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[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 312 Referred in Senate (RFS)]

  2d Session
H. CON. RES. 312

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             June 28, 2000

 Received and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban 
                                Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

 
 Expressing the sense of the Congress that the Federal Government and 
 the States should engage in greater oversight of title loan and title 
pawn transactions, work cooperatively to address the problem of abuses 
in title loan and title pawn transactions through effective legislation 
at both the Federal and State level, as necessary, and ensure that any 
Federal legislative effort preserves the ability of the States to enact 
 stronger protections for consumers with respect to such transactions.

Whereas title loan lenders make title loans and title pawns to consumers by 
        attaining the consumer's automobile title as collateral;
Whereas these loans and pawns are often offered at unscrupulously high rates of 
        interest;
Whereas in many cases borrowers are forced to pay interest rates of up to 300 
        percent per year;
Whereas many of these borrowers are unaware of applicable rates and are forced 
        into deeper and deeper debt to pay the initial lien;
Whereas this industry takes advantage of uneducated and poor consumers through 
        usurious and exploitive lending practices;
Whereas title loans and title pawns threaten the ability of consumers to hold a 
        job since default on the loan or pawn will result in repossession and 
        sale of their car, which is often their only means of transportation to 
        and from work;
Whereas this industry is expanding rapidly throughout the United States;
Whereas both the Federal Government and States have traditionally acted within 
        their respective jurisdictions to protect citizens from usurious lending 
        and abusive credit practices;
Whereas the spread of abusive lending practices, including those often 
        characteristic of title loan and title pawn transactions, have recently 
        resulted in heightened Federal interest, at the congressional, 
        executive, and regulatory levels, in curbing predatory lending 
        practices;
Whereas, as the result of extensive field hearings, a task force established by 
        the Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of Housing and Urban 
        Development has just underscored the need for Federal legislation to 
        curb predatory lending;
Whereas the title loan and title pawn transaction problem is particularly acute 
        in Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, 
        Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Oregon, South Carolina, 
        South Dakota, Tennessee, and Utah; and
Whereas this problem has the potential to spread to other States that currently 
        do not closely regulate the title loan and title pawn industry: Now, 
        therefore, be it
    Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), 
That it is the sense of the Congress that the Federal Government and 
the States should--
            (1) engage in greater oversight of title loan and title 
        pawn transactions;
            (2) work cooperatively to address the problem of abuses in 
        title loan and title pawn transactions through effective 
        legislation at both the Federal and State level, as necessary, 
        including by prohibiting title pawn transactions and 
        prohibiting usurious interest rates in title loan transactions; 
        and
            (3) ensure that any Federal legislative effort preserves 
        the ability of the States to enact stronger protections for 
        consumers with respect to such transactions.

            Passed the House of Representatives June 27, 2000.

            Attest:

                                                 JEFF TRANDAHL,

                                                                 Clerk.
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