State lending law research: one question, all 51 jurisdictions, every answer cited to its section
One question, all fifty states at once, every answer cited to the rule it comes from.
See one case, screen by screen ↓A research solution for compliance teams that answers what each lending rule requires, cited. You ask one question in plain words; it answers for all 50 states and DC at once on a map and in a table, each state cited to the section its answer comes from.
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Product wants one late fee it can print on every contract. Collections wants to know what a text message may say in each state. Licensing wants to know whether a $5,000 unsecured loan needs a license. A national lender’s compliance team answers dozens of these “what does this state require?” questions a week — from memory, law-firm alerts and policy binders. The first state takes ten minutes. The other fifty take a working day or more.
And the answer is out of date the day a state amends its rule. Answers live in email, uncited, so when a default-charge regulation changes nobody knows which saved answers — and which product decisions — rested on the old text. Fee caps differ widely from state to state, so one uniform fee across a national product breaks the cap wherever the state is stricter, and over-charging a fee is a restitution matter.
Estimated split, in hours, for one fifty-state question researched in house, by hand and with the solution. Counsel’s review is not included.
Fifty-one state readers answer in parallel, a checker reads every answer back against its passage; the analyst decides and counsel reviews.
Tuesday, October 13, 9:12. Product wants one late fee for the Flex Installment Loan, launching in February 2027. Here is what happens next, screen by screen, in the working solution.
Tomás in product asks the question Rachel hears every week: what is the most we can charge for a late payment? She types it in plain words. The solution fills in the reference loan from Settings — consumer installment loan, unsecured, $5,000 over 36 months, payment $182.40, rules in force Oct 13, 2026 — so every state’s cap is worked out on the same payment.
“What is the maximum late fee on a consumer installment loan?”
Rachel presses Ask every state. The research agent restates the question with its facts and scopes 51 jurisdictions — Larkhaven is licensed in all 50 states and DC. Then 51 state readers go to work in parallel, and the map fills west to east as each one finishes: 22 of 51 a moment later.
“51 state readers read 214 candidate passages, in parallel.”
The readers worked out each cap on the $182.40 payment, applying “whichever is greater / less” exactly as written. The citation checker read every answer back against its passage. Change watch found three changes inside 90 days, and the policy gap agent laid the lender’s fee policy over the answer. The last line is not an agent’s: Rachel decides what to save and send.
“Citation checker read every answer back against its passage — 58 passages · 58 supported · 0 removed.”
Eight jurisdictions cap the fee at $10 or less on a $182.40 payment, six between $10.01 and $14.99, 21 between $15 and $25, nine above $25, and seven set no fixed cap — the fee is as agreed in the contract. Texas carries an amber ring. Rachel clicks it: 7 Tex. Admin. Code § 83.602 now allows 5% of the payment or $10, whichever is greater, from September 1, 2026. Colorado (Aug 1) and Illinois (Jul 1) changed too.
Texas · Sep 1, 2026 · $9.12 → $10.00
Open the cited section and the Texas default-charge section reads like the page it is, with passage (b) highlighted and the September change shown as a redline. In the margin: the plain answer, the arithmetic, the citation checker’s verdict, and the two saved answers the change has made stale.
“Supported — the answer matches passage (b) word for word; the amount is quoted, not recalculated.”
CP-14 § 4.2 of Larkhaven’s Consumer Fee Policy says the late charge is 5% of the late installment, minimum $15. Turn on Our policy and the 14 jurisdictions where that minimum is above the state’s cap are outlined and hatched in red — every state in the two strictest bands.
“14 jurisdictions where our fee is above the cap.”
The same answer as a 51-row table: the rule in plain words, the cap on $182.40, when the fee may be charged, the citation, the date it changed and how far CP-14’s $15 minimum sits above the cap — from $10.00 in Massachusetts to $1.50 in Minnesota. Filter to the 14 breaches or the three changes, and export it with citations.
The policy gap agent reads clause 4.2 against each state’s cap and drafts the fix for Schedule A: in those 14 jurisdictions the late charge is the lesser of the policy’s amount and the most the state’s rule allows. It also notes that the $25 returned payment fee in clause 4.4 is above the cap in 20 jurisdictions. It drafts; it does not change the policy.
Drafts only; counsel signs. Never edits a policy document.
Rachel saves the answer — “Maximum late fee — consumer installment loan”, 51 jurisdictions, 58 citations — and it replaces the June 2 version that went stale when Texas, Colorado and Illinois changed. It waits for counsel review; Tomás gets it once Hannah has reviewed it, as the review rule requires.
Counsel reviews every answer before it leaves compliance.
Hannah reads the answer, the 14-state table and the drafted exception, then signs the CP-14 § 4.2 exception. Nineteen minutes after the question was asked, product has one late-fee rule it can print, with a cap for every state that needs one — and the answer will mark itself stale the morning a rule underneath it changes.
“Signed by Hannah Lindqvist · Oct 13, 9:31”
The same late-fee question, seen by the five people who carry it — what their week looked like, and what it looks like now.
Fifty-one state readers answer in parallel, a checker reads every answer back against its passage; the analyst decides and counsel reviews.
Reads a rule question in plain words, fixes the loan facts it depends on — product, secured or not, amount, term, payment — scopes the jurisdictions, and writes one plain answer per state from the state readers’ passages.
