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The law changed in 2025. The maximum loan doubled to $700, and the $45 cap on fees was removed. But every contract must include an extended payment plan — and you have to ask for it in writing.
Act 510 of 2025 — a material change
Until 2025 a deferred presentment transaction here was capped at $350, with the fee limited to 16.75% of the check and no more than $45. The 2025 Act raised the maximum to $700 and removed the $45 ceiling entirely.
The Office of Financial Institutions must now publish an inflation-adjusted maximum annually. For 1 September 2025 to 31 August 2026 it set $720 for deferred presentment transactions and $360 for small loans.
The fee remains 16.75% of the check’s face amount — but with no dollar cap above it, that percentage now applies to twice the principal.
La. R.S. 9:3578.1 et seq. — Deferred Presentment and Small Loan Act, Title 9 Chapter 2-A
This is stronger than in most states. OFI states that an extended payment plan is required in all deferred presentment transaction and small loan contracts, under La. R.S. 9:3578.4.1 — and that the disclosure must carry the lender’s name, email address, phone number and fax.Louisiana · RegulatorLouisiana Office of Financial Institutions — extended payment plan required in all deferred presentment transaction and small loan contracts; the Act clarifies that a request for an extended payment plan be made in writing and requires lenders to include the lender name, email address, phone number and facsimile in the required disclosure
The request must be made in writing. Not a phone call. Put it in an email to the address the lender is legally obliged to give you, and keep a copy.
While you are on a plan, neither you nor the lender may enter a further transaction until it is repaid in full — which is the point of it.
The Act bars rolling a loan over, but permits refinancing on payment of 25% of the principal plus fees each time. That is a partial-paydown requirement rather than a free extension — it slows the cycle without ending it.
After default a lender may charge 36% a year for the first twelve months and 18% thereafter, or a one-time delinquency fee of $10 or 5% of the amount borrowed, whichever is greater. Plus one NSF fee.
Louisiana has legislated against restructuring the product to escape the Act — specifically barring deferred presentment transactions and small loans disguised as personal property sales, consumer credit sales, leaseback transactions, or a revolving line of credit.Louisiana · Legislative recordLouisiana Legislative Fiscal Office note — prohibits a deferred presentment licensee from making deferred presentment transactions or small loans disguised as personal property sales, consumer credit sales and leaseback transactions, from disguising a deferred presentment transaction or small loan as a revolving line of credit; performance of the prohibited acts shall constitute a violation of Louisiana's Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law
Breach of the Act is a violation of Louisiana’s Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law, which carries its own remedies.
The same “revolving line of credit” disguise is named in Delaware’s regulations, and is permitted in practice in Tennessee under a separate act.
You can revoke authorisation and instruct your bank to stop the payment, whatever your agreement says.
What Regulation E says about automatic payments →
A payday loan is a consumer debt. If it goes unpaid, two Louisiana rules decide what a lender can do next: how long it has to sue you, and how much of your pay a court can order taken.
Being sued over an old payday loan? A collector can still file, but the time limit is a defence you can raise — and you cannot be jailed for the debt. What can and cannot happen if you don’t pay →