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

Today’s article  in the Columbus Dispatch speaks for itself.  The article quotes payday lending company executives as saying, “I’ve never seen anything like this.”

It’s a sad day when politicians play politics instead of listening the the people they represent.  They have ignored tens of thousands of emails, phone calls, letters and personal visits from the employees they will vote to put out of work and the customers whose credit options are being yanked away.  Come election time, let’s hope the good people of Ohio will turn their backs on those who turned their backs on them.

Kristie Temple of Wilmington asks:

So, our question to our senators is this, have you ever worried about how you are going to put food on your table for your family, or the price of gas so you can make it work the next day.

Ms. Temple’s full letter is here.  

This letter in the Zanesville Time Recorder sums up the situation in Ohio nicely. (Note how the paper put a snarky headline on this letter.  They just can’t help showing their bias, we guess) From the letter:

People trust us to help them. What will they do when they have no one to turn to? Just bounce check after check?

Ohio payday lending employees are not just fighting for their jobs; they’re fighing for their customers’ rights.

A powerful letter to the editor in Ohio’s Newark Advocate from a manager at a Cashland store.

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.

The Payday Pundit just received this regarding our recent post about employees making their voices heard:

Not only are they not answering phones– they are rude when they do!! I emailed the following to Senator yesterday…

Wednesday May 7, 2008

Dear Senator Sawyer-

I called in to your office to ask for your support of HB 545 today. Unfortunately I was met with LAUGHTER from one of your Aides when I stated the reason I was calling.
Imagine my surprise that an Aide to a Senator thinks me losing my job (along with 6000 other Ohioans) is amusing!!

Whatever their personal opinion of HB 545 is their business, but I don’t think the appropriate professional response from an Aide is laughter and enjoyment at my expense.

I am truly disgusted.

Sincerely,

Casey Maloney

From Ohio senate staffer forgets who pays their salary, 2008/05/08 at 8:15 AM

It’s great to see payday lending workers fighting for their jobs and discussing the people they help.  This article captures this great quote.

There are people we help if they use it responsibly,” said Mary Myers, of Heartland Cash Advance. “I’ve had people come in needing $100 for medicine and walk out the door praising us saying they don’t know what they would have done without us.”

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.

Please note that this segment from WBNS was taken before the rally started and didn’t capture the 2000+ employees that were there.