Summary. Seven steps, in order, starting with the one that stops the most money leaving.

Do this first

If a lender is debiting your account, revoke the authorization and stop the payments — today.

Bank fees in this situation frequently exceed the loan fees. A lender presenting three times on a short account can generate $105 in NSF charges from your own bank plus a returned-item fee from the lender, on a $345 debit, in four days. That is more than two rollovers cost.

How:

  1. Write to the lender: "I revoke any and all authorization for electronic fund transfers from my account ending [____]. Do not present any check or initiate any ACH debit." Send it in a way that proves the date.
  2. Write to your bank: "I revoke the authorization for [lender] to debit account [____] and I am placing a stop payment on any such transaction." Banks have a form; ask for it.
  3. Follow up by phone to both, and get a confirmation number.
  4. If debits continue, ask the bank about closing the account and opening a new one. A lender presenting on a closed account generates nothing.

Two things to be clear about. This stops the debits; it does not cancel the debt. And conditioning credit on repayment by preauthorized electronic transfer is prohibited — a lender who required ACH as a condition of the loan is already in violation of federal law, which is worth noting in a complaint.

Step one: find out whether the loan is even lawful

Two minutes, and it changes everything.

Is the lender licensed in your state? Search your state financial regulator's licensee database by the lender's name. In many states an unlicensed small loan is void or unenforceable, the interest is forfeited, and payments made may be recoverable.

Does your state cap the rate on loans this size? Some states cap at 36% or lower, which effectively ends storefront payday lending. Some prohibit the product entirely. Some authorize it with a fee schedule. Some have no cap. The answer determines whether the fee is collectible.

Does your state limit rollovers? Many do — commonly three or four — and many require a cooling-off period between loans.

Then compare that to what actually happened. The common evasion is repaying and re-borrowing the same day, which is a "new loan" on paper and a rollover in substance. That pattern is a violation in many states, and it is visible only in the transaction history.

Are you an active duty service member or a dependent? If so, the Military Lending Act caps the all-in rate at 36%, prohibits mandatory arbitration, prohibits requiring an allotment, prohibits a security interest in a vehicle title on covered loans, and makes a violating agreement void from inception — with damages and attorney's fees. Call the base legal assistance office. It is free.

Step two: get the transaction history

Write to the lender and request, in writing:

  • Every loan made to you, with the date, principal, fee, and due date
  • Every rollover, extension, or renewal
  • Every payment, with the date and how it was applied
  • Every fee — origination, returned item, late, verification, database
  • Every ACH or check presentment, including failed ones
  • Your current balance and how it is composed
  • The loan agreement for each transaction

This is where the violations live. Same-day repay-and-reborrow, rollovers past the statutory limit, simultaneous loans, and fees not authorized by the state schedule are all invisible in a single statement and obvious across a year.

Step three: ask for the extended payment plan

Many states require a lender to offer one on request — frequently after a specified number of rollovers, at no additional fee, over several installments.

Ask for it in writing, by name, and cite the statute if you can find it: "I am requesting the extended payment plan available under [state statute / your license conditions]. Please send the agreement."

Lenders do not volunteer this. Some will tell you it does not exist. Check the state regulator's consumer page, which usually says whether it does.

Step four: refinance out, at any rate lower than what you are paying

You are paying something in the range of 200% to 400%. Almost anything is better.

A credit union payday alternative loan. Many federal credit unions offer these — capped rate, small application fee, and several will lend specifically to retire high-cost debt. Membership is frequently available through employment, an employer, geography, or a small donation to an affiliated group. This is the single best option and most borrowers do not know it exists.

A community development financial institution. CDFIs make small loans in underserved markets at reasonable rates. Search for one in your state.

Your own bank or credit union's small-dollar product. A growing number offer small advances at capped costs to existing customers. Ask; it is rarely advertised.

An employer advance, or an employer-integrated earned wage access program with no fee.

A family loan, documented in writing so it does not become a family dispute.

A credit card cash advance. At 25% to 30% this is expensive credit and it is roughly one-fifteenth the cost of what you are paying.

And the thing to do at the same time: call a community action agency or 211 about the underlying expense — utility assistance, rental assistance, a crisis grant, a medical bill adjustment. The loan was for something. Frequently there is help for that something.

Step five: for title loans specifically

The car is the difference, and it changes the urgency.

