Installment loans in Texas: amounts, cost and the rules that apply.

Who is actually lending you the money in Texas?

Not Galt Credit. This is the single most important thing to understand about a Texas loan, and the lender states it plainly in its own disclosures: in Texas, Galt Credit is not a direct lender.

Galt Financial Solutions LLC operates as a Credit Services Organization and Credit Access Business (CSO/CAB) licensed by the Texas Office of Consumer Credit Commissioner. Its job is to arrange a loan between you and an unaffiliated third-party lender, to service that loan if it is funded, and to guarantee it to the lender. Galt Credit LLC separately holds a licence with the OCCC.

That structure has three consequences you can see on the paperwork. First, your cost is split in two: the third-party lender charges interest at a rate not exceeding 10% per annum, and the CAB charges its own fees on top. Combined and expressed as an annual rate, that is the roughly 598% APR on the published schedule — on the $500 example, $935.84 of the $952.81 finance charge is the CAB fee and $16.97 is lender interest.

Second, questions about your loan go to Galt Financial Solutions on 888-743-6229, not to the third-party lender. Third, the Texas maximum is $1,000 rather than the $1,500 available in the three states where Galt Credit lends directly.

Your three-day right to cancel

Texas borrowers may cancel the loan within three calendar days of signing the loan documents. Cancellation forms are provided with those documents. This right does not exist in every state, so it is worth knowing you have it here.

What it costs in Texas

Texas is the one state where the lender publishes a full fee schedule, which makes it the most transparent of the four. These are its own figures.

Final payments differ slightly — $91.98 on the $400 bi-weekly schedule, for example. These are the lender’s published examples, not offers.

Read the total of payments column before the payment column. Borrowing $1,000 on the bi-weekly schedule returns $2,960.34. That is what the loan costs, and it is the number the payment figure tends to hide.

Fees beyond the finance charge

There is no application fee and no prepayment penalty. Two fees exist and both are consequences of a missed payment rather than costs of the loan itself: a returned item fee of $30.00 when a payment is dishonoured, and a late fee of $7.50 or 5% of the late payment, whichever is greater, on payments more than ten days past due.

Contact the lender at least two business days before a due date you cannot meet. That is the window in which neither fee has to happen.

Who qualifies in Texas

You need to be at least 18, a US citizen or permanent resident, employed for three months or more with verifiable recurring income, holding an active checking account in your own name, and resident in Texas. The decision leans on verified income and bank activity rather than on a credit score, which is why a damaged file does not end the application on its own.

Approval is not guaranteed. Applications are subject to verification of identity, income and banking history, and the amount offered can be lower than the amount requested. Loans of this type are not offered to covered borrowers as defined by the Military Lending Act — if you are an active-duty service member, a spouse or a dependent, look for a lender operating under the 36% Military APR cap.

Where in Texas this is available

The application is entirely online, so it is available anywhere in Texas with a bank account and an internet connection — Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Austin, Fort Worth, El Paso, Arlington, Corpus Christi, Plano, Laredo, Lubbock, Amarillo, Brownsville, McAllen, Killeen, Waco, Tyler and Odessa included. There are no branches to visit and nothing to fax. Funding is sent by ACH and normally arrives the next business day, though the timing depends on your own bank and is never guaranteed.

Cheaper places to look first in Texas

Every one of these costs less than a 598% APR loan, and every one of them is free to ask about.

• A Texas credit union. Many offer payday alternative loans capped at 28% APR, in amounts from $200 to $2,000. Membership is often open to anyone living in a county or working for a listed employer.
• The biller. Utilities, hospitals and landlords in Texas routinely run payment plans, frequently interest-free. They are rarely advertised; you have to ask.
• 211. Dialling 211 connects you to Texas utility assistance, rent help and food programmes in your own county.
• Your employer. Hardship advances and earned-wage access programmes exist at more employers than people expect.
• A nonprofit credit counsellor. The right call if this is the third shortfall in three months.

Your Texas regulator

If something goes wrong, you can complain directly and it costs nothing. The Texas Office of Consumer Credit Commissioner supervises this lender in Texas.

2601 North Lamar Boulevard, Austin, Texas 78705-4207 · 800-538-1579 · [email protected]

The Online Lenders Alliance, of which the lender is a member, also runs a consumer hotline on 1-866-299-7585. State licence documents are published on the lender’s own site; verify them at the source before you apply.