And here’s the reaction to the Senate vote from one of the nation’s leading payday lenders: 

Commenting on the decision to cease store operations in Ohio, the Company’s President and Chief Executive Officer, Daniel R. Feehan said, “It is indeed a sad day when state legislators decide to end a small loan alternative that has proven to be widely accepted by customers and supported by independent academic studies. Until the law becomes effective, we will continue to serve our Ohio customers’ needs for short term loans in this difficult economic environment. In the meantime, we will also be evaluating the viability of offering alternative financial services in Ohio in an effort to mitigate the impact we currently expect this new law will have on our customers, coworkers and lending locations.”

So many employees of the payday lending industry in Ohio fought hard for their jobs and for their customers.  Everyone of you has more sense and smarts than the legislators who voted to kill the industry in the state.    This letter in the Youngstown Vindicator is typical of the many letters to the editors, emails to legislators and phone calls from employees over the last few weeks.

Ohio law kills payday loans

EDITOR:

Ohio House Bill 545 capping payday lending rates at 28 APR will close all payday lenders and put 6,000 Ohioans out of work. It will also leave hard working people no place to turn for a short-term loan. I am sure, if the members of the House and Senate spoke with our customers, their constituents, and actually listened to the masses, they would have a better understanding of how payday lenders can help our communities.

I am the Consumer Service Supervisor of Cashland Financial Services in Hubbard. Our customers come to Cashland for help for those unexpected expenses that hard working people can’t seem to get away from, i.e. car repairs, medical bills, and high utility bills or gas needed for driving back and forth to work. These are people with families and home mortgages who are struggling in the current economy and living from pay to pay.

Others use our services to counteract overdraft fees charged by their banks. They would rather pay Cashland $15 per $100 borrowed than pay a bank $37 or more for a bounced check.

People borrow from payday lenders like Cashland because, for many of them, there is nowhere else they can go to get the short-term loan they need. They come here because we are courteous and respectful and our services are private. We help ease their burdens; we don’t create them.

H.B. 545 (which has now been passed by the House and Senate) will not only close down payday lenders and put 6000 people out of work, it will close down the only means most hard working people, like myself, have for dealing with the unexpected expenses they incur.

KIMBERLY MANSELL

Hubbard

The article quotes CFSA president D. Lynn DeVault, “Operating under H.B. 545 is not economically feasible.  Our member companies say they expect stores to close and jobs to be lost.”

…So said Senator Jacobson before he called on his fellow Senators to vote to ban payday lending in Ohio.

You can watch the debate live now at http://www.ohiochannel.org/index.cfm?stream=10.

   Finance and Financial Institutions, 9:30 AM, Finance Hearing Room
   Chair: Carey

Sub HB 545 Widener, 4th Hearing, No Testimony**(***)

Short term lending – regulation

It’s ironic that the same committee is meeting tomorrow morning to discuss the JOBS package.  If they were really concerned about jobs, they wouldn’t be voting to put 6,000 people out of work.

Sunday’s editorial in the New Hampshire Union Leader asks, “What, if anything, is the governor going to do for the 200 private-sector workers he personally will make jobless at the start of next year?”

A few excerpts:

That’s the headline from a weekend story in the Hudson Hub Times.  From the piece: 

Opponents believe the bill will have a devastating effect on the payday loan industry, likely closing locations and costing 6,000-plus Ohioans their livelihood.

They also question where people strapped for cash and facing emergencies would go for smaller, short-term loans.

The story by Brian Duffy of 19 Action News, includes an interview with a Check n Go employee and an  appreciative customer. The visuals include close ups of the large poster-size displays of fees that are found in all CFSA member-company stores as well as images of the 3,000 employees that rallied for their jobs in Columbus on Tuesday. Job well done by WOIO.

Today’s News-Herald carried a great editorial on Ohio legislation:

It can happen to anyone, at any time. Maybe a sudden car repair. Perhaps an emergency at home. It could be a medical problem.

You need cash now.

Family and friends can’ t help, so you head for the local payday lender.

But, if a bill that passed the Ohio House of Representatives last week becomes law, they won’t be able to help much longer.

***

We applaud the bipartisan effort, but wonder if the Ohio House went too far.

Payday lenders – about 1,600 stores statewide – had 2,000 people rally Tuesday at the State Capitol in protest.

They’re angry because the bill would eliminate about 6,000 jobs in Ohio.

This industry is shrouded with mystery, offering short-term solutions for those with bad credit. In this economy, it’s inevitable it would be looked at with skepticism.

But the bill’s focus evolved from adopting tighter regulations to closing the businesses.

That shouldn’t be the General Assembly’s intent.

From an employee who was at the rally yesterday:

Please vote NO! Companies that have been built from the ground up will be eliminated. Pregnant mothers will be without health care. I was at the rally and saw a woman with a sign that read “My husband has terminal cancer…what will we do about our health care?” That really got to me. We aren’t just talking about the huge loss for the customers but over 6000 jobs…gone.