John Suthers (R)
DENVER, Colo. (Legal Newsline) - Colorado Attorney General John Suthers announced Tuesday that examinations into consumer credit compliance has returned more than $1.8 million to taxpayers.
More than 13,000 Colorado consumers will receive a refund after the state investigated 610 nonbank lenders, beginning last fiscal year.
Refunds are a result of violations of Colorado's Uniform Consumer Credit Code, which is the state's primary consumer lending law.
The Republican attorney general said state law sets maximum rates on interest and finance charge and limits amounts for delinquency fees and other charges. Most of the refunds were due to excess finance charges on credit transactions.
"The size and scope of last year's refunds underlines the effectiveness of our compliance examination program," Suthers said. "Although individual refunds might be small in most cases, the overall results are sizeable."
According to the attorney general's office supervised lenders include finance companies, deferred deposit lenders (commonly known as payday lenders) and some mortgage companies.
They are routinely examined by the state's Consumer Credit Unit for compliance with the law.