Legislation Capping Title Loan Interest Rates Passes out of Committee

This year, we are continuing our campaign to pass the Fair Lending Act (HB2468), which caps interest rates on car title loans at 36%. This legislation was introduced in the Senate last year, but did not have enough support to move forward due to strong opposition from the auto title lending industry.

We just reached a big milestone — the House Executive Committee voted unanimously to pass the bill out of committee! The bill is spearheaded by Rep. Chris Welch and Leader Kimberly Lightford and has strong bipartisan support.

Billie, a member of Illinois People’s Action, gave testimony in the committee hearing about her experience taking out a title loan. She shared a copy of her loan contract with the committee that showed that she was expected to pay over $3000 for the $595 she borrowed, due to the predatory 304.17% interest rate.

We urge members of the House to support HB2468 to cap interest rates on title loans at 36%, so that borrowers like Billie are no longer trapped in debt and at risk of losing their cars.

Take Action!

Help us fight predatory title loans by contacting your state representative and asking them to cosponsor HB2468. You can find the contact information for your state representative here.

You can download the fact sheet to learn more, and your organization can still sign on in support of the legislation. Email Jody at jblaylock (at) heartlandalliance.org if you would like to get more involved!