ProgressOhio

Less than a week after the Ohio House approved HB545 which would create true industry reform for the payday lending industry in Ohio, Ohio Senate Republicans are playing "three card monte" with Payday Lending legislation.

First Senate Senate President Bill Harris (R-Ashland) replaced Sen. Ron Amstutz (R-Wooster) with Sen. Jeff Jacobson (R-Vandalia).

Asked about the change, Sen. Harris said he wanted to offer the president pro tempore, who has served in the legislature since 1992, an opportunity to serve on the finance committee.

"It's my prerogative when I think a member needs to get some experience on a committee," he said. "I thought Sen. Jacobson - you know he's term-limited - should have a chance."

Perhaps it would be more truthful if Senator Harris had said, "I really don't want someone who has to face the scrutiny of the voters being involved with what we are trying to do here".  I mean really Senator Harris why does someone who will be leaving the Ohio Senate suddenly need to get "experience on the finance committee" before they leave?

Second a draft amendment has been proposed that would retain the 28% annual percentage rate cap in the measure (HB 545*), but would permit lenders to charge additional fees of $13 for every $100 borrowed, the Ohio Coalition for Responsible Lending said. That would translate into a 367% APR, rather than the current 391% APR, which includes all interest and fee charges.

This is the "three card monte" game being played here.  Lower the usury interest rates currently being charged and then give it back to the lenders in "increased fees" which will be rolled into the loans.

"You can apply lipstick and a new pig, but it's still the same pig," OCRL Legislative Chair Bill Faith said in a statement. "This is phony reform. It's simply a different spin on numbers that result in the same high APR and the same debt trap that 300,000 Ohioans found themselves caught in last year."

A similar plan previously went into effect in Michigan, which has the worst payday debt cycle in the nation, he said. "If you want to bleed Ohio families to death in debt, this is another good way to do it. Certainly, Ohio can beat Michigan when it comes to protecting our consumers."

Seemingly stunned by their apparent set back in the Ohio house last week, the industry has been targeting senators by busing in industry workers who received a paid vacation day to come to the Statehouse and by paying industry workers to make repeated calls on company time to Senators while reading from a script prepared by the industry, along with ponying up whatever it takes to Ohio's biggest lobbyists to be allowed to continue to prey on Ohio's poor and needy.

The bottom line is will Ohio Republican Senators make it happen and will Ohio's Democratic Senators and Ohio's Governor go along with it?

See Also: The twists and turns of payday lending