SAINT LOUIS, MO (KMOX) - An unexpected car repair can put many people in the hole, financially.
Some chain repair shops are offering interest-free loans.
Consumer groups want to put the brakes on those payment plans..
"When you're there in the shop and you just need your car back and you're just told here, you've just got to take it on faith and unfortunately some shops are taking advantage of that."
Lauren Saunders is Associate Director of the National Consumer Law Center, one of several groups that has written letters to more than half a dozen major national auto repair chains. That letter asks them to stop offering customers 90-day interest free loans from an outfit called EasyPay Finance.
Saunders says an investigation by the groups and Consumer Reports revealed multiple complaints by consumers who say they were charged interest rates as high as 189%. "We actually don't have any national interest rate limits in this country."
Some states do. Saunders says Missouri does not limit interest rates. And she points out, even if a state does EasyPay has found a way around it -- they use a Utah bank to process the loans. In many cases, banks aren't subject to interest rate limits.
In other complaints, consumer said their payments weren't credited on time, or they were reported to credit bureaus even when they had paid.
Dozens of auto repair shops in the St. Louis region are listed on EasyPay Finance's website, including Meineke, Midas, and National Tire and Battery. KMOX News reached out to multiple shops who referred us back to corporate offices. The Corporate offices have not returned our messages. KMOX also reached out to EasyPay Finance and have not received a response.