This comes from the Cleveland Plain Dealer so consider the source before you get excited.

In his latest rant against the payday lending industry in Ohio, Thomas Suddes argues payday lenders are operating through a loophole. The fact is, while dozens of lenders closed their doors upon passage of the annual rate cap in Ohio, other lenders, instead of laying off employees and turning customers away, began offering different credit products and services- all well within the Ohio lending laws.

In fact, during the legislative debate concerning payday lending, lenders were urged to apply for licenses to operate under Ohio’s Small Loan or Mortgage Loan Act and encouraged to come up with new credit products to service the growing consumer demand for short-term, small-dollar loans. This is exactly what lenders are doing- operating under the Small Loan or the Mortgage Loan Act, both which have been part of Ohio law for thirty years.

Ohio will soon join four other states that allow teenagers to gamble in full-fledged casinos or slots parlors. A column in the Plain Dealer discusses this move by Ohio state legislators..the same legislators that outlawed payday lending.

Says Rev. Gregory Hogan Sr., pastor of First Baptist Church of Barberton:

“The state is moving in a premeditated way to target the money of people least capable of incurring or financing debt. We’re targeting children. We’re telling 18-year-olds that it is OK for them to mortgage their financial futures.

“That makes the state-sponsored casinos worse than the private payday lenders,” he said.

Blogger News discusses the column:

You cannot attempt to run payday lenders out of town while simultaneously endorsing a regressive tax on people of lower incomes. That’s what state lotteries are, that’s what legalized gambling is, that’s what Keno is, that’s what slot machines are – regressive taxes.

PDLindustryblog calls the Cleveland Plain Dealer “annoying.”  To say the least.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer editorial page has endorsed the Lundy bill.  Yawn.

From the Cleveland Plain Dealer:

Under the Lorain Democrat’s bill, payday lenders would, for the first time, explicitly be held accountable under the state’s Consumer Sales Practices Act, which prohibits deceptive and unconscionable sales practices.

“I want them to know when this thing comes out of the gate that this means business,” Lundy said as he worked on the bill.

His bill would require payday lenders to follow the fair debt collection rules in place for third-party debt collectors when the lenders use their own employees to collect past-due amounts. Lenders would not, for example, be able to harass, threaten or intimidate consumers who fall behind on repayment.

This is an extraordinary over reaction.  Many payday lenders responded to the rate cap imposed last year by offering a new service.   I wonder if Mr. Lundy can point to consumer complaints (we doubt it) or specific problems with this new service.

The editorial writers at the Cleveland Plain Dealer are strongly in support on the Credit Card Bill of Rights.  They never met a regulation they didn’t like.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer writes its 1,000th payday lending editorial.   Does anybody care what they say at this point?

From a LTE in today’s paper:

The Plain Dealer’s editorial on short-term lending in the state misrepresented the facts (“Payday lenders keep right on fleecing Ohioans,” March 16). Currently, short-term lenders in Ohio are operating under the Small Loan Act, just as legislators requested last year. This law allows borrowers to receive loans of $500 or more at 28 percent APR with a one-time fee that can’t be rolled over or compounded.

Major banks such as Wells Fargo and Fifth Third have been offering loans under these same rules for years. Incredibly, interest groups are attacking only those organizations that previously offered payday loans. The group behind these attacks, the Center for Responsible Lending, is not responsible at all. This lobbying organization is funded by Herb and Marion Sandler, billionaire financiers who made their fortune offering the worst kinds of subprime, adjustable-rate mortgages.

During these tough economic times, credit is already hard enough to come by in Ohio. Further restriction of short-term loans would do nothing to reduce the financial need of individuals, and would only leave them struggling with another challenge to overcome.