Last reviewed on April 27, 2026.
Title-loan rules in the United States are set primarily by state law, and the variation between states is large. In one state the same product may carry an APR ceiling of several hundred percent and be advertised in storefronts on every commercial street. In the next state over, the product is illegal entirely. A handful of states sit in between, where the activity is technically permitted but capped at a level that makes the traditional storefront business model uneconomic.
This guide groups states into four categories so you can quickly tell which world you’re in. It’s a starting point, not a substitute for the current statute in your state. Confirm with your state regulator (typically the department of banking, consumer credit, or financial regulation) before relying on any specific rule for a borrowing decision.
In a number of states, title loans operate openly under either a dedicated title-lending statute or a permissive interpretation of the small-loan or pawn statutes. APR ceilings, where they exist, sit well into the triple digits. This is where the traditional storefront business model thrives.
States in this group typically include Alabama, Arizona, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Virginia. APR ranges in our calculator default to figures observed in regulator and industry data for these states. Several of these states have moved toward stricter rules in recent legislative sessions, which is one reason the “Last reviewed on” date at the top of this page matters.
If you’re borrowing in this category, the legal architecture is permissive but you still have rights: required disclosures, repossession procedures, and (in most cases) limits on the number of rollovers. See our before-you-sign checklist for the contract clauses to verify.
Some states permit title loans but cap rates — sometimes at the federal Military Lending Act ceiling of 36% APR, sometimes at intermediate levels around 60–120%. Where caps are tight, traditional title-loan storefronts are uncommon, but lenders may operate under different licences or as online lenders, and some borrowers obtain loans through brokers in adjacent states.
States in this group typically include California, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Oregon, and South Carolina, with rate ceilings that vary by loan size and structure. Florida and Illinois in particular are home to active legislative debate about their caps.
If you’re borrowing in this category, an offer that exceeds your state’s cap is presumptively unlawful. Confirm the lender’s licence with your state regulator. An online lender headquartered in another state is not exempt from your state’s consumer-protection law just because the application is filled out on a website.
A third group of states does not authorise title loans by name. Lenders sometimes structure products to fit under general consumer-finance licences, pawn licences, or other umbrellas. Whether such a product is lawful depends on the specific structure and how it interacts with the state’s general usury cap and consumer-finance licensing rules.
States in this group typically include Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
If you’re shopping in this category, be especially cautious: a storefront advertising title loans in one of these states may be operating in a regulatory grey area or may be structuring the deal as something other than a title loan to fit a different statute. Read the contract for the statute it cites, and verify the lender’s licence with the state regulator.
A small group of states have either banned vehicle-title lending outright or capped rates at levels low enough that the product cannot be offered profitably. New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania are commonly cited examples. Arkansas’s constitutional usury cap operates similarly to a ban on the typical title-loan product. The District of Columbia also caps rates restrictively.
If you’re a resident of one of these states and you encounter a website or storefront offering “title loans”, treat that as a yellow flag. Some operations target residents of restrictive states by routing applications through affiliated companies in permissive states or through tribal lenders claiming sovereign immunity. State attorneys-general have taken enforcement action against several such schemes. The simple test: ask the lender for its licence number under your state’s consumer-finance statute. If it can’t produce one, you don’t have a legal title loan, and any “loan” you receive is on shaky ground for the lender as well as for you.
The federal Military Lending Act caps consumer credit, including title loans, at a 36% Military APR for active-duty service members and their dependents. This cap supersedes state law where it applies. If you or a household member is an active-duty service member, any quoted title-loan APR above 36% Military APR is unlawful, regardless of the state. The Military Lending Act’s definition of “Military APR” is broader than the standard Truth in Lending Act APR, so look for the lender’s Military APR disclosure specifically, not just the standard APR.
The categories above reflect the broad picture as of the “Last reviewed on” date at the top of this guide. State legislatures are active in this area; in any given session, two or three states adjust their cap, add a rollover limit, or pass an outright restriction. We try to update this page as material changes occur. If you spot a state we’ve mis-classified, please email [email protected] with a citation to the current statute and we’ll update it.
For state-specific summaries with city-level pages, see our state directory. If your state appears in Category 4, the alternatives in our alternatives guide are likely to be your only legal options. If your state is in Category 1 or 2 and you’re still considering a title loan, run the numbers in our calculator and walk through the before-you-sign checklist before agreeing to any contract.