| Florida
Legislature May Permit 96% Car-Title Loans A Florida Senate committee ignored consumer advocates April 15
and rammed through a bill that would let car-title loan companies charge poor people up to
96 percent a year.
The bill's sponsor, Sen. W.D. Childers, noted that 96
percent is an improvement over the 264 percent annual interest rate the companies are now
allowed to charge.
Not all states allow car title insurance loans, in
which a consumer who does not qualify for a bank loan can put up his car as collateral.
Orange County Chairman Mel Martinez called Childers'
bill, which blocks cities and counties from imposing their own interest-rate limits, an
:"outrage" and said mayors and county managers should unite to fight the
measure.
Childers' bill would impose new licensing restrictions
on the auto title loan companies and would also tighten resulations on repossessing cars
when borrowers can't pay their loans. If the car fetched more at auction than the
borrower owed, the difference would be refunded to the borrower.
A rival bill endorsed by clergy, consumer leaders and
the attorney genral, would reduce the interest rate to 30 percent.
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