One per jurisdiction, run in parallel. Each reads its state’s statutes, administrative code and regulator guidance for the facts asked, applies “whichever is greater / less” exactly as written, and returns the passage, the section, the cap and the grace period.
Reads every plain answer back against its passage — the amount, the condition and the grace period — and removes any sentence the passage does not support.
Compares every section’s version each night, flags changes inside the change window, writes the redline, and marks saved answers and policies that relied on the old text — then tells their owners.
Lays the lender’s own policy over an answer, finds the states where a clause breaks the rule, and drafts a per-state exception table for counsel.
Saves and sends; counsel reviews and signs exceptions. The agents propose; a named person decides.
Anyone in compliance can ask about any state’s lending rules, or tell it what to compare. Every answer carries its citation.
Which states changed their late fee rule in the last 90 days?
Three did. Texas now allows 5% of the installment or $10, whichever is greater, from September 1. Colorado lowered its cap from $25 to 5% or $15 on August 1. Illinois moved from $15 to 5% or $12.50 on July 1. They are marked on the map.
Where does our $15 minimum late fee break the cap?
In 14 jurisdictions: Massachusetts ($5.00), New York, New Jersey, DC, Connecticut, Vermont and Maryland ($9.12), Texas ($10.00), Pennsylvania ($10.94), Rhode Island ($11.00), West Virginia and Maine ($12.00), Illinois ($12.50) and Minnesota ($13.50). The policy gap agent has drafted the exception for counsel.
Show me the Texas passage
7 Tex. Admin. Code § 83.602(b), as amended September 1, 2026 — “five percent of the amount of the scheduled installment or $10, whichever is greater”. On the $182.40 payment that is $10.00.
Save this answer for Tomás and ask Hannah to review it
Saved as “Maximum late fee — consumer installment loan” with 58 citations, replacing the stale June version. Hannah Lindqvist has it for review; Tomás will get it when she signs.
13 screens from the working solution, on its sample data. Pick one to see it large.
What every question assumes, what the team watches and who reviews are settings, not a project.
| Setting | Default | Choose from |
|---|---|---|
| Product, when a question does not say | Installment | Installment · Auto · Line of credit |
| Reference amount, term and payment | $5,000 · 36 months · $182.40 | Caps are worked out on this payment |
| Jurisdictions in scope | All 50 states and DC | Where you are licensed |
| Change window | 90 days | 30 days · 90 days · 12 months |
| Counsel review | Required — Hannah Lindqvist | Before an answer leaves compliance |
| Policies laid over answers | Three policies | CP-14 Consumer Fee Policy · CP-9 Collections Contact · CP-3 Licensing |
| Watched topics | Six topics | Late fees · Returned payment fees · Rate caps · Licensing · Unfair and abusive · Fair lending |
Every figure is labelled: a target the solution is built to, an estimate, a typical published result, or a proven one.
“demo” = seen in the working solution, on its sample data · “estimated” = our estimate · “typical” = published figures (Bloomberg Law customer ROI survey — 7–8 hours or $5–6K per multistate survey; NCLC, Predatory Installment Lending in the States, 2022 — 45 states and DC cap rates and fees on at least some installment loans). Rule text, amounts and amendments shown are abbreviated demonstration content in the working solution, not legal advice. People, companies and law firms named on this page are fictional — characters and sample data in the working solution.
A research solution for compliance teams that answers what each lending rule requires, cited. You ask one question in plain words; it answers for all 50 states and DC at once on a map and in a table, each state cited to the section its answer comes from.
A survey is a set of summaries written in advance. This answers your team’s own question, on your own reference loan, across every state at once — the cap worked out on your payment — and lays your own policy over the answer so the states where it breaks the rule show.
Every plain answer carries its passage. A citation checker reads each answer back against that passage — amount, condition and grace period — and removes any sentence the passage does not support. Amounts are quoted from the text, never rounded, and an ambiguous rule goes to a person.
Change watch compares every section nightly. States that changed inside your change window pulse on the map with the redline, and every saved answer that relied on the old text is marked stale and its owner told. The working solution flags Texas, Colorado and Illinois this way.
Yes. Link a policy and the policy gap agent lays it over the answer clause by clause, lists the states where it breaks the cap and by how much, and drafts the exception. It never edits the policy; counsel signs the exception.
Yes. The analyst decides what is saved and sent. Counsel reviews every saved answer before it leaves compliance and signs every policy exception. Every question, passage and review is in the audit trail.
State statutes and administrative codes, regulator bulletins, FAQs and guidance, enforcement orders and settlements, the law-firm alerts your team subscribes to, and your own policies and procedures. Every section is kept by version, so an answer can be read as of any date.
The Agentic Solution Engine builds and deploys it from your requirements — your products, your policies, the sources you follow and a sample of questions your team has answered — and it goes live once every quality gate has passed. We will walk you through it on your own questions first.
Every new rule scoped to products and states, and owned the day it lands.
1-min demoHMDA and 1071 Data ValidationEvery record checked against the file, not a sample, before filing.
1-min demoFair Lending Exception MonitoringEvery exception reasoned at the time, not explained a quarter later.
1-min demoWe’ll run State Lending Law Research on the questions your team answered last month, against your own fee policy.