Auto title lender sued by West Virginia

The West Virginia Attorney General is suing title lender Fast Auto Loans for failing to comply with a subpoena to determine the scope of its debt collection activities in the state, according to Forbes. The office of Darrell McGraw opened an investigation into the Virginia-based company after receiving complaints from West Virginia residents who claimed that it had enticed them to make bad credit decisions by luring them to Virginia in order to get title loans with high interest rates that greatly exceeded the maximum allowed by West Virginia state law. Additionally, some consumers reported that the company repeatedly placed harassing phone calls to them, their friends, family members and employers as part of its debt collection tactics. Until last year, the company also offered short term loans - which are illegal in West Virginia - with interest rates of 300 percent APR or higher, Forbes reports. "We cannot prevent consumers from traveling to other states to get ill-advised title and short term loans," said McGraw, according to consumer advocacy and complaints site ConsumerAffairs.com. "But when companies contact West Virginians who allegedly default on the loans, they must obey our state’s debt collection laws. If companies break these laws, my office will not hesitate to intervene."