Lenders pushed "predatory" puppy loans at pet stores across the U.S., group says

Consumer and animal welfare advocates are decrying high-cost loans they say are being offered at pet stores across the U.S. to help people buy puppies.

Ogden, Utah-based Transportation Alliance Bank, or TAB Bank, is helping a lending business called EasyPay Finance bypass state interest rate caps and make pet loans with annual interest charges of between 130% and nearly 189%, the National Consumer Law Center said in a report. Those rates are illegal in most states for non-bank lenders. 

But EasyPay issues its loans through TAB, allowing the money to be classified as bank loans exempt from state laws, according to the advocacy group. That practice is known as "rent-a-bank."