Car Title Loan State Laws & Regulations

Shortly after Henry Ford mass scaled cars some several years ago, financiers were close behind in figuring out how they can capitalize on borrowing against the equity in these vehicles. Now if you find yourself looking into getting a car title loan, you should be aware that the financial landscape changes frequently based on laws in each and every state. Each state has their own laws as to how much you can borrow against your vehicle, to what your rights as a consumer are.

As we strive to help you make an informed decision, there are other sites available to you to help you, too. Here is a Federal site to help educate you as well. For example, if you’re a military veteran, your loans interest rate cannot exceed 36% if the term of the loan is less than 181 days. However, since we only provide you tips and do not provide legal advice, we highly suggest you reach out to the regulatory agency in your state.

You need to be aware of your rights. Life sometimes throws curve balls at you and you can’t see the unforeseen circumstances lying ahead, so it’s always best to know your worst case scenario. It’s a reality that a lending company can and will repossess your car if you fail to repay your car title loan.

If you’re strongly considering taking a loan and using the equity in your car as collateral, you first need to be aware if your state even allows it. Over the years, many states flat-out banned the ability for lenders to issue loans. We do our best to keep our list of available companies that offer online title loans. In this list you should be able to determine if these companies work in your state. The laws, APRs and such are truly regulated by the state in which you reside. But our site should help you get a jump start in the process and you should understand that regulations are always changing.

Consumers are always going to need a way to access short term funding, so we can’t expect it to ever go away. But high interest loans are considered predatory. Due to this term ‘predatory’, you should only expect that regulations are going to move in favor of the consumer. As an example, it is important to note payday loans were considered as ‘predatory’ loans, and regulations capped how much lenders can charge for these types of loans. Instead of taking that option away from the consumer, they put laws in place to make it more attractive to those individuals. I personally don’t believe that state laws should ban auto title loans. Should they regulate it? Of course they should. But banning these loans just takes an option off the table for the consumer. Some states ban them outright, some have regulations in place and others don’t have any regulations whatsoever. However, you should be aware that even though your state may not regulate the industry doesn’t mean you don’t have rights, but you do need to ask questions and read the fine print before you get an auto title loan.