Loans in Iowa: payday, personal & title loan laws (2026)

Payday loans (delayed deposit services) are legal in Iowa from businesses licensed by the Division of Banking under the Delayed Deposit Services Licensing Act, Iowa Code chapter 533D. Checks are capped at $500 total and 31 days.

A lender may not hold checks from you totaling more than $500 at any one time.

$15 on the first $100 of the check and no more than $10 on each additional $100 (pro rata for part of $100). No other fees.

Iowa caps consumer loans secured by a car title at 21% a year unless the lender is licensed under the Regulated Loan Act (chapter 536) or Industrial Loan Act (chapter 536A), and bans disguising a title loan as a sale, lease, pawn or similar deal.

21% a year on the unpaid amount financed, except as authorized under chapter 536 or 536A. Structuring a title loan as a sale, sale-and-repurchase, sale-and-lease, pawn, rental-purchase or lease to avoid the cap is an unlawful practice under the consumer fraud act.

Regulated lenders: rates set by Banking Superintendent rule; 2026 rule rewrite unclear.

Yes. A person may not be in the business of making loans of the threshold amount or less at more than the rate otherwise allowed by law without a license from the Superintendent of Banking. Supervised loans made without authority are void, and the consumer owes neither the amount financed nor the finance charge.