Before default

  • Ask for the extended plan and the payoff amount in writing
  • Find out the vehicle's actual value — it is frequently several times the loan
  • Consider selling the car yourself. A $1,200 loan against a $6,000 car is solved by selling the car for $5,400, retiring the loan, buying a $2,500 car, and keeping the difference. This is almost always better than repossession, and borrowers rarely think of it because the title is held by the lender — but the lender will release it at payoff, and a sale can be structured through a dealer or with the payoff made at closing.
  • Remove the GPS or starter interrupter question from your planning — assume the lender knows where the car is

If repossession happens

Move fast; several rights expire quickly.

  1. Retrieve your personal property immediately. Tools, car seats, documents, medication. Personal property in the vehicle is yours, and the lender must make it available.
  2. Ask about redemption, in writing. Most states give a right to redeem before sale by paying the amount due plus reasonable repossession costs. Get the number and the deadline in writing.
  3. Demand the pre-sale notice. Most states require written notice of the time and place of sale. A sale without proper notice is defective, and the consequences frequently include loss of any deficiency and damages.
  4. Insist on a commercially reasonable sale. A car sold far below value at a wholesale auction with no marketing may not be.
  5. Demand a post-sale accounting, and the surplus. On a $1,200 loan against a $6,000 car, the surplus is the whole story — and in some states the lender may keep it, which is a reason to check your state before assuming.
  6. Document how the repossession happened. Was a locked gate opened? A garage entered? A confrontation? Repossession accomplished by a breach of the peace is wrongful, and it gives rise to damages and can defeat a deficiency claim.
  7. Photograph the vehicle's condition if you can, before and after.

Step six: collection conduct

The loan may be lawful. A great deal of the collection conduct is not.

Threats of arrest or criminal prosecution. The most common unlawful tactic in this industry. A post-dated check given as loan security is generally not a criminal bad check, because the lender knew the funds were not there. Report this — to the state regulator, the attorney general, and the CFPB.

Calls to your employer or your relatives about the debt, beyond limited location inquiries.

Repeated presentment designed to generate fees.

Threatening garnishment without a judgment. Garnishment requires a judgment nearly everywhere.

Misrepresenting the amount or the legal status of the debt.

Continuing to contact after a written cease-communication request to a debt collector.

Document every violation — date, time, number, name, and exact words. Statutory damages plus attorney's fees make these claims economical, and consumer attorneys take them on contingency.

Step seven: if you are sued

Answer the case. A default judgment converts a contestable debt into a wage garnishment, and it is entirely avoidable.

Defenses that actually work here:

  • The lender is unlicensed in a state requiring licensure
  • The rate exceeds the state cap
  • The rollover pattern violated the statute
  • The fees exceed the statutory schedule
  • The plaintiff is an assignee that cannot prove the chain of title
  • The Military Lending Act voids the agreement
  • The statute of limitations has run — and note that a partial payment revives it in many states
  • Improper service

File the answer, then serve discovery asking for the complete transaction history and the assignment documents. Portfolio purchasers of small-dollar debt frequently cannot produce them.

And the other half: credit repair

If the reason you are reading this is a damaged credit report, know two things.

No company may lawfully charge you before performing the service. The Credit Repair Organizations Act prohibits charging or receiving payment for any credit repair service before it is fully performed. A monthly subscription paid in advance is exactly what the statute prohibits.

Nothing they can lawfully do is anything you cannot do yourself, for free.

What actually works:

  • Pull all three reports — they differ
  • Dispute inaccuracies with the bureau, not just the furnisher, and with each bureau separately
  • Check the date of first delinquency on every negative item — a re-aged account stays on your report longer than it should, and that is correctable
  • Get obsolete items removed when the reporting period has run
  • Block identity theft items with an identity theft report
  • Negotiate with creditors directly, and ask for deletion in writing before you pay
  • Pay down utilization — it moves scores faster than almost anything and responds within a billing cycle
  • Keep old accounts open
  • Then wait. Nothing lawful accelerates time.

If you want help: an accredited nonprofit credit counseling agency does the useful part — budgeting, creditor negotiation, a debt management plan — free or at low cost, with no advance fee.

Part eight: four borrowers, and what changed

$300 that became $1,900

Ottoline Achterberg-Ruiz borrowed $300 for a car repair. $45 fee, fourteen days.

She rolled it seventeen times over eight months — $765 in fees, principal untouched. Then a presentment hit a short account. The lender presented three times in four days. $105 in NSF fees from her own bank, plus $30 from the lender. Total across eight months: about $1,900, still owing $300.

