Payday Loan in Georgia
Georgia lawmakers approved laws that would basically prohibit pay day loans in the state,they believed that Georgia borrowers needed this protection. Actually, lots of the lawmakers supporting the payday reform thought that payday loans were the cause of financial problems for impoverished people struggling with their finances. They saw pay day loans like a type of predatory lending. However the past few years have revealed, that this has been a misunderstanding.
After the prohibition of pay day loans in Georgia, there’s been a sharp and escalating increase in check fraud, bank overdrafts and fraud complaints to state agencies related to not legal payday loans.
Cash advance loans have been a source of help for people who will need cash now and don’t have time to wait until they get paid. This can be because a charge they were unprepared for, such as a car maintenance or hospital visit. Payday loans in Georgia permitted these individuals to get their lives back on the right track within one business day. These days, Georgia residents are forced to consider other alternatives, like illegal loan merchants.
Legal Status: Prohibited
Citation:
Industrial loan act applies. Ga. Code Ann.§ 7-3-14. Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. r. 80 § 3-1.02(7)
Small Loan Rate Cap
16% per year (10% per year discounted plus fees); 60% per year criminal usury cap
Where to Complain, Get Information:
Regulator: Georgia Office of the Commissioner of Insurance
Address: Industrial Loan Division, Two Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive West Tower, Suite 704 Atlanta GA 30334
Phone: (404) 656-2070
Fax: (404) 657-8542
Enhanced protections against payday lending and additional penalties enacted in 2004. Ga. Code Ann. §§ 16-17-1 to 16-17-10. Also, the Industrial loan Act applies (Ga. Code Ann.§ 7-3-14)(10% per year; interest may be discounted in advance on loan contracts repayable in 18 months or less and, on contracts repayable over a greater period; interest shall be added to the principal amount of the loan. A licensee may also charge a fee of 8% of the first $600 plus 4% of the excess). Check cashers are required to send checks for deposit to their accounts at the depository institutions not later than the close of business on the next business day after the date on which the check was cashed. Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. r. 80 § 3-1.02(7).
