A car title loan is a loan whereby you borrow funding and the title to your car is held by the loan maker. According to the Consumer Federation of America and The Center for Responsible Lending, this is often not the best way to purchase a vehicle or to borrow money for another reason. A car title loan is one of the latest methods of high cost and small lending means that are rampant in our country today. Those who do use this method of borrowing money may find themselves literally trapped in a vicious cycle of more and more loans, where interest rates may exceed 200% over time.
Those who borrow in this way will sometimes find themselves borrowing more, or rolling the loan over to decrease a payment while paying incredible sums in interest so that you find it nearly impossible to pay the loan off, or in fact, to even touch the principal of the loan. Moreover, in many cases, the money lender will repossess the vehicle after you have made some vast payments, taking away your most valuable possession in some cases and in most cases, also taking away your only method of transportation to and from your job.
To gain a title loan, you must sign your title over to a vehicle which is currently completely paid for, and in many cases, must also supply the lender with your spare set of keys so that they may take the car without difficulty if they believe the need to do so arises. Usually, the loan comes due within just a month or so and must be paid off in a lump sum, which often makes it difficult for the borrower to accomplish the loan.
The value of your car is typically a great deal more than the lender will lend you for it and as a consequence, if they do sell your vehicle, the lender of your loan makes a fairly tidy sum from its sale - in some states, being permitted to keep that sum as well. In other words, when you sign the title over on the short term loan you got using your car as collateral, the loan company makes a reasonable sum of money should you pay it and a great deal more if you default.
In many states, loopholes of one variety or another are used to prevent the lender from being guilty of usury and to prevent you from being able to get your day in court once the loan has defaulted. In most cases, you have no legal means of recouping your car of the excess funding for which it is sold. This is not to say that it is in their best interests if you do default, but you can do the math.
All in all, a car title loan is not the best way to borrow money, even on a temporary basis, unless you are really in a very dire emergency. While getting a car title loan is fast and easy, you end up paying for that loan in spades, and except for an emergency, is generally not worth the huge expense you will pay for the convenience of that loan.
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