There are some straws in the wind that legislatures across the country are thinking of more stringent regulation of the car title loan business, reports USA Today. The business thrives in Las Vegas like the pay day lenders but elsewhere in the country it is getting scrutiny for the high interest rates that these loans attract.

The industry defends itself by telling the paper that it provides loans for people who can’t get finance any other way and some of that is borne out by the borrowers themselves who seem to go to a store because it’s local and convenient, without thinking of the treadmill they could find themselves running on.

Even if it helps some people, there seems to be a really tough set of conditions on loans that can run up to 300 percent annual interest and then still risk losing the collateral that is worth much more than the loan. In Nevada, like many other states, the title lender keeps all the money from the sale of the car or truck, no matter how much is owed on the loan itself.

The Business Press reported earlier this year that one case of bankruptcy had a happier ending for the borrower than just losing the cars but that was unusual and barely seems to have touched the day-to-day workings of the industry. Most borrowers just don’t have the resources to fight a lawsuit. They just give up the car without much of a fight. A repossession rate of 5 percent, though, is going to attract attention at the Legislature sooner or later.