MADISON, Wis. -- Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager has called for changes to state law to allow her office to seek remedies for black and Latino car buyers who are charged higher rates than their white counterparts for auto loans from dealers in Wisconsin, reported The Associated Press.

Lautenschlager said her office had received complaints from black customers that their loans were being unfairly marked up and obtained data from a class-action lawsuit against American Honda Finance Corp. showing the practice was particularly widespread in Wisconsin.

A preliminary check by investigators in her office found dealer markups of as high as 4 to 6 percentage points for minorities, she told the AP, compared to generally much smaller increases for whites.

The auto lending industry has voluntarily capped the markup at three percentage points and taken other steps as part of out-of-court settlements, but continues to face class-action lawsuits alleging the subjective nature of the policy allows discrimination against minorities.