The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) yesterday took action against a web of corporate entities operating under TMX Finance, broadly known as TitleMax, for violating the financial rights of military families and other consumers in providing auto title loans, according to a CFPB press release. The CFPB found that TitleMax violated the Military Lending Act by extending prohibited title loans to military families and, oftentimes, by charging nearly three times over the 36% annual interest rate cap. TitleMax tried to hide their unlawful activities by, among other things, altering the personal information of military borrowers to circumvent their protected status. The CFPB also found that TitleMax increased loan payments for borrowers by charging unlawful fees. The CFPB’s order ends TitleMax’s illegal activities, and requires the company to pay more than $5 million in consumer relief and a $10 million civil money penalty. TitleMax is a repeat offender, according to the press release. TitleMax has been under a CFPB Order since September 26, 2016, for its lending and debt-collection practices. In the 2016 Order, the CFPB found that store employees, as part of their sales pitch for the company’s 30-day loans, offered consumers a “monthly option” for making loan payments and misrepresented the true cost of its loans if the consumers renewed them multiple times. The CFPB also found that the company engaged in illegal high pressure debt collection practices.
