Georgia Attorney General Orders Payday Lenders to Pay $40 Million in Civil Monetary Penalty and Restitution to Consumers

State Issues Consumer Finance Payday Lending State Attorney General

On February 8, the Office of the Georgia Attorney General announced that it had entered into a settlement agreement with two payday lenders over claims that the companies violated the state’s Payday Lending Act, which prohibits unlicensed loans of $3,000 or less. While the interest rate for loans made under the Payday Lending Act is capped at 10 percent, the unlicensed lenders in this case allegedly issued over 18,000 loans with interest rates ranging from 140 percent to 340 percent and collected over $32 million in associated interest and fees since 2010. According to the terms of the settlement, the companies are required to (i) pay $23.5 million in consumer restitution; (ii) cease all collections and forgive all outstanding loans; (iii) pay a $1 million civil penalty to the state; and (iv) pay $500,000 as reimbursement for the state’s attorneys’ fees and costs.