RICHMOND, Va. (Legal Newsline) — Virginia Attorney General Mark R. Herring announced a lawsuit May 4 against Net Credit, a major online lender in the state, for allegedly violating the Virginia Consumer Protection Act.
According to Herring’s office, the defendants issued loans in the past six years to more than 47,000 Virginia consumers that had interest rates of 34 percent to 155 percent. Purported conduct of this nature violates state law, which caps interest rates at 12 percent per year except for certain exceptions.
“We’ve seen more and more Virginians turn to online lenders in a time of need only to find they’ve signed up for a debt trap that is going to cost them hundreds if not thousands of dollars in finance charges and interest,” Herring said. “I believe we need stronger laws to protect Virginians from predatory loans, whether issued online or in-person. "But until we get those, I’m going to make sure the laws we have are enforced and make sure companies can’t come into our state and abuse financially vulnerable Virginians.”
