By request
May 7, 2010 | Ohio, industry | Comments (0)The Ohio story we had trouble linking to yesterday..
Noise is Ohio
May 3, 2010 | Ohio, industry, regulation | Comments (0)We’ve been ignoring this, hoping it would go away. From the Zanesville Times Recorder:
A group of Ohio lawmakers wants to pare down the fees payday lenders can charge their borrowers.
Rep. Matt Lundy, D-Elyria, said payday lenders still manage to take advantage of customers despite 2008 legislation that capped interest rates at 28 percent.
Lundy introduced the Small Loan Consumer Protection Act earlier this month with Rep. Gerald Stebelton, R-Lancaster. This is Lundy’s second attempt to rein in the industry. A much larger bill remains stalled in the House Financial Institutions, Real Estate and Securities Committee.
This bill, narrower in scope, was assigned to the Consumer Affairs and Economic Protection Committee, where Lundy is the chairman and six members are co-sponsors. Lundy said he is confident there will be enough votes to get the bill through the House and to the Senate.
This will get your heart pumping
May 2, 2010 | Ohio, industry, regulation | Comments (2)The Cleveland Plain Dealer’s 758th rant against the industry. How’s that employment rate in Ohio?
Everyone’s got an opinion
April 27, 2010 | Ohio, industry, regulation | Comments (0)Including the Morning Journal in Northern Ohio.
Throwing darts
April 26, 2010 | Ohio, industry, regulation | Comments (2)Weird analogy in yet another Cleveland Plain Dealer editorial about the industry:
Ohio House members have recrafted a plan to do what Ohio voters in 2008 said loudly, unmistakably, they wanted done — curbing “payday” lenders.
You’d think that question was settled a year ago last November. That’s when 64 percent of those Ohioans voting capped annual percentage rates (APRs) on payday-loans at 28 percent. But you’d be wrong.
That’s because payday lenders reincarnated under Ohio loan laws that let them charge interest and fees that can produce APRs of 391 percent, plus — the very APRs the 2008 law was supposed to prevent.
An Elyria Democrat, Rep. Matt Lundy, aimed to close those loopholes with an Ohio House bill introduced June 4. But a lobbying army hired by lenders, and the betrayal of Ohio consumers by some legislators, seemingly put the kibosh on Lundy’s proposal.
The Cleveland Plain Dealer won’t be happy until Ohio becomes a wasteland.
Good for Ohioans
April 21, 2010 | Ohio, federal legislation, industry | Comments (0)According to the Chamber of Commerce poll, they don’t support financial reform.
Ohio heat
April 17, 2010 | Ohio, industry, regulation | Comments (3)The Columbus Dispatch sheds light:
Payday lenders have hired 18 lobbyists, raised concerns about job losses and handed out hard-bound books to legislators featuring statements of support from customers.
But recent statements from legislative leaders indicate that the payday-lending industry’s full-court press might struggle to stop legislation that would further restrict fees on short-term, high-interest loans.
Protect Ohio jobs
April 14, 2010 | Ohio, industry, regulation | Comments (0)That seems to be the attitude of the Ohio legislature. At least I think that’s why further legislation is “slow going” according to this article.
What’s up in Ohio?
April 9, 2010 | Ohio, industry, regulation | Comments (1)This took me by surprise this morning:
Hoping to end a long stalemate on how to reduce fees charged by payday lenders, House Democrats are preparing to attack the issue from a new direction and likely send it to a more favorable committee.
Ten months ago, Rep. Matt Lundy, D-Elyria, introduced a bill that would cap the interest rate on short-term loans at 28 percent, enforcing the limit that lawmakers passed and Ohio voters affirmed in 2008. Payday lenders have avoided the interest-rate cap by switching to new lending licenses and charging a variety of fees.
The bill has remained stuck in committee, with opposition from both Republicans and some Democrats who see value in the high-interest lenders for their willingness to loan to people who otherwise lack access to credit.
To all the media hypocrit(ics)…
March 4, 2010 | Ohio, customers, industry critics, positive media coverage, regulation | Comments (0)Don’t let the coattails drag! Robert Nozar’s column in Cleveland’s Sun News this morning reveals the hypocritical nature of the media when it comes to payday lending:
Part of the answer to that question lies with the fact that there are members of the media who willingly hold the coats of those politicians so engaged in the battle to cast an unneeded and unwanted presence in those lives.
While those very same columnists and commentators would take issue with government intrusion in other areas, they are very willing to prod, cheer on and otherwise abet paternalistic politicians when their own senses of morality are challenged by that which they find distasteful.
Payday loans are one such “egregious” infringement on the “morality” of those who would presume to speak for the masses.
Never mind that those who object have never needed a payday loan themselves, and likely have never heard a legitimate complaint about a payday loan from a person who has taken out such a loan.
Dear media, please stop trying to control other peoples’ lives on something with which you have no experience.