What finally worked:

  • Checked the license. Licensed, and the fee was within the state schedule — so the fee itself was lawful.
  • Checked the rollover rules. Her state limited rollovers to three and required a cooling-off period. The lender evaded it with same-day repay-and-reborrow. That was the violation.
  • Requested the full transaction history, which is the only place the pattern was visible.
  • Revoked the ACH in writing to the lender and the bank; placed a stop payment.
  • Complained to the state regulator with the history attached.
  • Complained to the bank about the multiple presentment fees.
  • Got a credit union payday alternative loan to retire the principal.

The regulator's investigation produced a partial fee refund. The bank reversed two NSF charges.

She could have done the credit union call in month one. The whole loss was the eight months of not asking.

$1,200 that nearly took a $6,000 car

Fitzgerald Beauvais-Nkemdirim borrowed $1,200 against a car worth about $6,000. Thirty days, roughly 240% APR, starter interrupter installed. He rolled twice, came up $190 short, and the car was taken at 4 a.m.

In the first twenty-four hours he did five things:

  1. Retrieved his personal property — tools, a car seat, documents. Yours, and the lender must make it available.
  2. Asked in writing about redemption. His state gave a right to redeem before sale on payment of the amount due plus reasonable costs. He got the figure and a five-day window.
  3. Demanded the pre-sale notice — required in his state, stating time and place.
  4. Documented the repossession. The agent had opened a closed gate. In his state that raised a breach of the peace question, which makes a repossession wrongful.
  5. Asked about the surplus — his state required an accounting and return of proceeds above the debt and costs.

He borrowed the redemption amount from his sister, recovered the car, sold it himself for $5,400, retired the loan, and kept about $4,000.

The move he wishes he had made two months earlier: selling the car himself before default, retiring the loan, and buying something cheaper. A title loan against a car worth five times the loan is a solvable problem right up until the repossession.

The loan that was void from the start

Perpetua Ilunga-Sandoval, a Navy petty officer, took a $2,500 installment loan near the base: 189% APR, mandatory arbitration, an allotment authorization, and $600 in financed credit insurance.

Four Military Lending Act violations in one contract. The all-in rate is capped at 36% counting the credit insurance; mandatory arbitration is prohibited; requiring an allotment is prohibited; and the required disclosures were not given.

A violation makes the agreement void from inception, with actual, statutory, and punitive damages plus attorney's fees.

She called base legal assistance — free. One letter. The lender refunded everything paid and voided the balance in three weeks.

$979 for nothing

Cassius Oyelaran-Whitcombe paid $89 a month for eleven months to a credit repair company. Five of the seven disputed items were accurate and stayed; two came back on reverification.

Three violations: they charged before performing, which the statute flatly prohibits; they never gave the required disclosure statement telling him he could dispute for free himself; and they advised him to open accounts under a different identifier, which is advising a consumer to make a misleading statement — and a path to criminal exposure for him.

He recovered the $979 plus fees, on a claim the statute made economical because it shifts attorney's fees.

Part nine: a two-week plan

Day 1

  • Revoke the ACH in writing to the lender and the bank; place a stop payment
  • Call three credit unions and ask about a payday alternative loan
  • Search the state regulator's licensee database for the lender

Day 2

  • Look up your state's rate cap, rollover limit, and cooling-off period on the regulator's consumer page
  • Write to the lender requesting the complete transaction history
  • Write requesting the extended payment plan, by name

Day 3–4

  • Call 211 or the county community action agency about the underlying expense — utility, rent, medical
  • If military: call base legal assistance
  • If a title loan: get the payoff in writing and find out the car's actual value

Week 1

  • Compare the transaction history against the state's rollover and cooling-off rules
  • If there is a mismatch, complain to the state regulator, the attorney general, and the CFPB, attaching the history
  • Line up the refinance and retire the principal

Week 2

  • Confirm the debits have stopped and no NSF fees have accrued
  • Dispute any bank fees generated by repeated presentment
  • If sued at any point: calendar the answer deadline the day you are served

Ongoing

  • Pull all three credit reports and check the date of first delinquency on every negative item
  • Do not pay any company that charges in advance to fix your credit

Part ten: the mistakes that cost the most

Not revoking the ACH. Bank fees frequently exceed loan fees, and they compound in days.

Not checking the license. Two minutes, and in many states an unlicensed loan is unenforceable.

