Payday loans are illegal in Georgia. There are 19 states that do not allow payday lending. There are over 10,000 payday loan stores across the country. Nevertheless, it is illegal in Georgia to make a payday loan. The Industrial Loan Act of 1955 essentially made payday lending illegal, by requiring state licensing and registration and by imposing strict usury limits on small loans.

The federal Truth in Lending Act requires disclosure of the cost of credit.  You must receive, in writing, the finance charge (a dollar amount) and the APR, which is the cost of credit on a yearly basis.  Payday lenders are subject to this regulation. Lender cannot charge beyond usury limits on a loan of $3,000 or less. The new payday lending law caps the annual percentage rate at 16%.

Borrowers can sue the payday lenders three times the total amount of all the interest and the charges plus the attorneys' fee and court costs. All the payday loan lenders in the state of Georgia are required to provide the cost of credit to the borrower, before providing the loan amount. Georgia payday loan consumers by the tens of thousands continue to get access to payday loans via the Internet and payday loan call centers based in other states and offshore.