First American Title Lending of Georgia, LLC; Analysis of Proposed Consent Order To Aid Public Comment, 6717-6718 [2015-02373]

Agencies

• FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION

[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 25 (Friday, February 6, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 6717-6718]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-02373]


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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION

[File No. 132 3264]


First American Title Lending of Georgia, LLC; Analysis of 
Proposed Consent Order To Aid Public Comment

AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission.

ACTION: Proposed Consent Agreement.

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SUMMARY: The consent agreement in this matter settles alleged 
violations of federal law prohibiting unfair or deceptive acts or 
practices. The attached Analysis to Aid Public Comment describes both 
the allegations in the draft complaint and the terms of the consent 
order--embodied in the consent agreement--that would settle these 
allegations.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before March 3, 2015.

ADDRESSES: Interested parties may file a comment at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/firstamericanlendingconsent/ online or 
on paper, by following the instructions in the Request for Comment part 
of the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below. Write ``First American 
Title Lending of Georgia, LLC--Consent Agreement; File No. 1323264'' on 
your comment and file your comment online at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/firstamericanlendingconsent/ by 
following the instructions on the web-based form. If you prefer to file 
your comment on paper, write ``First American Title Lending of Georgia, 
LLC--Consent Agreement; File No. 1323264'' on your comment and on the 
envelope, and mail your comment to the following address: Federal Trade 
Commission, Office of the Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Suite 
CC-5610 (Annex D), Washington, DC 20580, or deliver your comment to the 
following address: Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, 
Constitution Center, 400 7th Street SW., 5th Floor, Suite 5610 (Annex 
D), Washington, DC 20024.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Helen Wong, Bureau of Consumer 
Protection, (202) 326-3779, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Washington, DC 
20580.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant to Section 6(f) of the Federal 
Trade Commission Act, 15 U.S.C. 46(f), and FTC Rule 2.34, 16 CFR 2.34, 
notice is hereby given that the above-captioned consent agreement 
containing consent order to cease and desist, having been filed with 
and accepted, subject to final approval, by the Commission, has been 
placed on the public record for a period of thirty (30) days. The 
following Analysis to Aid Public Comment describes the terms of the 
consent agreement, and the allegations in the complaint. An electronic 
copy of the full text of the consent agreement package can be obtained 
from the FTC Home Page (for January 30, 2015), on the World Wide Web, 
at https://www.ftc.gov/os/actions.shtm.
    You can file a comment online or on paper. For the Commission to 
consider your comment, we must receive it on or before March 3, 2015. 
Write ``First American Title Lending of Georgia, LLC--Consent 
Agreement; File No. 1323264'' on your comment. Your comment--including 
your name and your state--will be placed on the public record of this 
proceeding, including, to the extent practicable, on the public 
Commission Web site, at https://www.ftc.gov/os/publiccomments.shtm. As a 
matter of discretion, the Commission tries to remove individuals' home 
contact information from comments before placing them on the Commission 
Web site.
    Because your comment will be made public, you are solely 
responsible for making sure that your comment does not include any 
sensitive personal information, like anyone's Social Security number, 
date of birth, driver's license number or other state identification 
number or foreign country equivalent, passport number, financial 
account number, or credit or debit card number. You are also solely 
responsible for making sure that your comment does not include any 
sensitive health information, like medical records or other 
individually identifiable health information. In addition, do not 
include any ``[t]rade secret or any commercial or financial information 
which . . . is privileged or confidential,'' as discussed in Section 
6(f) of the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. 46(f), and FTC Rule 4.10(a)(2), 16 CFR 
4.10(a)(2). In particular, do not include competitively sensitive 
information such as costs, sales statistics, inventories, formulas, 
patterns, devices, manufacturing processes, or customer names.
    If you want the Commission to give your comment confidential 
treatment, you must file it in paper form, with a request for 
confidential treatment, and you have to follow the procedure explained 
in FTC Rule 4.9(c), 16 CFR 4.9(c).\1\ Your comment will be kept 
confidential only if the FTC General Counsel, in his or her sole 
discretion, grants your request in accordance with the law and the 
public interest.
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    \1\ In particular, the written request for confidential 
treatment that accompanies the comment must include the factual and 
legal basis for the request, and must identify the specific portions 
of the comment to be withheld from the public record. See FTC Rule 
4.9(c), 16 CFR 4.9(c).
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    Postal mail addressed to the Commission is subject to delay due to 
heightened security screening. As a result, we encourage you to submit 
your comments online. To make sure that the Commission considers your 
online comment, you must file it at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/firstamericanlendingconsent/ by following the instructions on the 
web-based form. If this Notice appears at https://www.regulations.gov/#!home, you also may file a comment through that Web site.
    If you file your comment on paper, write ``First American Title 
Lending of Georgia, LLC--Consent Agreement; File No. 1323264'' on your 
comment and on the envelope, and mail your comment to the following 
address: Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, 600 
Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Suite CC-5610 (Annex D), Washington, DC 20580, 
or deliver your comment to the following address: Federal Trade 
Commission, Office of the Secretary, Constitution Center, 400 7th 
Street SW., 5th Floor, Suite 5610 (Annex D), Washington, DC 20024. If 
possible, submit your paper comment to the Commission by courier or 
overnight service.
    Visit the Commission Web site at https://www.ftc.gov to read this 
Notice and the news release describing it. The FTC Act and other laws 
that the Commission administers permit the collection of public 
comments to consider and use in this proceeding as appropriate. The 
Commission will consider all timely and responsive public comments that 
it receives on or before March 3, 2015. You can find more information, 
including routine uses permitted by the Privacy Act, in the 
Commission's privacy policy, at https://www.ftc.gov/ftc/privacy.htm.