Not requesting the transaction history. The violations are only visible across the whole pattern.

Not asking for the extended payment plan by name. Many states require it; no lender volunteers it.

Not calling a credit union. The payday alternative loan exists, is capped, and is unknown to most borrowers.

Rolling instead of refinancing. Week three is where the money is lost, not day one.

Letting a title loan go to repossession when the car is worth several times the loan. Sell it yourself.

Missing the redemption window. It is short and it is real.

Not documenting how a repossession happened. Breach of the peace defeats a deficiency and creates damages.

Believing a threat of arrest. It is generally unlawful and it should be reported, not obeyed.

Not answering a lawsuit. A default judgment turns a contestable debt into a garnishment.

Making a partial payment on an old debt without checking the limitations period and the revival rule.

Paying a credit repair company in advance. Prohibited by statute, and unnecessary in every case.

Part eleven: the letters

Six letters do the work in this guide. Send them all in the first week.

Revoking the ACH — to the lender

[Date]

RE: Loan/Account No. [____] — revocation of electronic fund transfer authorization

I hereby revoke any and all authorization for [Lender] to initiate electronic fund transfers from, or to present any check drawn on, my account ending [____] at [Bank].

Do not initiate any ACH debit, present any check, or attempt any other electronic transfer from this account. Any further presentment is unauthorized.

I note that conditioning an extension of credit on repayment by preauthorized electronic fund transfers is prohibited by federal law.

Please contact me in writing at the address below regarding this account.

[Name] · [Address] · [Date] · Sent with proof of date. Copy retained.

Revoking the ACH — to the bank

RE: Stop payment and revocation — Account ending [____]

I revoke the authorization for [Lender] to debit my account, and I am placing a stop payment on any ACH debit or check presentment initiated by [Lender] or its agents or assignees.

Please confirm the stop payment in writing and advise how long it remains in effect and how to renew it.

Please also review the returned-item fees assessed on [dates] totaling $______ resulting from repeated presentment by this lender, and advise whether they can be reversed.

[Name] · [Account] · [Date]

Requesting the transaction history

RE: Account No. [____] — request for complete transaction history

Please provide, in writing, the following for all transactions between me and [Lender]:

  1. Each loan — date made, principal advanced, fee charged, due date
  2. Each rollover, renewal, extension, or refinance, with dates
  3. Each payment — date, amount, and how applied
  4. Each fee — origination, returned item, late, verification, database, and any other
  5. Each presentment of a check or ACH, including failed attempts, with dates
  6. My current balance and its composition
  7. Copies of each loan agreement
  8. Your state license number and the licensing authority

Please respond within fifteen days.

[Name] · [Account] · [Date]

Requesting the extended payment plan

RE: Account No. [____] — request for extended payment plan

I am requesting the extended payment plan available under [state statute / your license conditions]. Please send the agreement for signature.

I understand that under [state] law this plan is to be provided at no additional fee and over [N] installments.

Please also confirm that no further presentment will be made and that no additional fees will accrue while the plan is in place.

If you contend no such plan is available, please state that in writing and identify the authority.

[Name] · [Account] · [Date]

Complaining to the state regulator

CONSUMER COMPLAINT — [State] Department of Financial Institutions / Consumer Credit Division

Complainant: [Name, address, phone] Licensee: [Lender name, address, license number if known] Loan type: [payday / deferred presentment / title / installment]

Summary of transactions (history attached):

Date Type Principal Fee Paid Balance

What I believe violates state law: [ ] Lender is not licensed in this state [ ] The rate or fee exceeds the statutory schedule [ ] Rollovers exceeded the statutory limit — [N] rollovers between [dates] [ ] The cooling-off period was evaded by same-day repayment and re-borrowing on [dates] [ ] Simultaneous loans were made in violation of the limit [ ] The extended payment plan was requested on [date] and refused [ ] ACH authorization was required as a condition of the loan [ ] Threats of criminal prosecution on [date] by [name] [ ] Other: ____

What I am asking for: investigation · refund of unlawful fees · a determination whether the loan is enforceable · [restoration of my vehicle].

Enclosures: loan agreements · transaction history · bank statements showing presentments and fees · correspondence.

[Signature] · [Date]

Title loan — redemption and notice demand

[Date] · URGENT — time sensitive

RE: Loan No. [], Vehicle [year/make/model], VIN [] — repossessed [date]

1. Personal property. The vehicle contained my personal property, including [list]. Please make it available for retrieval immediately and advise the time and place.

