Car Title Lending in the News
The Debt Trap Drives the Fee Drain: Payday and Car-Title Lenders Drain Nearly $3 Billion in Fees Every Year | Center for Responsible Lending, June 15, 2023
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Note: Fees lost to AZ Car Title loans now estimated at $9,156,242.20 annually
"In the 31 states that allow for single-payment and payday installment loans, these loans drain more than $2.2 billion in fees each year from borrowers who have an average annual income of approximately $25,000. Car-title loans drain more than $700 million in fees annually from people in 17 states. Together, these predatory loan products drain nearly $3 billion annually."
CFPB Orders TitleMax to Pay a $10 Million Penalty for Unlawful Title Loans and Overcharging Military Families CFPB Press Release | February 23, 2023
"Repeat offender doctored information, ignored military protection law, and levied fees for useless products"
How Title Lenders Trap Poor Americans in Debt With Triple-Digit Interest Rates | by Margaret Coker, The Current, and Joel Jacobs, ProPublica, with research by Mollie Simon, ProPublica, Nov. 14, 2022
A History of Car Title Lending in Arizona
2025 Update to Car Title Lending in Arizona
The Southwest Center for Economic Integrity, a nonprofit organization based in Tucson, has issued an update to their report on title lending in Arizona.
2025 Update to:"Still Wrong: Wrecked by Debt" | CEI, March, 2025
Prior updates.
2024 Update | CEI, May, 2024
2023 Update | CEI, January, 2023
2022 Update | CEI, March, 2022
2021 Update | CEI, February, 2021
The previous report on title lending in Arizona was issued in 2019.
STILL WRONG: Wrecked by Debt | CEI, August 4, 2019
Press Release | CEI, August 5, 2019
Arizona Coalition Ends Measure to End Predatory Car Title Lending
Press Release | AFL, February 3, 2020
Arizona PBS Horizon interview with Kelly Griffith of CEI | August 15, 2019
Press Release | CEI, May 15, 2019
Payday Loan Debt Trap Tracker
Consumer protections for payday and car-title loans, created by the previous leadership of the CFPB after years of research, were due to take effect on Aug. 19, 2019. Now, these latter-day loan sharks will trap more borrowers in vicious cycles of debt.
Since Director Kathy Kraninger has sided with the sharks and turned her back on consumers, American borrowers caught in this infamous debt trap have paid fees amounting to:
Toolkit for Advocates
2023 Factsheets
Car Title Lending in Arizona [ en | es ] **Updated 04/2022**
Interest Rate Caps
After Payday Loans: Consumers Find Better Ways to Cope with Financial Challenges (NCLC, August 2021)