There is no national price for a payday or title loan, and that is the most useful thing to know about them. Alabama caps a payday advance at $500 with a fee of 17.5 percent of the amount advanced. California caps the loan at $300 and the fee at $45. Arizona regulates auto title lending under a statute of its own, tiering the monthly rate by loan size. The same transaction costs different amounts in each.
This page publishes no national price range, because there is not one to publish. The price of this product is written into state statute, and the statutes disagree with each other by wide margins. A national average would hide the only thing that actually determines what you pay, which is where you are standing.
In Alabama the Deferred Presentment Services Act caps the fee at 17.5 percent of the amount advanced, caps the advance itself at $500, and requires the presentment to be deferred between 10 and 31 calendar days. One renewal is permitted, meaning two continuous transactions, after which no new transaction may be made until the business day following full repayment. An extended repayment option of four equal monthly installments must be available. Lenders check a statewide database before advancing, and that database check carries its own fee, $1.75 rising to $2.00 from 1 January 2025.
Alabama title lending runs on an entirely different statute. Under the Pawnshop Act the charge is capped at 25 percent of the principal amount per month, with a minimum redemption period of thirty days and a further thirty days after maturity to redeem.
In California the payday product is capped at a $300 loan and a $45 fee, over a term of two to four weeks. A lender may not make a new loan to pay off an existing one, and may not charge additional fees for an extension or a payment plan. California title loans sit under the California Financing Law instead, where loans under $2,500 are capped at 1.6 percent a month on the unpaid principal balance, and loans of at least $2,500 but under $10,000 are capped at 36 percent a year plus the Federal Funds Rate.
In Arizona, auto title lending is licensed under a statute of its own and the maximum monthly finance rate is tiered by loan size: 17 percent a month at $500 or less, 15 percent from $500 to $2,500, 13 percent from $2,500 to $5,000, and 10 percent above $5,000.
The state's own regulator states it directly: for automobile title loans of $10,000 or more, lenders can charge unlimited interest rates. The caps described above stop at that threshold. The same regulator warns that some lenders fit remote engine shutdown devices that disable the vehicle when a payment is missed.
This is also why a representative example with an APR appears on a title lender's website. Under Truth in Lending, naming the downpayment, the number of payments, the payment amount or the finance charge in an advertisement triggers a duty to state the annual percentage rate using that term. Where the statute does not fix the rate, the disclosure rule is doing the work instead.
The Military Lending Act caps the military annual percentage rate at 36 percent for covered borrowers, and it goes further than a rate. For covered borrowers a non-bank creditor may not take a vehicle title as security at all. Rollovers or refinancing by the same creditor are prohibited. Arbitration agreements are unenforceable. Prepayment penalties are prohibited. Direct access to the borrower's deposit account is restricted. Creditors must give the MAPR statement and a clear description of the payment obligation both in writing and orally, in person or through a toll-free number.
Nothing equivalent applies to a civilian borrower. That gap is the shape of the whole market.
The 2017 ability-to-repay underwriting requirements were revoked in July 2020. What survives, and took effect on 30 March 2025 after litigation, is the payments side: after two consecutive failed withdrawal attempts a lender may not try again without your new and specific authorization, and advance notice must precede withdrawal attempts.
So the federal protection you actually have is not about whether the loan was affordable. It is about how many times your account can be hit.
Start from the FTC's national figures, which are the closest thing to a benchmark that exists. The agency puts the cost of a payday loan at $10 to $30 per $100 borrowed, and gives the two-week example at $15 per $100 as a 391 percent APR. For car title loans it describes amounts of 25 to 50 percent of the vehicle's value, terms of 15 or 30 days, a monthly finance fee as high as 25 percent, and an APR equivalent of about 300 percent.
Then check the lender against the state regulator that licenses it, because that is the fact most easily verified and most often misstated. Alabama licenses through the State Banking Department, Arizona through the Department of Insurance and Financial Institutions, and California through the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation. Each publishes a licensee lookup, and a California Financing Law license number can be checked in it directly.
Read the term before the rate. A fee expressed as a flat percentage of principal produces very different annual costs across a ten to thirty-one day window, and the rollover limits, rather than the headline rate, usually decide what the loan finally costs.
On a title loan, understand what default means. The lender can repossess the vehicle, and that is the security the whole product rests on.
Because the price is written into state statute and the statutes disagree by wide margins. Alabama caps a payday advance at $500 with a fee of 17.5 percent. California caps it at $300 with a $45 fee. Arizona tiers the monthly rate on title loans by loan size. A national average would hide the only thing that decides what you pay.
The FTC puts it at $10 to $30 per $100 borrowed, and gives the common two-week example of $15 per $100 as an annual percentage rate of 391 percent.
Only for service members. The Military Lending Act caps the military APR at 36 percent for covered borrowers and prohibits a non-bank creditor from taking a vehicle title as security at all. No equivalent cap applies to a civilian borrower.
No. Since 30 March 2025, after two consecutive failed withdrawal attempts a lender may not try again without your new and specific authorization, and advance notice must precede withdrawal attempts.
Not in California above a threshold. The state regulator states that for automobile title loans of $10,000 or more, lenders can charge unlimited interest rates. Below that, loans under $2,500 are capped at 1.6 percent a month and loans from $2,500 to under $10,000 at 36 percent a year plus the Federal Funds Rate.
Because Truth in Lending requires it. Naming the downpayment, the number of payments, the payment amount or the finance charge in an advertisement triggers a duty to state the annual percentage rate using that term.
On a title loan the vehicle is the security, so default can mean repossession. California's regulator also warns that some lenders fit remote engine shutdown devices that disable the vehicle when a payment is missed.