2. Redemption. I intend to redeem the vehicle. Please state in writing: the total amount required to redeem, itemized, including the balance and any repossession costs; the deadline to redeem; and the payment method and location.

3. Notice of sale. Please provide the written notice of the time and place of any intended sale, as required by [state statute]. No sale should occur before the redemption period expires.

4. The repossession. The vehicle was taken from [location] at approximately [time]. [The agent opened a closed gate / entered an enclosed area / a confrontation occurred.] I contend this constituted a breach of the peace.

5. Accounting. In the event of sale, please provide a full accounting of the proceeds, all costs, and the surplus, which I expect given that the vehicle's value substantially exceeds the debt.

[Name] · [Contact] · [Date] · Sent by [method] with proof of date.

Part twelve: the products that look different and are not

The market keeps producing new shapes. The questions are always the same three: what is the all-in cost as an APR, what happens on default, and what state law governs it?

Earned wage access. An advance against wages already earned. Employer-integrated programs with no mandatory fee are genuinely useful and are worth asking your employer about. Direct-to-consumer versions with "expedite fees" and "tips" can price out at triple-digit APRs — do the arithmetic: a $5 fee on a $100 advance eight days before payday is roughly 228% annualized. Several states now regulate these as loans.

Buy now, pay later. Four payments over six weeks, usually interest-free if paid on time. The risks are late fees, stacking multiple plans across retailers, and the automatic debit hitting a short account. Dispute and chargeback rights are weaker than a credit card's, and returns are frequently hard to resolve.

Refund anticipation loans and checks. Advances against a tax refund, priced as fees against money arriving in days. The IRS Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program files for free, and direct deposit brings most refunds in a couple of weeks. These products are almost never worth it.

Pension and structured settlement advances. A lump sum for future payments, at effective rates that are frequently extraordinary. Structured settlement transfers require court approval in nearly every state, and the court must find the transfer in the payee's best interest. Assigning federal benefits is separately restricted.

Rent-to-own. Not a loan in form, so lending rules frequently do not apply. Ask for the cash price and the total of payments — many states require both to be disclosed, and the ratio is routinely two or three to one.

Pawn. More expensive than a bank and structurally safer than a title loan in one way that matters: no personal liability and no deficiency. If the item is not redeemed, the loss is the item. For a borrower with no realistic repayment path, that ceiling has real value.

Small-dollar bank and credit union products. A growing number of institutions offer these at capped costs to existing customers. Ask your own bank. It is frequently the cheapest option in this entire article and it is almost never advertised.

Part thirteen: an honest word

The literature on this subject tends toward a single message: do not take these loans. That is correct arithmetic and it is not much help to someone whose car needs $340 tonight and whose shift starts at six.

Three things are truer and more useful.

The expensive decision is not the first one. A single payday loan repaid on schedule costs $45. Carried eight months it costs $765 in fees and still owes the principal. The intervention point is week three, and almost nobody intervenes at week three because by then the fee feels like a fixed cost of being alive.

The cheaper options are almost never checked. A credit union payday alternative loan. A utility payment arrangement. A community action agency crisis grant. Your own bank's small-dollar product. Each is a phone call, each is dramatically cheaper, and each is typically discovered months later by someone saying "I didn't know that existed."

The lawfulness question takes two minutes and nobody asks it. Is the lender licensed? Does the state cap the rate? Were the rollover and cooling-off rules followed? In a meaningful share of cases the answer is a void loan, forfeited interest, or a refund.

None of that is a judgment about anyone who borrowed. It is a description of where the leverage actually sits — earlier, cheaper, and more available than most borrowers believe.

Part fourteen: what a credit union will actually say

Borrowers avoid this call because they expect to be turned down. Here is what usually happens.

Membership first. Federal credit unions serve a "field of membership" — an employer, an industry, a geographic area, a school, a church, an association. Most people qualify for several and know about none. Many credit unions have a broad community charter, and some allow membership through a small one-time donation to an affiliated organization. The question to ask is: "What do I need to do to become a member?"

Then ask, in these words: "Do you offer a payday alternative loan, or a small-dollar loan program? I have a high-cost loan I'm trying to retire."

