Excessive Interest Rate

Santander Consumer Auto Loan Excessive Interest Arkansas Class Action

The Arkansas Constitution imposes an interest rate cap of 17%. The complaint for this class action alleges that Santander Consumer USA, Inc. violates this basic provision, and the Arkansas Deceptive Trade Practices Act (ADTP), with its interest charges in the financing agreement for the purchase of a vehicle.  Read more

BlueChip Financial “Rent-a-Tribe” Scheme Connecticut Class Action

This class action takes on the payday lending entity BlueChip Financial, which does business as Spotloan. However, it also brings suit against officials of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, which purportedly owns BlueChip, for acting as a front for Spotloan.  Read more

Big Picture Loans “Rent-a-Tribe” Payday Lender Usury and RICO Class Action

This is yet another class action taking on a “rent-a-tribe” payday loan scheme. Big Picture Loans, LLC was not actually a tribal company, the complaint for this class action alleges, but a scheme designed to get around licensing requirements and laws that prohibit lenders from charging too much interest. (Note that this case was transferred  Read more

Great Plains “Tribal Sovereignty” High-Interest-Rate Loans RICO Class Action

This is the fourth complaint these same plaintiffs have filed for this “rent-a-tribe” usury scheme, each time against a different group of defendants. This time, defendants are Mark Curry, Brian McGowan, Eric Lau, and Sentinel Resources, LLC. The class action claims they have violated Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) laws as well as Virginia’s  Read more

Mariner Finance Refinancing and Insurance Charges Maryland Settlement

This settlement resolves a class action against Mariner Finance, LLC. The complaint alleged that Mariner charged customers refinancing charges but did not include those with the simply interest rate in the promissory notes, possibly because the interest rates might then higher than allowed by Maryland laws. It also claimed that Mariner retained a portion of  Read more

Speedy Cash Deceptive Presentation of Loan Contract California Class Action

States have usury laws that prevent lenders from setting outrageous terms that hard-pressed customers will never be able to fulfill. But these laws don’t always apply to short-term loans. The complaint for this class actions cites one company, Speedy Cash, that allegedly charges interest rates, fees, and penalties so high that borrowers can never repay  Read more

Plain Green and Great Plains “Rent-A-Tribe” Lending Scheme Third Class Action

This is the third of three related cases alleging that unscrupulous lenders have used Native American tribal sovereignty to get around state usury laws and illegally extract nearly $70 million from Virginia residents in the last four years. The forty-page complaint contains a great deal of detail on the workings of the two tribal companies  Read more

Bank of America Military Interest Rates Settlement

Bank of America is paying nearly $42 million to settle claims that it violated the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, the Truth in Lending Act, North Carolina’s Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Act, as well as common law, by charging service members and their families excessive interest rates on mortgages, credit card accounts, and other interest-bearing  Read more

Monterey Collections and Prosper, Inc. Excessive Interest Rates Class Action

According to the complaint for this class action, plaintiff Lazarao Cintron was charged more interest than the state usury law allows. Prosper, Inc. gave Cintron a personal loan of $4,000 at 17.99% interest, the complaint alleges, under a contract which had a New Jersey choice of law provision. However, under the usury laws for the  Read more

Plain Green and Great Plains Lending Scheme RICO and Excessive Interest Class Action

This class action involves a payday loan scheme that combines interest rates in excess of 400%, a snarl of interlocking companies, and a “rent-a-tribe” agreement that attempts to use Native American tribal rights as a shield against federal and state usury laws. The name of defendant Kenneth Rees as well as the general outline of  Read more