development would come about a year after those regulators handed out a $98 million penalty against Ally Financial. To this point, that enforcement action has been the stiffest penalty in the auto finance space.

According to Experian Automotive, Toyota Financial Services — one segment of Toyota Motor Credit — stood in the No. 3 market position through the third quarter of this year, holding 4.49 percent of all outstanding auto loans.