This ongoing series from The Current GA as part of ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network, focuses on title pawn contracts, the lenders and the lack of regulation in a system that traps many borrowers who already need help to rise out of debt. Updated regularly, it shines light on the industry, regulation and the lenders and their customers.

Former TitleMax employees Ted Welsh Lupica and Cordelius Brown found that many of the Savannah, Georgia-based company’s policies were unethical. Credit: Malcolm Jackson for ProPublica

Source: Georgia Pawnbroker Act, Nevada Revised Statutes, Illinois Compiled Statutes, Illinois Administrative Code Graphic by Anna Donlan

Margaret Coker, the editor-in-chief, started her two-decade career in journalism at Cox Newspapers before going to work at The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. In that time she covered stories...