If a short-term lender has overcharged you, refused a cancellation, threatened you or ignored the rules your city set, you have a real remedy. Knowing how to file a complaint Texas OCCC handles — and what evidence makes it stick — is the difference between a complaint that closes and one that produces a refund.
Quick answer: The Texas Office of Consumer Credit Commissioner licenses and supervises every credit access business in the state and investigates consumer complaints against them. Borrowers in El Paso have a second, independent channel: the City enforces Code Chapter 5.17, including the requirement that businesses keep three years of records for inspection.
What the OCCC can act on
The Office of Consumer Credit Commissioner is the state regulator for consumer credit in Texas. It issues the licences that credit access businesses, installment lenders and pawnshops must hold, examines them, and takes enforcement action. Complaints it routinely handles:
- Operating without a licence.
- Failing to give the required written fee disclosure before the agreement.
- Charging amounts the agreement does not support.
- Refusing a valid next-business-day cancellation.
- Threatening criminal charges over non-payment — barred in Texas except in cases of actual fraud.
- Abusive collection conduct.
What it will not do is set a price. Texas law expressly denies the OCCC authority to cap credit access business fees, so ‘the fee was too high’ is not by itself actionable. ‘The fee was not disclosed’, or ‘the fee charged does not match the disclosure’, very much is.
The agency also keeps updating the operating rules — it posted amendments to the CAB licensing and recordkeeping requirements on 15 July 2026 — and those recordkeeping duties are frequently what allows a complaint to be substantiated.
What to gather before you file
A complaint with documents attached is investigated. A complaint that describes a grievance is usually closed. Collect:
| Document | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| The loan agreement | Establishes the terms actually agreed |
| The written fee disclosure | Shows what you were told before signing — or that you were told nothing |
| Bank statements | Proves what was actually debited and when |
| The income documentation you supplied | Tests the El Paso 20%-of-gross-monthly-income cap |
| Texts, emails, voicemails | Evidence for threats or abusive collection |
| A dated timeline | Turns a story into a sequence an investigator can follow |
Write the timeline yourself, in plain order: applied on this date, was told this, signed this, was charged this, asked for this, was refused on this date. Name the branch and, where you can, the person. Attach everything rather than summarising it.
The second channel El Paso borrowers have
State licensing is only half of it in an ordinance city. El Paso Code Chapter 5.17, in force since 8 January 2013, requires every credit access business operating in the city to register with the City in addition to its OCCC licence, and to comply with limits the state does not impose:
- A payday advance may not exceed 20% of your gross monthly income.
- A motor-vehicle title loan may not exceed 70% of the vehicle’s retail value.
- Repayment in no more than four installments, or three renewals, each reducing principal by at least 25%.
- Records supporting all of it must be kept at least three years and made available for City inspection.
That last point is the one to lean on. If you believe you were advanced more than 20% of your gross monthly income, or renewed more times than allowed, the business is required to hold the paperwork that proves it either way — and the City can ask to see it. Raise an ordinance breach with the City and the licensing or disclosure issue with the OCCC. The two are independent and you can pursue both.
What happens after you file
Knowing the shape of the process makes it easier to stay with it.
- Acknowledgement. You receive a reference number. Keep it — every later call is faster with it.
- The business is asked to respond. Most regulators forward the complaint and require a written answer within a set period.
- Records are compared. This is where the El Paso three-year recordkeeping duty earns its keep: the business must be able to produce the paperwork behind the loan.
- An outcome. That may be a correction, restitution, a licence action, or a finding that no rule was broken. You are told which.
Two habits improve the odds. Respond quickly to any request for more information, and keep paying anything you genuinely owe while the complaint runs — a complaint does not suspend the debt, and falling behind during it muddies an otherwise clean case.
Where else to take it
Depending on what went wrong, other bodies may be a better fit or a useful addition.
- The CFPB takes complaints about lenders and debt collectors and forwards them to the company for a response.
- The Texas Attorney General handles deceptive trade practices.
- The FTC is the right venue for scams and unlicensed online operators.
- Military borrowers at Fort Bliss should also raise it through the installation legal assistance office — the Military Lending Act caps most consumer credit at 36% MAPR for covered service members and dependants, and a violation of that is a federal matter.
- Texas 211 can point you to local nonprofit credit counselling and to El Paso County assistance if the underlying issue is a bill you cannot pay.
File with the body that matches the problem rather than all of them at once. A licensing or disclosure failure belongs with the OCCC; an ordinance breach belongs with the City of El Paso; a scam belongs with the FTC. Sending the same complaint everywhere slows each of them down without improving your odds.
Filing costs nothing and does not require a lawyer. Keep copies of everything you send, and note the reference number you are given.
Frequently asked questions
The Office of Consumer Credit Commissioner, which licenses and supervises every credit access business in the state. In El Paso you can also complain to the City, which enforces its own ordinance separately.
It can take enforcement action where a business broke the law or its own disclosure, which may include restitution. It cannot act on the size of a fee alone, because Texas law specifically denies it authority to cap credit access business fees.
No. Filing is free, does not require a lawyer, and does not affect your credit. Keep copies of what you submit and the reference number you receive.
That claim is common and usually wrong or unverifiable. File with the OCCC anyway, and add the CFPB and FTC. Do not send further payments or bank details to an operator you cannot verify on the OCCC licence lookup.
Ask for the income documentation the business used. Chapter 5.17 requires it to establish your income from a pay stub or equivalent and retain the records for at least three years for City inspection, so the evidence should exist.
This article is educational and is not financial or legal advice. Before you borrow, confirm the business is licensed with the Texas Office of Consumer Credit Commissioner (OCCC) and registered with the City of El Paso, and read the fee disclosure in full.