Did you know that you could get a loan even if your credit history is bad, or you have a huge stack of unpaid cards, or no money in the bank? All you do need is to own a car, and be willing to part with the paper vehicle title and use your vehicle as collateral, as well as allow the store or agency lending you the money, to place a lien on your car for the duration of your loan agreement.

You must have insurance on the car in order to get a car finance or car title loan in most states in the U.S. And of course, the car in question must be fully paid off and belong to you – which means that the title must be in your name and lien free, with no other pending loans or payments due against it. Lenders will require you to furnish a government issued identification, proof of income which is most cases means some sort of employment related documentation, proof of residential address (usually with a piece of US postal mail addressed to you), and car registration papers, in addition to the car title.

The terms of the loan agreement, including the amount of interest charged, the amount due at the time of closing out the loan, and the number of times you can roll over the loan, are all also regulated and determined in advance. Interest rates for car title loans tend to be higher than other types of credit, starting at around 35 percent and sometimes even going up to 100 percent. Different companies may of course offer different terms, and you can do the research as well as loan application for a car title loan online, or go into a store that engages in this business.

What happens if you cannot repay the loan in time? Well, that means your car gets taken over by the company, which has the right to sell off your repossessed vehicle to recover the amount it has loaned you and the interest.