SUWANEE, Ga. — A Gwinnett County woman is warning of the risks that come from using title pawns.
Dejane Hester-Taylor said she's worried every time she steps outside of her home.
"Every day, I'm literally like, 'Okay, is the car going to be there?'" she said. "It's giving me anxiety, it's making me worry and this is a daily thing."
She used her car title as collateral for roughly $2,700 from TitleMax in December 2022. She still owes about $3,000 — even after making $1,500 in payments — because of the high-interest rate attached.
"When people are in need and they get a loan, they're like, okay, cool. I'm able to pay this back... I'm glad they were able to help me," Hester-Taylor said. "But that quick money that you needed for that incident, it will literally turn years worth of problems."
Hester-Taylor said TitleMax wouldn't allow her to make payments remotely while she was taking care of family in another state. She fell behind on two payments and said TitleMax took her car. She's not the only customer struggling to pay back a TitleMax loan.
In 2016, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) fined the company $9 million for "misrepresent(ing) the true cost of its loans if the consumers renewed them multiple times" and "engag(ing) in illegal high-pressure debt collection practices."
In 2023, it fined TitleMax $10 million for "violat(ing) 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," as well as "increase(ing) loan payments for borrowers by charging unlawful fees."
TitleMax did not respond to 11Alive's questions about Hester-Taylor's situation or the CFPB order by 11 p.m. Friday. However, it addressed the CFPB order in a previous statement, saying it "denies the factual and legal allegations outlined in the Consent Order and the Bureau’s press release and further notes that the facts alleged in the Consent Order have not been proven."
While Georgia law prohibits most short-term loans with exorbitant interest rates, TitleMax and other title pawns fall under the same rules as pawnbrokers.
"The working poor are the main customers of these “sub-prime” lenders. In Georgia, the interest rate such companies are allowed to charge is capped by law at 25 percent monthly (300 percent annually) for the first three months and 12.5 percent monthly after that (150 percent annually)," according to the Georgia Attorney General's Consumer Protection Division. "This means a combined maximum yearly interest rate of 187.5 percent."
Hester-Taylor hopes that is something lawmakers will reconsider.
"For the payoff to still be more than the amount I started with, that's crazy. It makes no sense," she said. "I hope they get laws to protect people against that."