$9M CFPB Fine for Auto Title Debt Collector

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said on Monday (Sept. 26) that it has levied a $9 million fine against TitleMax, among the nation’s biggest auto title lenders, for misleading consumers over costs tied to loans and also for using unfair debt collection efforts.

As reported by American Banker, the bureau said that the firm, which is based in Georgia, misled consumers who signed up for title pawn loans and did not disclose interest rates that topped hundreds of percentage points on an annual basis. The firm agreed to the fine, and neither denied nor admitted guilt. The firm, stated the CFPB, also followed up with visits to borrowers’ homes and workplaces with tactics deemed by the CFPB to be intrusive and illegal.

The loans, which ranged from a few hundred dollars to as much as several thousand dollars, are tied to the value of the car being used as collateral.