Car Title Loans
Looking For A Title Loan?
Watch this video before you decide to take one out.
Like payday loans, car title loans are marketed as small emergency loans, but in reality these loans trap borrowers in a cycle of debt. A typical car title loan has a triple-digit annual interest rate, requires repayment within one month, and is made for much less than the value of the car. Car title loans put at high risk an asset that is essential to the well-being of working families -- their vehicle.
While there are some state laws that directly address the abuses of title lenders, for the most part, such laws are more sympathetic to the car title lending industry than to the consumers driven deeper into debt. In most cases, title lenders have sought to hide the true nature of their products in order to exploit loopholes in existing laws -- pretending, for example, that their abusive loans are "sales and leasebacks," "pawns," or even "motor vehicle equity lines of credit."
Quick Links
Headlines
- Financial Overhaul Gives States Wiggle Room on Title, Payday Loans
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 08/01/10 - Missouri Lenders Find Ways to Avoid Title-Loan Regulations
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 08/01/10 - Beware of Deceptive Auto Loan Modification Offers
Better Business Bureau, 07/30/10 - States to Protect Borrowers Who Turn to Cars for Cash
Wall Street Journal , 07/19/10
