The Massachusetts attorney general's office is investigating Santander bank's auto lending business over concerns that the company may be engaged in the predatory practices that, on a larger scale, led to the mortgage and financial crises. The office is looking at whether Santander lent to borrowers who were unlikely to repay the money and sold those loans to Wall Street, where they were packaged into securities and resold to investors.

Attorney General Martha Coakley subpoenaed Santander's auto finance company to produce documents related to borrowers' credit histories, interest rates, and how the loan risks were described to investors, spokesman said Brad Puffer told The Boston Globe.

Santander said in a statement it is cooperating with investigators, and its policy is "to comply with all lending and loan servicing laws as well as the rules and guidance of our supervisors and regulators."

- Associated Press