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Verified against the state regulator Sources checked · 28 July 2026

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Payday loans in Texas

No cap on fees at all. The business you deal with is licensed as a broker, not a lender — and a broker’s fee is not subject to any rate ceiling.

Texas Finance Code Chapter 393 — Credit Services Organizations

In Texas the business you deal with is not the lender. That is the whole design.

Texas payday lending runs through credit access businesses — credit services organisations that arrange payday and title loans rather than making them. The OCCC describes the mechanics: you sign a promissory note with the lender for the loan itself, and a separate credit service agreement with the credit access business. Both are signed at the CAB’s premises, and payments are made directly to the CAB.Texas · RegulatorTexas Office of Consumer Credit Commissioner — the borrower will sign a promissory note with the lender for the actual loan and a separate credit service agreement with the credit access business; generally all documents are signed at the credit access business location and payments are made directly to the credit access business

The consequence is the point. The lender’s interest is subject to the rate ceiling. The CAB’s fee is a charge for a service, and Texas sets no cap on it.

There is no statewide fee cap, and the regulator cannot create one

The OCCC licenses every credit access business in Texas, examines them and takes enforcement action. What it cannot do is limit what they charge — that authority does not exist at state level.

What fills the gap is municipal ordinances. Around 45 Texas cities, including Austin, Dallas, San Antonio and Houston, have adopted local rules capping loan size against income and limiting refinances. Your protection in Texas may depend on which side of a city line you are standing on.

And the OCCC has told the Legislature what that produces

In quarterly updates to the Texas Senate, the OCCC has described practices used to sidestep regulation — among them referring consumers to locations outside city limits in order to avoid the application of city ordinances, and assisting consumers to obtain products other than payday or title loans in order to avoid the requirements that apply to CABs.Texas · RegulatorOCCC quarterly update to the Texas Senate Business and Commerce Committee — referring consumers to locations outside city limits, in order to avoid the application of city ordinances; assisting consumers in obtaining loans other than payday or title loans, in order to avoid regulatory requirements

That is the regulator telling the legislature, on the record, that a patchwork of city rules produces drive-across avoidance. It is the clearest argument on the site for why a cap has to follow the loan rather than the location.

What Texas does require — and where the data lives

A comparison disclosure. A CAB must give you a disclosure prescribed by the Finance Commission setting out interest, fees and APR — and comparing those charges to alternative forms of consumer debt.Texas · Legislative recordOCCC update to the Texas Legislature — credit access businesses are required to provide a consumer disclosure prescribed by the Finance Commission; the disclosure must include interest, fees, and APR for the loan and a comparison of those charges to alternative forms of consumer debt If you were not given it, that is a complaint to the OCCC.

Quarterly and annual reporting. Every CAB must file quarterly and annual reports for all licensed locations, due 30 April, 31 July, 31 October and 31 January.Texas · Enforcement orderOCCC final order — under Chapter 393 and its implementing rules, a credit access business must file quarterly and annual reports with the OCCC for all licensed locations; all information must be accurate and calculated in accordance with the OCCC's instructions

Those filings are why Texas publishes some of the best pricing data in the country by metropolitan area — including average fees per $100 and how often loans are refinanced. It is underused, and it is public.

Fee cap
None at state level.
Who is licensed
The credit access business — the broker, not the lender.
What you sign
Two agreements: a promissory note with the lender, and a credit service agreement with the CAB.
Who you pay
The CAB, directly.
Local rules
Around 45 cities impose their own caps and refinance limits.
Required disclosure
Interest, fees and APR, compared to alternative forms of consumer debt.
Reporting
Quarterly and annual, per licensed location.
Regulator
Office of Consumer Credit Commissioner · occc.texas.gov · (800) 538-1579
Statute
Tex. Fin. Code ch. 393; OCCC rules at 7 TAC ch. 83

If money is being taken from your account

You can revoke authorisation and instruct your bank to stop the payment, whatever your agreement says.

What Regulation E says about automatic payments →

Debt-collection law in Texas

A payday loan is a consumer debt. If it goes unpaid, two Texas rules decide what a lender can do next: how long it has to sue you, and how much of your pay a court can order taken.

Being sued over an old payday loan? A collector can still file, but the time limit is a defence you can raise — and you cannot be jailed for the debt. What can and cannot happen if you don’t pay →

Sources. Texas Office of Consumer Credit Commissioner, credit access business guidance. OCCC quarterly updates to the Texas Senate Business and Commerce Committee and the House Investments and Financial Services Committee. OCCC enforcement orders on CAB reporting obligations. Tex. Fin. Code ch. 393; 7 TAC ch. 83.
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