Resisting Regulation, Predatory Lenders Pump Millions Into State Political Campaigns

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Resisting Regulation, Predatory Lenders Pump Millions Into State Political Campaigns

Tuesday, 15 December 2015 00:00
By Fred Schulte, The Center for Public Integrity | News Analysis


After years of financial ups and downs, Gloria Whitaker needed some quick cash to help keep a roof over her head.

So she and her son, Devon, went to a TitleBucks store in Las Vegas and took out a $2,000 loan, pledging his gold 2002 Ford F-150 truck as collateral.

Whitaker, 66, said nobody verified she, or her jobless son, could repay the loan, which carried interest of 121.545 percent. When she paid off the loan, she said, the company didn't give back the title to the truck. Instead, employees talked her into borrowing $2,000 more, which plunged the family deeper into debt, she said. Whitaker knows that was a mistake, but also feels misled by aggressive - and legally dubious - lending tactics.

"I had a hardship," Whitaker said. "I was between a rock and a hard place."

In October, Whitaker filed a complaint with state regulators, who say the giant lender, TitleMax, which operates TitleBucks, violated state lending laws and estimate that it overcharged Nevada customers more than 6,000 times this year by nearly $8 million. ..............(more)

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/34035-lawmakers-protect-title-loan-firms-while-borrowers-pay-sky-high-interest-rates