What they typically offer:

  • A small loan — commonly a few hundred to a couple thousand dollars
  • A capped rate — federal credit unions offering payday alternative loans operate under a rate ceiling far below storefront pricing
  • A modest application fee
  • A term of one to twelve months, in installments rather than a lump balloon
  • No rollover structure
  • Reporting to the credit bureaus, which — unlike a payday loan — means on-time payments help you

What they will ask for: identification, proof of income, proof of address, and sometimes a short membership period before the loan. Some programs require the loan to be a first for you; some require direct deposit.

What frequently surprises borrowers:

  • Credit history is not always the gate. Several of these programs are designed specifically for people with damaged or thin credit.
  • Several will lend expressly to retire high-cost debt, and some will pay the payday lender directly.
  • They will talk to you about the underlying problem, and many have free financial counseling attached.
  • A "no" from one is not a "no" from all. Call three.

And if a credit union is genuinely not available: ask about a community development financial institution, ask your own bank about a small-dollar product, and ask your employer whether an advance or a no-fee earned wage program exists. Each of those is a call, and each is a fraction of what you are paying now.

Part fifteen: when there is genuinely nothing to work with

Sometimes the arithmetic does not close. The income does not cover the obligations at any repayment rate, and no refinance is available. That is a different problem, and it has different answers.

Triage the obligations by consequence, not by who is loudest.

  • Housing and utilities first. Losing the home or the heat is categorically worse than a collection account.
  • The car, if it is how you get to work — but see the title loan section, because selling it yourself frequently beats losing it.
  • Court-ordered obligations — child support and anything with contempt exposure.
  • Secured debt you intend to keep.
  • Then everything unsecured, which can wait, because the consequence is collection rather than loss.

A payday loan is at the bottom of that list. It is unsecured, it is collectible only through the ordinary civil process, and the worst realistic outcome is a judgment. That is not nothing — but it is not eviction, and it should not be paid ahead of rent.

Know what is protected from collection. Social Security, SSI, VA benefits, and certain other federal payments are exempt, and a rule requires banks to protect a portion of recently deposited federal benefits automatically. Keep exempt funds in a separate account — commingling defeats the automatic protection. Many states also protect a portion of wages, a homestead, a vehicle up to a value, and tools of a trade.

Understand what a judgment actually does. It permits wage garnishment (capped by federal law and frequently more by state law), bank levy (subject to exemptions you must claim, usually on a short deadline), and in some states a property lien. It does not permit arrest.

Talk to a nonprofit credit counselor. Accredited agencies negotiate with unsecured creditors, and a debt management plan frequently reduces rates and consolidates payments — free or at low cost, with no advance fee.

And consider whether bankruptcy is the honest answer. Payday loans, title loan deficiencies, medical debt, and credit card debt are all general unsecured debt, dischargeable in Chapter 7. Filing triggers an automatic stay that halts garnishment and collection immediately. Most bankruptcy attorneys offer free consultations, and there are no-cost clinics in many places.

Bankruptcy is not a failure. For a household whose obligations exceed any realistic ability to pay, it is the mechanism the law provides, and the alternative — years of garnishment on a debt that never resolves — is worse for everyone including the creditors. Find out whether you qualify before spending another year paying fees on a principal that never moves.

Frequently asked questions

Can I just stop paying? You can, and the consequences depend on the product. A payday loan becomes a collection matter and possibly a lawsuit. A title loan becomes a repossession. Before you stop, revoke the ACH, check whether the loan is lawful, and ask for the extended plan.

Can they arrest me? Generally no, and the threat is itself a violation. Report it.

Can they take my car without a court order? In most states yes, on a title loan, so long as there is no breach of the peace. But redemption rights, pre-sale notice, a commercially reasonable sale, and surplus accounting all apply.

They keep debiting my account. Revoke in writing to the lender and the bank, place a stop payment, and consider a new account. Complain to the bank about the fee cascade.

What if the lender isn't licensed? In many states the loan is void or unenforceable and payments may be recoverable. Check the licensee database and complain to the regulator.

Does the 36% cap apply to me? Under the Military Lending Act, if you are an active duty service member or a dependent — and a violation makes the agreement void from inception. Call base legal assistance.

Is a payday alternative loan real? Yes. Many federal credit unions offer them at capped rates. Call three credit unions this week.

Should I pay a credit repair company? No. And no company may lawfully charge you before performing.

Related documents

Educational only, not legal advice. Small-dollar lending is primarily state law and the variation is enormous. Check your state's rate cap, licensing requirement, rollover limits, and title loan redemption rules.