California Loans

The California Finance Law, however, contains a clause stating that a credit found to be unreasonable is a breach of the Finance Act. The non-bank financier CashCall Inc. had a derivative instrument that was a $2,600 US dollar Unsecured Term Loan due over 42 months with an APR of 96% or 135%.

The claimants brought an action against CashCall alleging that those loans infringed California statute on the grounds of unlawful competitive practices by being unreasonable. A number of defensive measures have been taken by CashCall, among them that a California based financier may demand any interest rates on $2,500 or more credit for consumers, and that such credit may not be unreasonable.

Notably, the court's verdict will have little effect on non-C alifornia Finance Law jurisdictions, but could have a significant influence on non-banks as it will lead to a significant increase in legal disputes. Whatever final decisions are made regarding CashCall's loans, non-bank creditors may consider whether they need to verify the interest rate they charge and how they will contract with California loan recipients, especially with regard to unsecured loans.

This could have a significant effect, as the Los Angeles Times reports that last year alone state-licensed creditors in California granted more than 350,000 loans to consumers with 100% or more a year. Several trading groups have voiced concerns that a ruling in favour of the claimants could bring the California ultra high-yield loan markets to a standstill.

Indeed, according to press coverage, it seems that a consumers creditor has already stopped such loans in California.