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Senators may tweak a bill to overhaul payday lending, but the essence of the contentious House measure will likely clear committee in time for a floor vote Wednesday, the Senate Finance chairman said in an interview Monday.
Although lenders have floated several alternatives, the Senate Finance & Financial Institutions Committee will likely leave unchanged the proposed 28% annual percentage rate cap on the short-term loans, Sen. John Carey (R-Wellston) said.
"We're looking at ways to encourage payday lenders to go under the Small Loan Act as it is in current law," he said. "You can have origination fees under the Small Loan Act. The difference is it's not repetitive loans."
While the measure (HB 545*) sponsored by Rep. Chris Widener (R-Springfield) would prohibit origination fees, the current Small Loan Act permits lenders to charge $15 on loans less than $500.
"The payday lenders say they can't operate under that, but that's probably the best we're going to be able to do," he said. "Not all the payday lenders would transition to that, but we think at least some of them would."
Sen. Carey said he hopes to pass the bill out of committee Wednesday morning in time for a floor vote later that afternoon. "I think we'll have the votes."