Analysis of Proposed Consent Order To Aid Public Comment

    The Federal Trade Commission (``FTC'' or ``Commission'') has 
accepted, subject to final approval, an agreement containing a consent 
order from First American Title Lending of Georgia, LLC, or respondent. 
The proposed consent

[[Page 6718]]

order has been placed on the public record for thirty (30) days for 
receipt of comments by interested persons. Comments received during 
this period will become part of the public record. After thirty (30) 
days, the FTC will again review the agreement and the comments 
received, and will decide whether it should withdraw from the agreement 
and take appropriate action or make final the agreement's proposed 
order.
    The respondent is a car title loan company. According to the FTC 
complaint, respondent has advertised its loans with advertisements that 
broadly state that the title loans are available for ``0% Interest!'' 
Sometimes, but not always, these advertisements state in much smaller 
print, ``Certain terms and conditions may apply'' or ``Some 
restrictions apply.'' However, respondent's advertisements fail to 
disclose that unless the loan is completely repaid in 30 days, the 0% 
offer does not apply and there is a significant finance charge. If a 
consumer does not repay the loan in full in 30 days, he or she would 
then be required to pay the finance charge for the first 30 days in 
addition to any additional finance charges incurred on day 31 (to start 
the second 30-day period). The advertisements also fail to disclose the 
amount of the finance charge after expiration of the 30-day 
introductory period. The proposed complaint alleges that these material 
omissions constitute a deceptive act or practice under Section 5 of the 
FTC Act.
    The Commission is also alleging a Truth in Lending Act (``TILA'') 
violation against respondent. Some advertisements displayed ``9.5%'' 
next to the claim of ``0% interest.'' First American allegedly violated 
TILA by advertising a finance rate (9.5%), but failing to state the 
rate as an APR.
    The proposed order is designed to prevent the respondent from 
engaging in similar deceptive practices, or violating TILA, in the 
future. Part I prohibits the respondent from stating an introductory or 
temporary finance charge without disclosing, clearly and conspicuously, 
the finance charge after the introductory or temporary period ends; or 
the full effect of failing to make a timely complete repayment of the 
loan within the introductory or temporary time period. Respondent must 
further disclose all qualifying terms associated with obtaining the 
loan at its advertised rate, including but not limited to, minimum loan 
requirements, new customer requirements, and any other material term; 
all costs associated with obtaining the loan, including but not limited 
to transaction costs, registration costs or fees, recording costs or 
fees, and title fees. The respondent also cannot misrepresent any other 
material fact about the terms of the loan.
    Part II of the proposed order prohibits the respondent, in 
connection with any advertisement to promote, directly or indirectly, 
any extension of consumer credit in or affecting commerce, from 
expressly or by implication stating the amount or percentage of down 
payment, the number of payments or period of repayment, the amount of 
any payment, or the amount of any finance charge, without disclosing 
clearly and conspicuously all of the terms required by Section 144 of 
TILA, 15 U.S.C. 1664, and Section 1026.24(c) of Regulation Z, including 
but not limited to the amount of percentage or the down payment; the 
terms of repayment; and the annual percentage rate, using that term or 
the abbreviation ``APR.'' If the annual percentage rate or APR may be 
increased after the consummation of the credit transaction, that fact 
must also be disclosed. Moreover, the respondent cannot state a rate of 
finance charge without stating the rate as an ``annual percentage 
rate'' using that term or the abbreviation ``APR,'' as required by 
Section 144 of the TILA, 15 U.S.C. 1664, and Section 1026.24(c) of 
Regulation Z; or fail to comply in any other respect with the TILA, 15 
US.C. Sec. Sec.  1601-1667, as amended, and its implementing Regulation 
Z, 12 CFR 1026 as amended.
    Parts III through VII of the proposed order are reporting and 
compliance provisions. Part III is an order distribution provision that 
requires respondent to provide the order to current and future 
principals, officers, directors, and managers and to all current 
employees, agents, and representatives having responsibilities with 
respect to the advertisement of consumer credit. Part IV of the 
proposed order requires respondent to maintain and upon request make 
available to the Commission certain compliance-related records, 
including all advertisements and also consumer complaints and records 
that demonstrate compliance with the proposed order for a period of 
five years. Part V requires respondent to notify the Commission of 
corporate changes that may affect compliance obligations within 30 days 
of such a change. Part VI requires respondent to submit a compliance 
report to the Commission 60 days after entry of the order, and also 
additional compliance reports within 10 business days of a written 
request by the Commission. Part VII ``sunsets'' the order after 20 
years, with certain exceptions.
    The purpose of this analysis is to aid public comment on the 
proposed order. It is not intended to constitute an official 
interpretation of the complaint or proposed order, or to modify in any 
way the proposed order's terms.

    By direction of the Commission.
Donald S. Clark,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2015-02373 Filed 2-5-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-P