Facts being lost on payday lending issue

JOSEPH FLOHRE, Lima

The state of Ohio is trying to drop the hammer on an industry that has been successful and serves a lot of people. This statement alone makes it seem like a no-brainer. The state is wrong.

However, when you say the industry is payday lending, suddenly the shrieks of the newspaper editorials, activists and self-righteous politicians drown out common sense. Payday lending is easily the most demonized industry in our state, and it’s become so shrill and so detached from the facts that it would be laughable if so many people weren’t about to lose their jobs.

In truth, payday lending is used responsibly a vast majority of the time, and the interest charged is a modest $15 for a $100 loan. These businesses have expanded because they’re popular with customers, who from time to time have need of the service they provide. There’s nothing malicious about it, but when the governor and the Legislature are trying to look pious, even common sense becomes hard to come by.

Payday lending employs a lot of people, and it serves a lot of our friends and neighbors. Vote to scrap this ill-conceived bill.

They indeed are at it again – trying to put state government in the role of nanny for adults who should be free to make financial decisions for themselves.

More from the piece:

        Evidence is already mounting from other states that caps on payday loans reduce choices for consumers and leave them financially worse off than before. And, ironically, the main beneficiaries of laws pounding on payday lenders have been big banks and credit unions making millions from the overdraft fees that frequently serve the same purpose as a small loan for unexpected circumstances.

Mr. Berlau has it exactly right.  Payday loan customers are frequently trying to avoid bounced check fees which if calculated as a loan would have three or four times the interest rate of a payday advance.